Stonewall

[ymb469]

I never knew about this until I watched... A couple clicks, watch for the spam. Great movie...

http://apexvid.com/rs4f32e5bbf6

[natina]

at 21:15 INTO THE VIDEO they talk about how it was a crime to masquerade.


An 1845 statute made it a crime to masquerade. Drag was an arrest able offense.

cross-dressing laws (including a 1845 law making it a crime to masquerade) ...


you had to have three articles of male clothing on not including.....see video



http://www.dragqueendiaries.com/blogs/category/gay-pride/stonewall-riots40-years-ago-this-month/


http://cinemawithoutborders.com/reviews/2205-stonewall-uprising.html

In the conformist 50's (think "Suddenly Last Summer") gay people were often sent to insane asylums by family members: the victims of punitive cures: aversive electric shock therapy, lobotomies, sterilization even castration. California's Atascadero State Hospital (known as the 'Dachau for queers') practiced a sort of experimental pharmacological water boarding. Confined homosexuals were driven mad in institutions.




http://cinemawithoutborders.com/files.php?file=cat_126/2010/JanFebMarch/ur3.jpg

[Jackal]

couldnt view(download?) it.

[Richctdude]

i couldnt get it to work!!

[betts]

probably not the same video but PBS had one on the Stonewall Riots on American Experience: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/

[Merkurie]

Hard times.
The T girls were the brave ones who started it all.

[natina]

Attention divas, daggers, dykes, sissies and studs: sashay shante, y’all. According to Oakland's Code of Ordinances (http://library.municode.com/html/16308/Book.html), your style is illegal.

Immoral Dress Code 9.08.080 has been in place since 1879: “It is unlawful for any person in the city to appear in any public place nude or in the attire of a person of the opposite sex, or in any indecent or lewd attire.”
In terms of concentration of same sex couples, Oakland is ranked among the top five major metropolitan areas in the nation. Certainly our city is as socially conscious as it is diverse. Yet shockingly, in 2010, cross-dressing remains an offense “against public peace and decency.”
I first learned of this wacky time warp while attending an Oakland LGBT Roundtable (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oakland-LGBT-Roundtable/121063566660) meeting. Stephanie McLeod, pictured above,an intern with City Council Member Rebecca Kaplan’s (http://www.rkaplan.org/) office, created a slide show presentation which contextualized the ordinance.
The civil war ended and the 15th amendment was ratified. Population explosions accompanied the gold rush and the transcontinental railroad; the latter saw Oakland grow from 1,500 people in 1860 to more than 36,000 in 1880. As the railroad’s western terminus, Oakland experienced a rush of new businesses, new manufacturing industries and new jobs. Migrants from the south, and immigrants from China and Southern Europe, changed the demographics of the area.
“People who were not perceived to be part of the social ‘norm’ were marginalized and criminalized,” said McLeod. “Everyone is affected by this, not just queer people. If this law was enforced today, all the women on the police and fire departments could be charged with a misdemeanor for cross-dressing.”
Though I have been out of the closet for 18 years, I admit sometimes I avoid learning about atrocities of the past; I'm already overwhelmed and frustrated by present day inequality. But after McLeod's presentation, I got curious.
San Francisco preceded Oakland with a similar law in 1866. By 1930, most cities in California had dress code laws. From the mid-19th century, the state enacted all kinds of legislation against LGBT behavior; convictions led to forced sterilization, castration, indefinite hospitalization and life imprisonment. The law lumped child molesters and homosexuals together as “perverts.” Women suffragists wore pants in protest. German theorist Karoly Maria Kertbeny disputed the criminalization of “homosexuality” (a term he coined). Racist medical texts linked the idea of "degenerate" races with "degenerate" sexualities.
In the wake of immigration legislation in Arizona, legislation that enables racial profiling, can we afford to leave vague laws on the books, laws that are subject to the interpretation of the times? Political climates change. In 1850, the state of California outlawed “crimes against nature.” Before 1900, this mainly applied to public sex, rape, and sex with a minor. But the early 20th century experienced a heightened anxiety over visible gender difference in urban communities, and homosexuals were increasingly arrested for “crimes against nature.”
As McLeod emphasized, “It could happen again.”
Shush! What’s that sound? Is it the bang of 1,000 fairies fainting in disbelief, falling to the floor? Nope. It’s the vogue boom of butch-queens dropping into suicide dips, their backs clapping the ground. An elegant tranny lip syncs Mary J. “You can’t keep a good woman down!”

