ipl-logo

Stonewall Riots: The Rhetoric Of Destroying Property

1846 Words8 Pages

The Rhetoric of Destroying Property Destruction of property is often seen as an immoral act and can result in legal consequences such as fines or imprisonment. As a result, there is frequently a lot of controversy and ethical disagreements around the act when it is done as a form of protest. Beyond the ethical considerations of destruction of property, it is also important to consider the rhetorical objectives of those who commit the act. Those who commit destruction of property to protest employ it as a means of expressing discontent, anger, and frustration with the status quo. The intentional damaging, destroying, or defacement of someone else’s property without permission can be a bold and a visible form of protest that can draw attention …show more content…

Shortly after midnight on June 28, 1969, police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York City. The patrons of the bar fought back against the police, leading to violent clashes and destruction of property in the surrounding area. This drastic act drew attention to the mistreatment and discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community, who was fed up with the longstanding harassment by the law enforcement. Even though the initial conflict began in the Stonewall Inn, neighbors joined the protests after witnessing the fights against the police, which heavily involved property destruction. In these protests, the destruction of property was an act that demonstrated the deep grievances of the LGBTQ+ community who felt anger and frustration towards their constant mistreatment. The act also created a sense of urgency as it displayed that queer people could no longer tolerate the injustice they faced and thus had to turn to committing such a bold act, and this galvanized the support of neighboring people and forced them to join the protests. The destruction of property placed the same anger and frustration of the patrons onto the neighbors which drove them to participate in the protests. The Stonewall Riots, which were effective mainly through the destruction of property, has a legacy of increasing the number of gay rights organizations which sparked the Gay Rights

Show More
Related
173 Words | 1 Pages

In his article ‘Movements before Stonewall need to be remembered, too’, Adam Dupuis discusses the fact that while the Stonewall Uprising was an important event in LGBT history, the events before it should not be dismissed as lesser. The author emphasizes the Annual Reminders, seminal protests which took place in Philadelphia every Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. Not only were the Annual Reminders the first sustained LGBT demonstrations, but they were the first gay rights protests to have members from multiple cities, with forty activists from Washington, D.C., New York, and Pennsylvania participating. However, these events were discontinued upon the occurrence of the Stonewall Riot in 1969, when the organizers of the Reminders made the decision

Read More
76 Words | 1 Pages

The mid-20th century was a time of sociopolitical defiance in America, with the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War protests, second-wave feminism, and gay rights groups at the forefront. In this era, any sexuality or gender identity outside of the societal norm was condemned as not only illegal but a mental defect as well. By fighting back against the police that night in July, the Stonewall rioters took a stand for their rights and their

Read More
545 Words | 3 Pages

“A group of people decided they’d had enough. They took a stand and in doing so began the New York Gay Activist movement. Which eventually spread to other parts of the country…. I very much doubt they know the impact of their decision to stand firm that day in 1969, but it’s because of those people that gay rights exist in this country today,” Lynley Wayne, LGBT Writer. Everyday people are trying to stand up for themselves.

Read More
1262 Words | 6 Pages

A year later the same day was when the christopher street day liberation march was held. Stone wall was known heavily by the police because they were always down there arresting the queers and fine the establishment. The raiding officers were sometimes rough which turned into making police brutality a common occurrence especially at bars around the country. A raid on june 28 1969 sent fairies, drag queens, trans people and gender nonconforming people on a standoff that lasted 3 days and this is how it became known as the stonewall riots. Months after the riot it sparked a major turning point for the gay rights movement Howard participated in the march as well and Howard also a year later organized the christopher street liberation day march to mark the stonewall riots first anniversary.

Read More
1930 Words | 8 Pages

The stonewall riots had a moderate impact on the political and social landscape of America. Historical evidence exhibits that although the stonewall uprising did not change the trajectory of gay rights, it acted as a catalyst for de-stigmatization of LGBTQ+ members. The Stonewall uprising was a 6 day political protest and riot in response to the highly restrictive laws and policies promoting homophobia within America. With politicians and laws promoting homophobia within America from 1950 to 1969, systematic oppression forced queer persons to the outskirts of society. Subsequently, underground organizations became affiliated with queer communities to provide spaces to be openly gay.

Read More
92 Words | 1 Pages

Before Stonewall and the article of Chauncey are related because both share the same topic that is the homosexuality. Both explain the unleashing of the struggle for the rights of the homosexual minority of that time. This minority struggled to change the international perceptibility, to change the system and to get society to accept them because they were oppressed hiding their sexual preference. For example, they had different codes to hide their sexual preferences when they were in front of other people and they questioned from the inside because they were

Read More
1305 Words | 6 Pages

In Mobilizing a Memory, we follow liberal protestant Craig Reynolds as he juggles the transition from the homophile movement to its “rebirth” as a gay liberation movement in the wake of the Stonewall riots. White reveals that from the very outset, Reynolds and other homophile leaders spearheaded the charge to commemorate Stonewall. While some queer activists saw this rebirth at Stonewall as a secular split from oppressive religious control, White argues that in the attempt to “divorce from a religious past,” they created new variations of what they thought they left behind. SHORT JUSTIFY In her next section, Freedom Revival in Lavender, White follows pastor Troy Perry of the Metropolitan Community Church as the remembrance of Stonewall transitions from a local story to a national symbol.

