HISTORY OF PRIDE IN THE PARK
GAY AND LESBIAN HISTORY MONTH
HISTORY OF STONEWALL INN... FIRST STEPS OF THE GAY ACTIVISM IN AMERICA
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RAINBOW FLAG AND THE PINK TRIANGLE?
QUICKLINKS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES
In 1989, a group of individuals from different organizations within the Roanoke Valley came together to plan the first Pride in the Park. Throughout the years, this event has grown to encompass many aspects of our community. In addition to the Lambda Service Award and the Community Service Award, which are always presented during the Pride in the Park festival, in 1999 the Pride committee voted to start donating a portion of the proceeds from our fund-raising to several area organizations, which we have continued. Roanoke Pride, Inc. was formed in 2001 from the foundation of the Pride in the Park committee.
Committee meetings are open to all and the dates / time is posted on the homepage.
If you need more information please contact us.
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STONEWALL INN RIOTS
Contrary to popular belief, activists had been fighting for homosexual rights for years prior to the Stonewall Riots. In 1950, a homosexual man named Harry Hay and a group of homosexual activists decided that they were tired of unequal treatment because of their sexual orientation. Because of their strong motivation, they launched the Mattachine Society, which unified isolated homosexuals and also encouraged them to fight for their rights. The activism of the Mattachine Society served as an inspiration for the first student gay rights organization. Students at certain colleges began to see the importance of equal rights for people who were gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender. The first student gay rights group was formed in 1967 at Colombia University. The group began because of a student, Stephen Donaldson, who identified himself as bisexual. After the discrimination that he faced for being honest about his sexual orientation, he decided to form a Mattachine-like group called the Student Homophile League that advocated for gay rights. Although he faced challenges in trying to get the University to accept the organization, Donaldson eventually received approval from the administration. While the SHL attracted negative attention from the media, it inspired other gay activists to begin SHL chapters at different universities. In 1968, the second gay rights group to be formed on a college campus was created at Cornell University in New York by Jerald Moldenhaurer. When he decided to take on the leadership role, he said to fellow activist Stephen Donaldson, “ the mere presence of such an organization…will help to stimulate a more honest, healthy attitude about homosexuality.” Many people believe that the gay rights movement began the night after the Stonewall Riots. However, prior to the riots, students like Donaldson and Moldenhaurer had been fighting for equality. After the Stonewall Riots, lesbian/gay/bisexual /transgendered activists were motivated to form a group called the Gay Liberation Front. The name was chosen for its association with the anti-imperialist struggles in Vietnam and Algeria.
Law enforcement raids on gay bars and discotheques were a regular part of gay life in cities across the United States, until the 1960s, when sudden raids on bars in many major cities became markedly less frequent. Most conclude that the decline in raids can be attributed to a series of court challenges and increased resistance from the Homophile Movement.
Prior to 1965, the police would sometimes record the identities of all those present at a raid, occasionally providing the information to newspapers for publication. Police used any convenient justification to make arrests on charges of indecency including kissing, holding hands, cross dressing - even merely being in the bar at the time of the raid.
In 1965, two important figures came into prominence. The first was John Lindsay, a liberal Republican who was elected mayor of New York City on a reform platform. The other was Richard Leitsch, who became president of the New York City chapter of the Mattachine Society at around the same time. Leitsch was considered relatively militant compared to his predecessors and believed in direct action techniques commonly used by other civil rights groups in the 1960s.
In early 1966, administration policies had changed because of complaints made by Mattachine that the police were on the streets entrapping gay men and charging them with indecency. The police commissioner, Howard Leary, instructed the police force not to lure gays into breaking the law and also required that any plain clothes officers must have a civilian witness when a gay person was arrested. This policy caused entrapment of gay men to become much less common in New York City (D’Emilio 207).
In the same year, in order to challenge the State Liquor Authority (SLA) regarding its policies over gay bars, Leitsch conducted a "sip in." Leitsch had called members of the press and planned on meeting at a bar with two other gay men—a bar could have its liquor license taken away for knowingly serving a group of three or more homosexuals—to test the SLA policy of closing bars. When the bartender at Julius turned them away, they made a complaint (D’Emilio 208).
The question then remains why the Stonewall was raided if gay bars were legal and on the rise. John D’Emilio, a prominent historian, points out that the city was in the middle of a mayoral campaign and John Lindsay, who had lost his party’s primary, had reason to call for a cleanup of the city’s bars. There were a number of reasons that made the Stonewall Inn an easy target: it operated without a liquor license; had ties to organized crime; and, “offering scantily clad go-go boys as entertainment, it brought an ‘unruly’ element to Sheridan Square” (D’Emilio 231).