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/cross-dressing-illegal-oakland-1879

[natina]

he could of been arrested

Oakland Atlanta Georgia calif

http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2010/05/05/crossdressing-still-illegal/

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/cross-dressing-illegal-oakland-1879

http://oaklandlocal.com/article/cross-dressing-illegal-oakland-1879


Crossdressing Still Illegal?

Who knew? Crossdressing is still illegal in Oakland, California, & has been for 130 years.

“These laws have a history of being used as a tool of oppression,” have been “an excuse for persecution” against the LGBT community and people who don’t conform to traditional gender rolls.


In Oakland, the cross-dressing ordinance is not enforced and hasn’t been in recent memory. City officials also believe it is unconstitutional. But a report from Kaplan’s office noted that under the existing language, women in uniform working in the police and fire departments could be subject to arrest and misdemeanor charges.

Attention divas, daggers, dykes, sissies and studs: sashay shante, y’all. According to Oakland's Code of Ordinances, your style is illegal.

Immoral Dress Code 9.08.080 has been in place since 1879: “It is unlawful for any person in the city to appear in any public place nude or in the attire of a person of the opposite sex, or in any indecent or lewd attire.”

Yet shockingly, in 2010, cross-dressing remains an offense “against public peace and decency.”


“People who were not perceived to be part of the social ‘norm’ were marginalized and criminalized,” said McLeod. “Everyone is affected by this, not just queer people. If this law was enforced today, all the women on the police and fire departments could be charged with a misdemeanor for cross-dressing.”

[robertlouis]

Oh, so it's not about this guy.

[Prospero]

Stonewall jacking-off... the russian confederate wanker?

[Yvonne183]

Even in NYC as late as the 70's being a tgirl could get one arrested. Here is a link to a short story about Lee Brewster. Lee was one of the people fighting for the rights of people who wanted to dress as the opposite sex back in the 60's and 70's. I knew Lee from the store Lee's Mardi Gras. A very warm and caring person.

http://www.gaytoday.com/garchive/events/052500ev.htm

A movie about the girls that paved the way for me and other tgirls to be able to live the way we want. Stonewall was gone by the time I went out in NYC.

YouTube - ‪Stonewall Movie‬‏ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brFZ9KPlJE)

[robertlouis]

By the way, Yvonne, I wasn't belittling this thread when I posted Stonewall Jackson - I was just facing an open goal and couldn't resist.

As we all should, I salute the courage of those people who dared to take on the establishment's values back then.

[Yvonne183]

By the way, Yvonne, I wasn't belittling this thread when I posted Stonewall Jackson - I was just facing an open goal and couldn't resist.

As we all should, I salute the courage of those people who dared to take on the establishment's values back then.


I'm sorry Robert, I didn't make my post in response to yours. I like funny posts, they keep the conversation moving. I just responded cause I knew someone who was actually there in the battle field for rights and I found it such a privilege to have know Lee and this topic gave me the chance to show my love for him and the credit he deserves.

Robert, I hope you didn't think I was upset in any way,, I like the fun and laughing that goes on in this forum, nothing wrong with that.

[Prospero]

Respect to your friend Lee and his part in the fight for light....

[robertlouis]

I'm sorry Robert, I didn't make my post in response to yours. I like funny posts, they keep the conversation moving. I just responded cause I knew someone who was actually there in the battle field for rights and I found it such a privilege to have know Lee and this topic gave me the chance to show my love for him and the credit he deserves.

Robert, I hope you didn't think I was upset in any way,, I like the fun and laughing that goes on in this forum, nothing wrong with that.

Thanks Yvonne. I didn't actually think you'd be upset, I guess, just wanted to let you know that I support you on this.

Christ, this is getting a bit like a love-in, we'll be thrown out of the forum for being too nice!

[Stavros]

Martin Duberman's book Stonewall is also worth looking at, particularly the chapter on Silvia Rivera whose life story is amazing (hooking from the age of 11) -she points out that 'light drag' was more common in public than the full regalia now worn as normal, and was also there on the night. Stonewall the club is still there, I paid a disappointing visit there about five or six years ago. Duberman was also responsible for a superb collection of essays on 'gay history': Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past (Penguin, 1991) edited by Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey.

[Yvonne183]

Martin Duberman's book Stonewall is also worth looking at, particularly the chapter on Silvia Rivera whose life story is amazing (hooking from the age of 11) -she points out that 'light drag' was more common in public than the full regalia now worn as normal, and was also there on the night. Stonewall the club is still there, I paid a disappointing visit there about five or six years ago. Duberman was also responsible for a superb collection of essays on 'gay history': Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past (Penguin, 1991) edited by Duberman, Martha Vicinus and George Chauncey.

