Mythology and miseducation: What we’ve gotten wrong about Stonewall.
Not a single Pride Month goes by without mentioning the Stonewall riots of 1969. The famous Inn, located in Greenwich Village, New York, was a site of political struggle between the gay community and violent police who frequently raided the bar. Dubbed as kickstarting the gay rights movement across the globe, remembering Stonewall plays a central role in queer commemorations.
Sasha Misra of the Communications & Campaigns team at Stonewall, the UK LGBT rights organisation, explains the importance of the riot in the naming of their charity: “We are proud to take our name from such a pivotal and transformative moment in LGBTQ+ history. Just as the Stonewall protests in New York City were a response to persistent police brutality against LGBTQ+ communities in the 1960s, our own formation came in response to increasing political and social stigmatisation against LGBTQ+ people in the UK in the 1980s.”
Although the eponymous charity is correct in seeing the riots as playing a “pivotal and transformative” role in the liberation movements that occurred in the latter half of the 20th century, myths surrounding the Stonewall riots are commonplace, resulting in mass miseducation of LGBTQ+ history.
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