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| 69: Drags gone wild |
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| Written by Joseph Chetcuti |
| Thursday, 02 July 2009 04:41 |
 On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Joseph Chetcuti looks back on the events of that momentous weekend.Forty years ago, on 27 June 1969, friends were having a quiet drink at the Stonewall Inn in Christopher Street New York. The Inn, reportedly owned by the Mafia, was more of a dump than a trendy public house. It operated without a liquor licence, its bar having no running water, with glasses being washed in dirty water. The Inn attracted an assortment of patrons: blacks, street queens, hustlers, effeminate men, butch dykes, homeless kids, transvestites and “scary drag queens”. Many were in their late teens (some underage). Those who were in their early thirties were considered “old”! At the Inn, drugs were freely available and the Inn was a good place to buy acid. June 27 had been a memorable day. Five days earlier, on the 2nd, Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm, had gone over her last rainbow. Her funeral that day in Manhattan had stopped the nation with some 22,000 people filing past her coffin over a twenty-four hour period. She was interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale New York. Garland was unmistakably a gay icon. Her personal struggles struck a chord with many homosexuals, who had their own struggles to contend with. That day a tornado hit Kansas. A tornado of a different sort was about to hit Christopher Street. 28 JUNE, SATURDAY MORNING, AROUND 1.20AM – Panic strikes the Inn. White warning lights are hurriedly turned on to alert patrons that a police raid is about to happen. Patrons scramble to find their seats. Eight police officers from the First Division including two patrolmen, two detectives and two policewomen barge into the Inn. A staged police raid should have followed with a few patrons and employees being arrested. But this time it was different. The police had not alerted the Inn’s management of the impending raid. Patrons were slowly released, but instead of returning home they opted to gather outside. Onlookers joined them. A paddy wagon pulled up. Police emerged from the Inn with those they had arrested: three blatant queens in full drag, a bar tender and a doorman. The crowd booed, gave the police cheek and called them “pigs” and “faggot cops”. Others threw coins at them. There were calls to roll over the paddy wagon, which quickly drove away. A parking meter was uprooted. Someone screamed out “Gay power!” and the fight was on. Patrons and bystanders threw bottles, bricks and dog shit at the police who were forced to retreat inside the Inn. Bricks are thrown at the front window of the Inn which was smashed to smithereens. The door to the Stonewall Inn was crashed open. Police ran out to scare the crowd but were forced to retreat. The door was again smashed open and the police aimed a fire hose on the crowd – without success. A side door was also smashed open. Police threatened to shoot anyone who walked inside. Someone threw fluid into the place and lit it. The Tactical Police Force turned up to rescue the trapped police and disperse the crowd. The crowd dispersed, then quickly reformed. Police withdrew at around 4am. Over the next five days riots and protests continued on and off, including an attack on the Village Voice newspaper when protesters thought it had misreported events. Gay poet Allan Ginsberg came down to see what all the fuss was about. The riots outside the Stonewall Inn represent a significant moment in our history. Ordinary gay men and lesbians, seen by straight society and the more ‘respectable’ gay men and lesbians as the ‘dregs of society’, gave birth to a radical and militant movement that was not afraid of confrontation. A generation that was more blatant and outrageous than their conservative predecessors. They were well and truly out of the closet, refusing to conform to society’s stereotypes and demanding society’s respect as they were. The Gay Liberation Front and, later, the Gay Activists Alliance took shape. Finally... at long last... gay power was born in the United States, and it soon spread worldwide. We owe a great debt to these very ordinary but at the same time quite extraordinary gay men, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals. Happy Birthday, Modern Gay Liberation! Joseph Carmel Chetcuti is a barrister and solicitor and a 78-er. His next book Queer Mediterranean Memories is due out shortly. www.queermalta.com
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