Stonewall Riots

The word ‘Stonewall’ is now synonymous with gay rights. But ask most LGBT people in the UK what they think of when they hear it, and the majority will point to the Stonewall Foundation gay rights group. With a strategy of backroom lobbying and deals with the New Labour government, the Stonewall Foundation organise very little grass roots activity and in December 2003, upon the passing of the Employment Equality Regulation pronounced "Discrimination in the workplace – It’s so over!" Yet equal rights in the workplace for women were supposedly granted on the 1970s and there is still a disparity of 20% between women’s pay and men’s. It is true that gay rights are much stronger now than they were 50 years ago, but that is the result of the work of many LGBT people within communities and trade unions, not a few backroom deals. And that struggle is by no means over.

February 2005 was National Gay History Month. Though much of this focused on a cultural history, on the contributions of LGBT people to Art, Music & Literature, there is a social history that must not be overlooked. This is a history of the struggle against discrimination that LGBT people face in there everyday lives. It is a struggle that many still face today and a knowledge of that history is needed both to draw lessons from and to draw inspiration from. The original ‘Stonewall’, unlike its limp namesake, offers us both these things.

The Stonewall Inn, situated in New York’s Greenwich Village area, was like most gay bars of ‘60s NY: dank, dirty, tatty, lacking a liquor licence & run by the mob. Police chiefs would take back-handers and allow the bars to stay open, systematically raiding them and roughing up the predominantly working class clientele under the guise of ‘public morals’ in order to regulate their racket. These raids and the police violence that would inevitably ensue had happened thousands of times not just in New York, but across the US. So it was nothing unusual when on the 27^th of June 1969 the Stonewall Inn was busted. Things unfolded as they had countless times before: mafia bosses swiftly removed the cigar boxes which acted as tills, Officers demanded ID from customers, then either dragged them off to waiting police vans or pushed them outside and off the pavement. At this point something unusual happened. The manhandled customers started to fight back. Even those there aren’t sure what triggered the shift into action, but it had begun. Riot veteran Craig Rodwell said; "A number of incidents were happening simultaneously. There was no one thing that happened or one person, there was just a flash of group, of mass anger."

Mocking the police pay-offs – or ‘gayola’, as it was dubbed – the crowd began to throw coins at the police. Coins were quickly followed by rocks, bottles and anything else at hand. As the shocked police backed away, a wave of euphoria spread throughout the crowd and cheers ran out. Police vans were busted open and prisoners escaped to join the growing throng of protesters. Word spread throughout the city and hundreds of gay men & lesbians came down to join in the fray: black, white, hispanic, largely working class. They were united by their hatred of the persecution and extortion that they faced for just living the life that they did. Shouts of "Gay Power!" rang out and with them all of the anger at a system which forced them into a ghetto-like existence, but also a joy at finally kicking back against it. The police, confused but vicious, were now reinforced by the Tactical Patrol Force (TPF), a riot squad specifically trained to deal with people protesting against the Vietnam War.

Historian Martin Duberman describes what followed as the two dozen "massively proportioned" TPF riot police advanced on the protesters, arms linked in Roman Legion-style wedge formation:

The following evening saw the crowd swell from 100’s to 1000’s. For the next week, Stonewall was the focal point of protests and disturbances every evening. Leaflets headed "Get the mafia & cops out of gay bars!" were handed out.

The aftermath of the riots saw discussions taking place within the gay community, and the first weeks of July saw the emergence of a small LGBT group called the Gay Liberation Front. Consciously choosing its name to reflect anti-imperialist struggles in Vietnam & Algeria, the GLF quickly grew and comparable bodies emerged in places such as Germany, Australia, Britain & France. In the US, layers of the GLF went on to collect funds for striking workers, organize solidarity action for arrested Black Panthers and draw the conclusion that gay liberation had to be linked to the struggle for socialism.

Though the GLF is no more, the heroic action of the men & women of stonewall still inspires. And though things have improved since then, it is only through the courageous and persistent campaigning of LGBT people.

But as some in the GLF and many since have realized, the struggle for liberation needs to be linked to the struggle for socialism. Capitalism has a vested interest in keeping prejudice and division alive. In Britain, successive Conservative and New Labour governments, who both support the free market system, have used the ideology of the family to buttress their social and economic system. This can be seen not just in discrimination against LGBT people, but also in their attacks upon single parents and the prevalence of ideas such as so-called ‘family values’. This archaic technique of divide-and-rule will be kept alive because it helps prop up a system which promotes the interests of a rich elite at the expense of everyone else.

