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Essay On The Stonewall Riots

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The Stonewall Riots are often credited as the start of the modern LGBTQ+ movement. Not only do people call it the start of the LGBTQ+ movement one can also see all the important social and political changes in favor of the queer community after the Stonewall uprising. The Stonewall Riots sparked the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement because it provided solidarity. In the article Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square journalist Lucian Truscott talks to poet Allen Ginsberg on the Sunday night of the riots. Allen Ginsberg describes the feeling of pride that the Stonewall Riots prompted "You know, the guys there [at the Stonewall Inn] were so beautiful — they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago." The feeling of gay pride and gay …show more content…

In the 1970s 19 states repealed their anti-sodomy laws.(ACLU) It is also important to recognize that Illinois repealed their anti-sodomy in 1961, eight years before the Stonewall Riots. The new gay power and pride made queer people feel more secure in being out. This lead to the public seeing gay people not as a covert evil menace, but they were able it start accepting them for who they were.
One can see the clear difference between the social and political climate for queer people in 1900s and in 2010. One noticeable difference is the language that is seen as acceptable by society and the language people use in general. In an article Lucian Truscott IV wrote about the Stonewall Riots in 1969 he regularly uses the gay slur faggot “The forces of faggotry, spurred by a Friday…” there was no evident backlash to his liberal use of the gay slur. In contrast when comedian Bob Hope, while on the Tonight Show in 1988, called an audience member a “fag” for wearing a colorful tie, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD) successfully pressured him into apologizing. Not only did the gay rights organization get Hope to apologize they also had him record a PSA condemning anti-gay language.(The

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