Analysis Of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution By David Carter

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David Carter’s book, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution, analyzes the Stonewall riots that occurred during the summer of 1969. Carter views the Stonewall riots as the birth of the Gay Revolution. Carter broke down his book into three sections. The first section was titled, Setting The Stage. In this first section Carter gives his readers insight into some of the most prominent leaders that would emerge from the Stonewall riots. This first section also discussed the atmosphere at the time and the attitude towards the gay community. The second section of the book was named, The Stonewall Riots. In this second part of his book Carter researched the riots that occurred in late June of 1969. Carter utilized oral histories …show more content…

Carter mainly focused on gay men living in New York City that experienced the riots first hand. Carter concentrated on how sexual orientation of people shaped their entire life experience during the time period they were living in at the time. Carter gives insight into the struggle of the gay experience in the United States during the 1960s. Many people living during this time period had to live in the ‘closet.’ This means that people who were gay during this time could never fully come out and be themselves in society without facing repercussions. If they did come out there would be harsh consequences such as job loss or jail time. Carter does a great job of showing how gay people had to live in the shadows during the 1960s. Gay people did not have a bar, club, nor restaurant that would be accepting of them. Instead, if gay people wanted to go out and have a drink they would have to go to mafia ran bars and clubs. Within these clubs, the managers and owners were cruel to homosexuals even though the establishment invited them to their businesses. Gay people did not have a choice to go to any another places because there were no