The Stonewall Inn was frequented mainly by Black and Hispanic gay men. Many of those present were transgender and/or drag queens.
Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine, who led the raid on the bar that first night, claims that he was ordered to close the Stonewall Inn because it was the central location for gathering information on gay men who worked on Wall Street. A recent increase in the number of thefts from brokerage houses on Wall Street led police to suspect that gay men, forced by blackmail, were behind the thefts. (Carter 262)
The patrons of the Stonewall were used to such raids and the management was generally able to reopen for business either the same night or the following day.
On Saturday morning, June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village where gay people frequently gathered to socialize on Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A number of factors differentiated the raid that took place on June 28 from other raids at the Stonewall Inn. Because raids had occurred at the Stonewall Inn in the past, managers usually knew what to expect when a raid was about to occur. Likewise, raids tended to occur earlier in the evening, which allowed the bar to continue with normal business for the busiest hours of the night. On June 28th, however, an unexpected raid unfolded at the Inn. At approximately 1:20 am, eight police officers entered the bar with a warrant authorizing a search for illegal sales of alcohol. Of the eight policemen, only one was dressed in his uniform. The police questioned the customers and made many of them show identification. Many were escorted out of the bar, and some were even arrested. The escorted crowd became very angry and began to cause chaos outside of the Inn. While the police loaded arrested patrons into the police van, the existing crowd responded with catcalls and then, eventually exploded. They threw bottles at the officers, and even used a parking meter as a battering ram. Heterosexual folk singer Dave van Ronk, who was walking through the area, was grabbed by the police, pulled into the bar, and beaten. The crowd’s attacks were unrelenting. Word quickly spread of the riot and many residents, as well as patrons of nearby bars, rushed to the scene. When the police officers went inside the bar, the angry clients blockaded the Inn and then torched it.Eventually, the protesting crowd was so strong that each time the police would disperse the mob, a new group would re-form behind the police’s back, preventing them from actually breaking up the riot. Over the course of five days, the crowd of 400 protesters continued throwing bottles and lighting fires around the Inn. Police attempted to capture some of the violent rioters. If the rioters did not act fast enough, they were pushed and shoved and even clubbed to the ground by officers. Protesters in the crowd began to scream "Gay Power" and some activists dressed as drag queens started chanting:
- We are the Stonewall Girls
- We wear our hair in curls
- We wear no underwear
- We show our pubic hair
- We wear our dungarees
- Above our nelly knees
Throughout the night the police singled out many transgender people and gender nonconformists, including butch women and effeminate men, among others, often beating them. On the first night alone 13 people were arrested and four police officers, as well as an undetermined number of protesters, were injured. It is known, however, that at least two rioters were severely beaten by the police (Duberman 201-202). Bottles and stones were thrown by protesters who chanted “Gay Power!” The crowd, estimated at over 2000, fought with over 400 police officers.
The police sent additional forces in the form of the Tactical Patrol Force, a riot-control squad originally trained to counter Vietnam War protesters. The tactical patrol force arrived to disperse the crowd. However, they failed to break up the crowd, who sprayed them with rocks and other projectiles.
Eventually the scene quieted, but the crowd returned again the next night. While less violent than the first night, the crowd had the same energy as it had on the previous night. Skirmishes between the rioters and the police ensued until approximately 4:00 a.m.. The third day of rioting fell five days after the raid on the Stonewall Inn. On that Wednesday, 1,000 people congregated at the bar and again caused extensive property damage.
Numerous books on this North American gay civil rights flash point have been written. In 2004, St. Martin's Press published David Carter's Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, based on ten years of research and interviews with participants. In the book Carter examines inconsistencies of historical record, debunking a number of myths that have surrounded the events of June 1969, including the oft-repeated urban legend that it was the death of Judy Garland that sparked the riots.
Source: www.Wikipedia.com
What is the significance of the Rainbow Flag and the Pink Triangle?
The Rainbow Flag is an international symbol of Gay and Lesbian Pride. The flag was conceived by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco resident. He had copies of the flag made which were flown at San Francisco’s Pride events in 1978. The flag with its 6 horizontal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, represent the diversity and unity of the gay and lesbian community.
The pink triangle was used to mark male homosexuals in the concentration camps of Hitler’s Third Reich, while lesbians, female dissidents, and prostitutes were forced to wear black triangles. Both the pink and the black triangles have now been adopted by many in the gay community as symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride and determination.
Source: www.hopinc.org
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Reverend Catherine Houchins
Worship 11:00 AM on Sundays
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Monthly dinner gathering and conversations
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Political Interest & Advocacy
Equality Virginia
Seeking equality for all virginians Equality Virginia is a
statewide non-partisan lobbying, education, and support
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1989 as Virginians for Justice, EV has members across the
Commonwealth.