We’ve come a long way, but the struggle is not "so over", and as inspiration for us today and tomorrow, the history of struggle must not be forgotten and must be kept alive.

Reggae is close to my heart. I run a small sound system with my housemate in Manchester and make weekly trips down to Moss Side to buy 7" 45s of our favourite artists. The style we prefer is ‘conscious’ reggae, which sounds a lot like older roots of the 1970s and 1980s, but produced in a more modern digital style.

A lot of controversy has arisen lately over the lyrical content of artists such as Buju Banton. Such artists are criticised for inciting homophobia and violence against gays. Buju’s early 1990s hit, ‘Boom Bye Bye’, is one such example, which incites shooting and attacking gay people.

A Buju Banton gig was cancelled last year due to his homophobic lyrics. But there are a number of factors that make this ban problematic. Firstly, Buju’s lyrics have changed a lot since the release of ‘Boom Bye Bye’ over a decade ago. He reinvented himself, along with other ‘slack’ deejays, such as Capleton, releasing songs in the ‘conscious’ style, most notably ‘Murderer’, which is about his friend getting shot dead. The song criticises gunmen and gun crime in general. However, even after his move to a more conscious style, he never seriously refuted the message of ‘Boom Bye Bye’ and continues to support and collaborate with blatantly violent homophobic artists, such as Elephant Man, as well as collecting royalties from his older homophobic releases. And there are far worse artists, like Vybz Kartel, who specifically target Jamaican gay liberation groups, such as J-Flag, in their lyrics.

The Buju gig was cancelled with virtually no publicity. It seemed to be decided in the bureaucracy of the council, behind closed doors. Apparently, the police had stepped in amid fears of violence, as a gay-rights protest was due to be held outside the venue. Surely it would have been better to engage in a debate that involved the wider community about the homophobic nature of the lyrics and why it is wrong, rather than simply banning the gig for ambiguous ‘legal reasons’, which have little meaning or relevance amongst ordinary people?

Peter Tatchell and OutRage! state: "Our aim is to make Britain a no-go area for entertainers who incite violence against gay people." (www.petertatchell.net) Is this the right way forward? It could mean effectively calling for the banning of a massive proportion of reggae artists who are very popular with younger audiences – people who face discrimination and marginalisation themselves on a daily basis. Furthermore, reggae concerts are only one small part of the scene, and most people listen to reggae (including that which incites homophobia) through the unregulated, underground systems of circulation such as pirate radio, sound systems and clubs.

Whilst banning concerts tends to raise a high media profile, only being concerned with concerts means that broadcasting of the majority of homophobic reggae to mass audiences is ignored.

Some people hark back to the ‘good old days’ of Bob Marley and peace, love and unity. However, the roots of homophobia in reggae go way back, including in plenty of roots songs from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Also, there is a danger that the focus today is only on homophobia, ignoring any positive messages or the overall culture. There is a danger of alienating those who would attend these gigs, without addressing homophobia in everyday life. It could be seen as an attack on reggae and Caribbean culture in general. It could even drive homophobia deeper into the consciousness of reggae audiences.

These are not simple issues with easy answers. What about the more overtly violent homophobic artists, such as Capleton and Sizzla? Would we support closing down their gigs? Is it the same as stopping the incitement to racist violence by fascist bands like Screwdriver?

It is important to point out the seriousness of the situation in Jamaica itself, where gay people suffer extreme persecution (see: www.jflag.org). Being gay in Jamaica is still against the law, and the police have been known to join in violent attacks on gays. Gay people are frequently physically abused, being literally burned, as incited by some artists. This situation is terrible, and we should raise awareness of this, as well as any similar situations around the world.

Homophobia in reggae is a big problem, and should not be defended for any reason. Inciting violence against gay people is wrong in the same way as, for example, the inciting of violence against black people is wrong. Therefore, I can see why certain reggae artists should be banned. My main issue is that this should be done in a democratic way in which it is clear why the gig has been cancelled and who has banned it. More importantly, banning gigs is just one part of the fight against homophobia; it must be backed up by more far reaching face-to-face work. Tatchell and groups like OutRage! continue to do a lot to campaign for gay rights. The issue here is largely to do with the tactics of the gay rights movement.

The best way we can tackle homophobia is to unite working-class people across lines of sexuality, race and gender to fight against the oppression that affects us all and to fight for better services and conditions. This is another reason why the call for a new mass workers’ party is important, as this will be a significant step towards breaking down barriers of prejudice. Furthermore, we will have to continue to fight against prejudice until we replace capitalism with socialism.