Human Rights and Equality

Pride

On June 28th, Pride is celebrated all over the world commemorating the Stonewall Riots. It's commonly known that this riot start the LGBTA+ fight for equality because it was one of the first time when non normative people decided to fight against the system who was chasing them.

Everything start on the early hours of 28 June 1969 at the pub Stonewall Inn, one of the few bars where homosexual, transexuals, drag queens, feminine boys… were allowed. At 1:20 four plainclothes policeman, two patrol officers and two detectives arrived on the pub, closed the doors and announced that a raid was to occur that night. Once inside, they used the phone of the bar to warn backup from the sixth district.[One interesting fact is that that night was going on a party to Judy Garland (one of the fist gay divas) and her song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” inspire the future LGBTA+ flag] The most experienced tried to escape through the windows and doors, but they were quickly closed. However that night the raid was not as expected. Normally clients were lined up, their identification was checked, and police officers took clients dressed as women to the bathroom to check their sex and arrest any man dressed as a woman (Sometimes violations and abuses occurred in these bathrooms). But that night the ones who were dressed with woman clothes refused to follow the officers and the rest refused to show their identification. Police decided to took everyone to the station and transexuals and drag queens were separated in a room at the back of the bar. Both the police and the clients declared that the tension was increasing in part because some cops began to grope some lesbians while checking.

Those who were not arrested were released but instead of going home they began to gather at the door of the bar to observe what was happening. When the first police car arrived the people outside the pub tripled to those who were first caught inside. When the usual workers got outside the bar and got inside the car one of them shouted “¡Gay Power!” and someone start to sing We shall overcome. After this, several events would follow, beginning, this way, the riots : one cop pushed a trans woman and she reacted by hitting him with her purse and one “masculine” lesbian who was stuck with a truncheon start to insult and shout the policeman encouraging those present to do something.

The riots were extremely violent, by both sides, but this event was followed by millions of demonstrations in the United States and also in the rest of the world. A lot of people risked their live for human rights and equality and that is why every 28 of June Pride is celebrated, not just for those who where on Stonewall if not for all of the LGBTA+ people who had and who suffers today for the way they are.