The Stonewall Inn Riots
The Gay Liberation Movement and How the Coming Out Model Began
Stonewall: The Historical Event
Before Stonewall, gays and lesbians in America had begun to organize in what was called the homophile movement. Groups such as the Mattachine Society were instrumental in getting the ball rolling on gay rights and acceptance of LGBT people in society, and the slogan "Gay is Good" first emerged in this period, with members slowly turning to more vocal protests and legal action. (Miller, Out of the Past 1995, 343.) However, it wasn't until the Stonewall riots that the more aggressive Gay Liberation Movement began.
On the night of June 17, 1969, police officers conducted a raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York City. Such raids were not uncommon, but this time the patrons fought back. The mood started out celebratory, and then turned violent, with the crowds outside beginning to attack the police officers who barricaded themselves inside the bar. The protests and violence went on throughout the weekend, and by the time it was over the gay liberationists had a strategy - from then on, they would be out and proud. (Miller, 365-68).
Stonewall as a Symbol for Gay Pride and Coming out of the Closet
The attitudes that emerged from the Stonewall riots are perhaps most important to what the gay rights movement was to become. Gays and lesbians combined celebration with aggression, sending the message that homosexuality was not something to be ashamed of, and simultaneously that gay men and lesbians would be more proactive in the future and fight regressive policies and police practices.
As the gay liberation movement took shape, a pattern of identity formation emerged that still holds today both in the United States and throughout the Western world. Young gays and lesbians are encouraged to "come out of the closet," and express their gay pride in parades and festivals. The closet is portrayed as an unfriendly place of denial and self-hatred, where in contrast being out means partying in the streets and embracing one's true self, similar to the drag queens and gay men who sang and danced on Christopher Street in 1969.
Exporting the Stonewall Model into the Developing World
Though this model of identity formation works well for many gays and lesbians, for some the model is less than ideal. Gay rights activists have used traditional media, the Internet, and NGOs to export this model to the developing world, in a way that makes it easy for homophobic state leaders to denounce the gay rights movements as a whole as a form of colonialism.
Hassan El Menyawi, an Egyptian activist, suggests an alternative in his 2006 article, "Activism from the Closet: Gay Rights Strategising in Egypt" (Melbourne Journal of International Law). In environments where it is unsafe or impractical to come out, Menyawi recommends that activists instead embrace the closet, and bring others in as well. The revolutionary idea of the "expanding closet" welcomes not only LGBT people within the country but also NGOs, outside leaders, and others to join those in the closet as allies. This alternative model gives LGBT people a chance to be safe and have their privacy respected while improving their environment and making crucial alliances within the country. The idea is that eventually, hostile nations will find themselves at a point where acceptance of LGBT people is politically necessary and people will be free to choose whether to come out or "stay in."
Toronto Gay Pride
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