On June 28, 1969, exactly 55 years ago, riots began at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York. It was this event that marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The most famous myth related to the events at Stonewall states that the revolution was started by Marsha P. Johnson, a black drag queen and queer icon. But Marsha repeatedly denied this, claiming that she did not arrive at Stonewall until after 2 a.m., when fighting with the police had already begun in earnest.
So who made LGBTQ people have the courage to start an uprising? Stormé DeLarverie, the daughter of an African-American woman and a white man. She was one of the first drag kings in the USA and a member of Jewel Box Review - the first racially inclusive drag queen revue. In the 1970s, Stormé worked as a security guard and bouncer in lesbian clubs.
On the night of June 28, during a police raid on a bar, Stormé got hit while trying to help a man who had been pushed to the ground, and had to confront a policeman who shouted at her, thinking he was a boy, 'Move, twat!'" She was hit with a baton and that was the first blow that started it all. Stormé DeLarverie hit the policeman with her bare fist and he was covered in blood.
Let's remember Stormé, the Rosa Parks of the LGBTQ+ community.