The club that is there today must be a rebirth or a new club cause when I lived there the space was occupied by a men's clothe store, I think it was clothes. There was no club there in the 80's.

[maaarc]

respect, gratitude and reverence to those people who fought for freedom. They made so much of what I love and take for granted in life possible.

This girl is so hot!!!!! even her voice is beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMXf5O6eh-A&NR=1

[billjd41]

No worries, RobertLouis...my mind went the same place....Gettysburg anniversary coming up next weekend....might have been different if Bobby Lee had his "right arm!" :-)

As far as that corner where Stonewall was, last time I was down in Sheridan Square there was a club there....stage shows, etc.

[Stavros]

Its still there, as it always was...

http://www.thestonewallinnnyc.com/Home_Page.html

[sunairco]

I posted on this subject a few weeks ago regarding the clientelle of gay bars during the 70's and how it contrasts with today and I guess nobody took notice.

Down here, the laws extended to women. Event though the laws were on the books and for the most part "blue laws" some were selectively enforced. My mom and dad came down here in the early 50's for a vacation from the North East. My mom was accustomed to wearing slacks which were popular after the war up north. A policeman gave my mom a ticket and told her to change into a dress or she would be arrested. Police wouldn't tolerate a woman wearing slacks after dark or on the road across from the beach. Even though the law forbade women wearing men's clothes then, it was selectively enforced only after dark despite the fact it was in fasion. In some places in the south and perhaps elsewhere, they were even still trying to enforce blue laws that dictated how high the hem of a dress could be above the knee. Even odder, was a specific Fl state law that forbade men to wear strapless dresses, allowed a woman to eat cottage cheese on Sunday and forbade an unmarried woman from using a parachute.

[Yvonne183]

Its still there, as it always was...

http://www.thestonewallinnnyc.com/Home_Page.html

Wrong, wrong , wrong. I already told ya it wasn't there in the 80's. The new bar might be in the same place as the old bar but the bar wasn't there in the 80's. I had a client who lived in the Archive building on Christopher and I would always walk past that area on my way to the Lower East Side and there was no Stonewall bar in the 80's,, I was there.


http://www.huzbears.com/nychistory/gv.html#L1



Here's a nice history of some clubs from that area back then. I am not sure but the closest bars to that area at that time were Monster and some club called Planet something or other, Daily Planet? I'm not too sure, but Stonewall was not there then.

http://www.huzbears.com/nychistory/gv.html

[theone1982]

Wrong, wrong , wrong. I already told ya it wasn't there in the 80's. The new bar might be in the same place as the old bar but the bar wasn't there in the 80's. I had a client who lived in the Archive building on Christopher and I would always walk past that area on my way to the Lower East Side and there was no Stonewall bar in the 80's,, I was there.


http://www.huzbears.com/nychistory/gv.html#L1



Here's a nice history of some clubs from that area back then. I am not sure but the closest bars to that area at that time were Monster and some club called Planet something or other, Daily Planet? I'm not too sure, but Stonewall was not there then.

http://www.huzbears.com/nychistory/gv.html

The Daily Planet?! Did you ever see this guy leave one of the phonebooths outside?:)

[natina]

to all ts/tg/TV/CD/dq

it is illegal to cross dress and itsan arrestable offense in your state

Remembering the 'Stonewall Uprising'


Remembering the 'Stonewall Uprising'
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20100625_Remembering_the__Stonewall_Uprising_.html (http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20100625_Remembering_the__Stonewall_Uprising_.html )
By Carrie Rickey
Jun. 25, 2010
It was a time of free love - if you were heterosexual. During the
1960s, Stonewall, a dingy bar in New York's West Village, was about
the only place in Manhattan where gays and lesbians could dance in public.
It was also a time when homosexuality was regarded as a mental
illness. Same-sex intercourse was illegal in 49 of the 50 states.
"Masquerade," a 19th-century statute against dressing in the clothes
of the opposite sex, was likewise punishable by law.In order to rid the city of the scourge of long-haired men and
short-haired women, police routinely raided gay bars where they would
club and arrest patrons. But typically, before officers paid a call
on (the mob-run) Stonewall, they alerted the owners, who alerted
their customers. But on the night of June 28, 1969, the vice squad
didn't call in advance. And when they came waving nightsticks, the
dancers and drag queens fought back.

http://sixties-l.blogspot.com/2010/06/remembering-stonewall-uprising.html

[NYC TS Lover]

I find it quite interesting to read about the original TS/TV uprising as part of the Civil Rights movement. I think it is interesting that the rights of gays and lesbians are beginning to expand in mainstream society whereas transgender rights continue to lag behind. I would implore more transgendered role models to emerge and help give a positive voice to the TS/TG community today. Cheers. :cheers:

[Nicole Dupre]

People often forget about this event.


http://thetender.us/2009/06/25/remembering-the-comptons-cafeteria-riot/

[Stavros]

People often forget about this event.


http://thetender.us/2009/06/25/remembering-the-comptons-cafeteria-riot/

Fascinating article, thanks for the link. Why do I get the impression that had you been there, in either SF or New York at the time you would have been in the front line? Almost scary...