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

The individual's relationship to the state is a concept often entertained abstractly; at variance with this is Civil Disobedience, which analyzes Thoreau's first direct experience with state power in his brief 1846 imprisonment. Thoreau metaphorically detailed his search for virtue in the quote, "The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly." (Thoreau 8) In Civil Disobedience Thoreau as earnest seeker and flawed captive of the conscience concertedly attempts to correct this shortcoming within the context of slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Read More
1249 Words | 5 Pages

In 1978 in Sydney a peaceful protest held in Kings cross occurred in demand to decriminalise homosexual acts. Thom Mitchel noted in his article “the police came in swinging… violent chaos,” (2016). One of the many instances seen during a time where police brutality and discrimination towards the gay community. Race notes that there has been some improvement by law enforcements towards the gay community often showing their support at events such as the Mardi Gras. There were, however, views that the law enforcement had taken a ‘step back in time’ as many criticised a large amount of police presence the annual event in 2009 as well as the use of sniffer dogs (Race, 2011).

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

Civil disobedience is the end-result of numerous years of struggle, fear and death. For a large quantity of individuals, civil disobedience is the only way out of oppression from a tyrannical leader. For example, the Chilean population under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, from 1973 to 1990, lived in constant trepidation because of the endless kidnappings, wrongful incarcerations, violation of human rights, torture and murder. By instilling fear on the masses, Pinochet was guaranteeing that his power and authority would remain in Chile, due to no one having the courage to publicize Pinochet's atrocities. Eventually, Chile's populace became tired of living in fear and mistrust, that they rallied leading to Pinochet being ousted

Read More
366 Words | 2 Pages

Drag has a rich history in society, and it was not always pleasant history. Before the 1960s, drag was essentially used for theater purposes back in the Shakespearian age, because women were not allowed to act in productions, so men dressed as women. In the 1960s however, there were around 500 drag queens actively working in the United States. Drag at that point was completely underground and taboo, as most of LGBT community was. The turning point of the LGBT rights movement was the Stonewall Riots in 1966 at the Stonewall Inn in New York.

Read More
942 Words | 4 Pages

This event highlighted the violence and discrimination that this community faced throughout this period, where they were treated as inferior to society and to some as a potential “threat.” This correlates to many topics discussed in class, such as social justice, civil rights, and the continuous fight for equality in America. With that said, LGBTQ+ individuals were fighting for equal treatment as well as decriminalizing homosexuality throughout the country. These efforts and resilience were very similar to the Civil Rights Movement that took place not too long before these Stonewall riots escalated. Not only that, but this event illustrated and reminded fellow Americans of the ongoing fight for social justice as well as standing against

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

The Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City’s Greenwich Village are remembered as a significant event in the struggle for LGBTQIA+ liberation in the United States and around the world. The Riots, often referred to as a rebellion by activists today, started when police officers, including four undercover officers, raided the Stonewall Inn and were met with resistance by the customers, many of whom were cross-dressing or presented as gender-conforming. Passersby witnessed the violent arrests and the people’s resistance. They joined the group of rioters in the ensuing hours of broken store windows, police car windows, and physical violence between the police and the predominantly LGBTQIA+ Stonewall customers. The heavy police violence and surveillance

Read More
1368 Words | 6 Pages

THE STONEWALL RIOTS The Stonewall riots are widely believed to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. Considered by some to be the "Rosa Parks" moment of the gay rights movement in America, the riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, in the early hours of June 28th, 1969. This single event has left a resounding impact on the fight for LGBT rights that can still be seen today. Throughout the 50s and 60s in the United States, the FBI along with local police departments kept close watch on what they believed to be "homosexual activity".

Read More
1058 Words | 5 Pages

Act of vandalism is define as unauthorised acting without the permission of an authorised Government or foreign country in the case of public property. Graffiti is counted as a form of vandalism which perform writing, painting, drawing or defacing premises or on any public and private property. Graffiti not only confronts and resists existing arrangement, but it also reduce the property values and destruct facilities on the local places. The increasing of graffiti vandalism are largely cause by the segregation and control of social space and graffiti writers perceive it as a forms of resisting particular group of legal, political and religious authority (Ferrell, 1995). The penalties in the cases of graffiti may include a three years jail sentences and three to eight strokes of cane, and also carry a fine about £1,000.

Read More

More about Stonewall Riots: The Rhetoric Of Destroying Property

Open Document