Stonewall Riots

On June 28th, 1969, the Stonewall Riots changed the course of LGBTQ+ history.

June 28th, 1969

For many, it is the beginning.

It’s time to speak up,

time to stand out -

let them know our fury.

Our discontentment, our anger,

towards those who punish the lovers,

the different, the outcasts.

By all means, take the murderers,

who have slaughtered, killed, blackmailed

so many who did not deserve it.

But you harmed our own,

struck them with steel sticks and cutting words.

And in the eye of the growing storm,

a woman, hair cut short and suit sharply adorned,

yells, screams for rebellion

from those who surround her.

As fire lights up the sky the lovers,

armed with pride and hurt and resistance,

fight back.

As loving and crude tunes alike

fill the air with the sound of chorusing -

they fight back.

As the authorities who hide behind a locked door

call for friends, for their backup

to finish what they had started -

they fight back.

It’s morning now, and strangely quiet.

Those who were, not hours before,

fighting with passion and righteousness,

now sit on park benches and curbs -

not defeated, not beaten down,

but... contemplative.

We weren’t put down then,

tossed aside as the crowd

soldiered on side by side.

We didn’t concede defeat when,

in commonplace acts of anger,

they attacked our mind and bodies

with batons, with curses, with misguided justice.

If we survived then

with sheer numbers,

with borrowed words,

with tired soldiers…

Couldn’t we do so again?

Reviews

[SarahK]

I wrote a play about this and this conveys the message so well. Love and hope can fight against anything. So beautiful and strong.