Website
Email: info@equalityvirginia.org
6 North Sixth Street, Suite LL3, Richmond, VA 23219
804-643-4816 or fax 804-643-2050
Gay and Lesbian Voters League
Contact Whit at (540) 345-2936
Log Cabin Republicans of Virginia
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info@VaLogCabin.org
Phone: 703-940-9136
Roanoke7, Inc.
PO Box 4274
Roanoke, VA 24015
Phone 540-819-3595
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Alternative Country
1st Fri, lessons & dancing.
8:00 PM at The Park, 615 Salem Ave. SW,
Roanoke
(Ring front bell to be let in)
Fellowship Bowling League
Roanoke GLBT bowling league.
(540) 345-7186
Outright Roanoke Book Club
outrightroanokebooks@yahoo.com
We are a new book club for LGBT youth!
Each month we read a book that has an
LGBT theme or main character.
We meet on the first Thursday of each
month from 7-8pm.
Rogues Leather/Levi Club
We now meet on the Second Friday of the month
Call: Sam W. (540) 427-4394
rogues@cox.net
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OUTRIGHT --LesBiGayT youth group
2nd & 4th Thursdays 7:00-8:45 PM
Roanoke City Library / Main Branch / Downtown
(540) 966-7165 OutrightRoanoke@yahoo.com
PFLAG: Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays
3rd Thursdays, 7:00 PM. at Church of the Brethren
3110 Pioneer Rd., NW Roanoke
Contact Charles (540) 427-2137 or Mary (540) 890-3957
The Blue Ridge Society
Serving the Transgendered Community of
Central and Southwest Virginia. Monthly meetings
and activities in the Roanoke, VA area.
Yahoo Group
Shenandoah Valley Gay & Lesbian Association
(540) 574-INFO
GLBT Codependents Anonymous
Tuesdays at 7:15 PM
MCCBR, 124 Kirk Avenue,
Roanoke, Virginia (540)344-4444
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College & University
LGBTA at Virginia Tech
8-10:00 PM, Thursdays during school year
(540) 231-7975 or lgbta@vt.edu
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The LGBT Caucus
Faculty/Staff/Grad Student advocacy group at VT
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SPECTRUM - GLBT Club
Ferrum College - Contact: smead@ferrum.edu
Radford GLBT Student Union
Contact: glbsu@runet.edu
Roanoke College Lambda Alliance
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OUTLoud of Hollins University
outloud@hollins.edu
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AIDS & HIV Information
Council of Community Services -
HIV / STD Resources
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CCSAIDSCouncil@juno.com
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OperationLifesaver
HIV/STD Prevention for M2M
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Coalition for AIDS AwaReness VA Tech
CAARVT@vt.edu
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Anonymous HIV Testing
Martinsville/Henry County Health Department
Tuesdays, 5:00-7:00 PM (540) 638-1804
Montgomery County Health Department
Mondays, 5-7:00 PM
VA Tech & Radford Univ. during fall & spring
(540) 381-7100
Roanoke City Health Department
Mondays, 3-6:00 PM
in RAP Office every first Wednesday
(540) 857-7653
Washington County Health Department
3rd Mondays, 4:30-7:30 PM
(540) 628-9255
Wythe County Health Department
2nd & 4th Thursday, 4:30 - 7:30 PM
(540) 228-8629.
VA AIDS Drug Assistance Program
HIV-related medications for low income individuals
without insurance. Contact your local Health
Department for details.
Appalachian AIDS Coalition
Serving far southwest Virginia
Contact Sarah Jane Lee at the
Russell County Health Department
(540) 889-6721
Carilion Comprehensive HIV Services
Adult HIV Clinic: (540) 981-7406
Pediatric HIV Clinic: (540) 224-4429
Coalition for HIV Awareness and Prevention
Serving Lynchburg/Central Virginia Area
Contact ACWV (800) 385-3388 ext. 3200
Lyn-CAG HIV Housing Assistance
Serving Lynchburg/Central Virginia Area
Contact Jackie Jones (804) 846-2778
New River Valley AIDS Coalition
Serving the New River area - (540) 381-5473.
Roanoke AIDS Project
Serving Roanoke Valley & Allegheny Highlands -
(504) 345-4840 RAProject@aol.com
Southside AIDS Venture
Serving Danville & Pittsylvania Co.
(804) 799-5190 ext. 126
West Piedmont AIDS Task Force
Serving Martinsville/West Piedmont
(540) 666-2437 Wpatf@kimbanet.com
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