“After the second night of rioting, it had become clear to many that a major upheaval, a kind of seismic shift, was at hand.”

I’d been wanting to brush up on the history of Stonewall (June 27, 1969) because I’d forgotten most of what I learned in school. In 1999, on the 30th anniversary of Stonewall, it had been my first time in New York City. I’d met up with an ex-boyfriend, who could be described as moderate to conservative. We were just wandering around the city with no plans when we stumbled on the gay pride parade AT THE INTERSECTION OF STONEWALL AND CHRISTOPHER STREET (which is where the riots took place). I knew the significance, at least part, but even conservative Scott had a great time at the parade.

So when I saw this book on NetGalley, I was thrilled. I got more than I bargained for. Part of this felt very academic and like I was back in grad school, but most of it was just very readable history that focuses on six different gay and lesbian activists including a black woman, three white men, a Latino transvestite, and a Jewish woman.

What I remembered most clearly from whatever gender studies class I took when I learned about Stonewall was that male police officers would shove their hands down women’s pants to be sure she was wearing “female appropriate” underwear. If a person with pudenda that marked them as having one sex on their birth certificate wasn’t wearing at least three pieces of “gender appropriate” clothing AS DEEMED BY NEW YORK LAW, he or she could be arrested. Can you imagine what a waste of a cops’ time to go around harassing gay people for being gay?

I didn’t realize that Stonewall was a dive bar run by mafia. Because in the sixties gay folks had no rights and could indeed be arrested, the mafia saw a way to make money and gay folks didn’t have alternatives because someone who was openly gay could be denied a loan. It’s still legal to discriminate against the LGBTQ community in 31 states. (!) So marriage is legal, but in many states you can be fired simply for your sexual orientation or that you identify differently than what your birth certificate says. Right now in Texas they are trying to pass legislation to allow it to be OK to deny homosexuals health care. (!)

I did know that lots of black women were slow to join to identify as feminist, partially because white feminists were concerned with middle class white women issues and weren’t immediately on board with the idea that feminism has to deal with race and class as well as gender. The Black Panthers were very male dominated, as were many of the emerging groups trying to get equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Men were used to dominating the discussion and talked over women who the males thought should be fetching coffee with their mouths firmly closed.

In that period of history, there was considerable disagreement among the gay community about whether or not it was important to look “respectable”—suits and ties for men and dresses for women—and what “queens’” place was in the revolution.

There had already been much activism before the nights of the Stonewall riots, which lasted basically two days and resulted in a fair amount of destruction of property and injured cops and severely injured (beaten up) activists. Obviously, in 1969, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. Second wave feminism. MLK had been shot the year before. And, of course, what unified just about everyone on the left, the Vietnam war.

If you’re interested in history as it pertains to gender and civil rights, this is very well done. It was originally published in 1994 and updated to mark the 50th anniversary of the riots.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

For more reviews, please visit http://www.theresaalan.net/blog