PERSPECTIVES
The six-color rainbow flag, a variant of Gilbert Baker’s original 1978 design, has become an international symbol of LGBT pride and solidarity. Credit: Marilyn Humphries
The Legacy of Stonewall A perspective on gay rights 2015 By
Laura Godtfredsen
In four years we will mark the 50th Anniversary of the epic Stonewall Riots in New York City. Like the civil rights movement in the mid-sixties, the gay liberation movement was born in a violent resistance to police. Constant police harassment was an intolerant society’s way of restricting and disciplining the “unacceptable” behavior of gay men, lesbians, drag queens, and transvestites. From today’s perspective, the riots were an unavoidable outcome of incessant police barbarity. It proved to be the spark that inspired the rapid deployment of organizations in demanding full civil and legal rights. Like Selma, civil rights protest movements, in order to rectify long-held grievances, must give rise to sustained political and legal action. As we have seen in recent months, the African-American population has once again taken to the streets to protest years of police brutality. The gains made by the gay liberation movement 120 | Boston Pride 2015
for equal marital rights have demonstrated significant political maturity. But as we know, even success in statutory or constitutional law is never enough. Although Stonewall was not the beginning, the years of police harassment and bullying of gay men, drag queens, transvestites, and stone butch lesbians of the gay rights movement galvanized the disparate parts of gay society to organize and create political and legal strategies that have become an enduring part of gay political action. By understanding the conditions that led to the Stonewall riots in June 1969 and the gay liberation tactics that followed, we may be able to assess the gay movement today and its promise for the future. What have we learned about our movement over the course of almost 50 years that may help us determine our future actions, strategies, and decisions?