By coincidence, this month Syliva Rivera is woman of the month here:

Women’s History Month: Sylvia Rae Rivera

http://1.2.3.11/bmi/xqsimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sylvia.jpg

March 5, 2012



Sylvia Rae Rivera is possibly one of the best-known transgender women of all time. A co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front and STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), she dedicated her entire life to help empower homeless trans and queer youth while advocating for the rights of trans people in New York City and throughout the country.
http://1.2.3.10/bmi/xqsimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sylvia-fullsize-300x241.jpg (http://xqsimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sylvia-fullsize.jpg)Born on July 2, 1951 to a Puerto Rican father and Venezuelan mother in New York City, Sylvia knew first hand the plight that many homeless LGBTQ youth faced. Orphaned at the age of 3 when her mother committed suicide, she was initially raised by her maternal grandmother. However, at the age of 10, Sylvia ran away from home to escape a grandmother who did not accept her for her gender variance. On the street, Sylvia learned to survive, along with other homeless trans and queer youth by hustling.
Sylvia is probably best-known for having participated in the queer uprising at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. She is often credited with having thrown the first Molotov cocktail at police that fateful night.
“I remember someone throwing a Molotov cocktail. I don’t know who the person was, but I mean I saw that and I just said to myself in Spanish, I said. oh my God, the revolution is finally here! And I just like started screaming “Freedom! We’re free at last!” You know. It felt really good.” – Sylvia Rivera, 1989
However, unlike other Stonewall veterans who predominantly focused on gay activism, Sylvia was a revolutionary who chose to fight all forms of oppression and thus became involved in various community groups and movements, having organized with the Puerto Rican Young Lords and the Black Panthers, in addition to the anti-Vietnam War movement.
http://1.2.3.11/bmi/xqsimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sylvia-Rae-Rivera-300x300.jpg (http://xqsimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sylvia-Rae-Rivera.jpg)“Any time they needed any help, I was always there for the Young Lords. It was just the respect they gave us as human beings. They gave us a lot of respect.”
Yet despite the immense contributions that she and other trans women of color — such as her friend and STAR co-founder Marsha P. Johnson — made to the burgeoning LGBTQ Rights Movement, in the 1970s Sylvia witnessed the omission of trans people from a proposed anti-discrimination ordinance in New York City. Even without trans people included, the proposed initiative failed. Additionally, Sylvia (along with other trans women in attendance) was once refused entry into a queer political rally under the transphobic excuse that trans women were offensive to lesbians. It is shortly after that Sylvia took a hiatus from political work.
After more than a decade outside New York City and political activism, Sylvia returned to the Big Apple in the 1990s. However, having lost her job, she once again found herself homeless. Yet despite the difficulties she faced, Sylvia resumed where she left-off: fiercely advocating for homeless people, poor queer people, and trans youth. In 2001, she restarted STAR (now renamed Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries) to help push for a trans-inclusive New York State Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act.
Sylvia spent her final years at the Transy House, a communal home where many formerly homeless trans youth and adults lived. There she met her partner, Julia Murray, with whom she shared the remaining years of her life until her death on February 19, 2002
Sylvia’s struggles for justice did not fall exclusively on issues of gender identity. A woman at the intersections, she understood that oppression was multifaceted and for those reasons she advocated for the poor and people of color. As with many people living at the borders of various identities, mainstream LGBTQ groups often ignore Sylvia’s Latina identity and Latin@ groups often do not acknowledge the contributions Sylvia made to Latin@ equality. We, as LGBTQ Latin@s owe so much to this brave woman. We at xQsí honor her legacy and will continue to fight and keep her memory alive.

http://xqsimagazine.com/2012/03/05/womens-history-month-sylvia-rae-rivera/

[Yoda Rules!]

If we don't understand the past than we are destined to repeat it in the future. I wish that more positive role models from the transgendered community would emerge to help ensure that TS/TG people will have the same rights as all other members of society. I once dated a TS girl who worked for a law firm and was fired because she refused to use the Men's restroom. The firm thought that since they could fight a lawsuit at no cost, there would be no consequences for their action. It's a shame that this type of discrimination still exists today.