Essay Example: Discrimination of the LGBTQ+ Community

There has been a battle for LGBTQ+ lives to have equal rights throughout history. The Stonewall riots were a major event and turning point in the equal rights movement. Many bars refused to serve LGBTQ+ people and the police were openly violent towards the community too. They could hit them, verbally abuse them, and arrest people for cross dressing and would claim that transgender people were just pretending to be the opposite gender. As more bars became exclusive to LGBTQ+ individuals providing safe havens, there were more laws enacted to refuse service to this minority. It was made illegal for bars to serve alcohol to gay and transgender people, but this had just increased the amount of illegal activity happening in these bars.

The LGBTQ+ community was unwelcomed by many people including the police, the public, and many “straight” bars. The straight bars were allowed to refuse service to anyone who was a known or suspected part of the community. The police showed constant violence by harassing the bars that did serve people within the community. The bars were then banned from serving gay and transgender people alcohol, but after activists protested, this law was changed. However, showing gay behavior was still illegal. The gay bars offered a place of refuge where drag queens and drag kings were welcomed and people were free to express themselves and show gay behavior such as holding hands, hugging, dancing, etc. This caused constant harassment from the police and raids where the police stormed the bars, arresting cross-dressers and people showing gay behavior. Because of this, many gay bars were owned by the Mafia because they saw the profit that came with operating and owning these bars. They could gain money from the bar’s income, exploiting LGBTQ+ people, and blackmailing people to name a few.

One of the main Mafia families at the time, the Genovese family, bought the Stonewall Inn which was originally a “straight” bar. They did a few renovations and reopened it as a gay bar. Since it was owned by the Mafia the bar didn’t have a liquor license, so it became a private bottle bar; people brought in their own alcohol which did not require the bar to have a liquor license. With this and the Genovese family bribing the police to ignore the activities occurring in the bar, the harassment from the police went down. The family began to start to price things more fairly and make improvements. They bought better liquor, stronger plumbing, and installed a fire escape. The family made an extra profit by blackmailing people who wanted to keep their sexualities and gender identities a secret. The bar also had people sign their names in a book upon entrance to make it seem more exclusive and more like a club. Some police officers would tip off the Stonewall Inn before raids occurred so that they could hide all illegal activities before the police arrived. Stonewall became a safe haven for many LGBTQ+ lives and allowed people to show affection to their partners of the same gender by holding hands and dancing with them. They welcomed drag queens and drag kings who often got a bad reputation at other bars. The way it was run went extremely smoothly; it made a profit for both the bar and the Mafia, while also providing a safe space for LGBTQ+ lives.

However, on June 28, 1969 there was a raid, but the bar wasn’t told in advance this time. This was a violent raid and the police stormed the Stonewall Inn, grabbing people, throwing and pushing them out of the bar, taking all of the alcohol they could find, and ultimately arresting thirteen people. Crossdressers were taken into the bathroom or onto the side of a highway to have their gender assigned at birth forcefully checked. This was a way for the police to humiliate the people of the LGBTQ+ community and to shame them publicly. The life-changing shift in power began when a lesbian was being arrested and a policeman hit her over the head. She yelled at the crowd to act, and the crowd began throwing bottles, coins, rocks, etc. A few policemen, a writer from a newspaper, and some people being arrested locked themselves into Stonewall. After they barricaded themselves in, the crowd broke down the barricade and tried to set the building on fire. The fire department was able to rescue everyone from the building, put out the fire, and the crowd eventually dispersed. On the one year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, there was a march down the roads of Stonewall, the March is now recognized as the first Pride parade.

The Stonewall riots paved the way for many LGBTQ+ activists to start more riots, spread information, build their community, and demand equal rights. Many LGBTQ+ human rights foundations were made and continue to help improve the lives of many gay and transgender people. Because of Stonewall, gay people were allowed to be served alcohol in public spaces again and people started to speak out against the police and their violent treatment towards the community. The world has become a better and safer place now and Stonewall made almost all of this possible. The Stonewall Riot was the catalyst in the move toward equal human rights. It is the uprising credited with shifting the public view of gay rights in America.