Praxis

How can we apply what you’ve just learned into your own life and organizing?

1. When speaking about the initial terminology surrounding the Stonewall uprising, White explained that “calling it a riot denigrated the importance of the event” (p. 19). What does he mean by this? How are terms like “riot,” “protest,” and “uprising” used by the media, scholars, and the general population today?

2. The fight for equality in the LGBTQ+ community did not stop after Stonewall. What are the current discussions, actions, and protests for LGBTQ+ rights focused on?

3. How do we reconcile with a revised history that does not tell the whole truth? 

4. How can we hold ourselves accountable in learning the actual history of historical moments such as Stonewall?   

Resources for further exploration into Stonewall:

• Podcast

  • Before Stonewall

• Articles

  • Stonewall Was a Riot

  • Whither Queer Liberation

• Organizations

  • The Audre Lorde Project – Based in New York City, the Audre Lorde Project focuses on community organizing and radical nonviolent activism around issues including LGBT+ communities, AIDS and HIV activism, and more.

  • The Stonewall Veterans Association – The SVA consists of LGBT+ patrons of the original Stonewall club in New York City who came into contact with routine and dangerous police raids

• Documentaries

  • The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

• Books

  • Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation by Tommi Avicolli Mecca

  • This Bridge Called My Back by Rosario Morales

• Instagram accounts

  • @lgbt_history

  • @lesbianherstoryarchives

  • @butchcamp

  • @queerbible

  • @visual_aids

  • @h_e_r_s_t_o_r_y

  • @thequeerarchive

Source

New York Public Library. (2019). The Stonewall Reader.

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