Fascinating article on the history of gay rights and the policing of public spaces in New York City

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from Dissent magazine:




Dancing in the Streets: Contested Public Spaces and the History of Queer Life
Benjamin Shepard - June 24, 2011


QUEERS THE world over reflect on the state of their movement every June, on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, when patrons of a Greenwich Village bar resisted a police raid and sparked a movement. Articles are written. Some celebrate; others demonstrate. Much of the debate centers on the successes and challenges of a movement that has aimed to establish a space for itself in the public commons, contested streets, and by extension the public sphere of ideas and debate. Queers ask whether the promise of Stonewall as a liberatory movement has been fulfilled, or if it has folded into the system, its dissent commodified like the annual Pride parade in New York City, with its ads for corporate sponsors like Bud Light. Others wonder, how can queer history inform our understanding of current struggles?

Multi-issue activists calling for a broadened understanding of human sexuality as a social justice issue constantly claim public space. So rather than simply integrate and assimilate, queer activists have spent the last four decades creating a consistent public presence (through actions, demonstrations, zaps, permitted and unpermitted parades) to ensure a diverse, open, and engaging public street of ideas, possibilities, and sexual self-determination.

The subtext of much of the discussion of the annual Pride parade is the uncertain meanings of queer history. “It’s all forgotten. Everyone’s gay movement began the day they joined the movement,” notes longtime activist Randolfe Wicker. In fact, queers had been lighting up the streets of the world for over a decade before the first brick was thrown in June 1969. In downtown Los Angeles, queers rioted in May 1958 after the police attempted to arrest a group at Cooper’s Donuts, long a late-night meeting place for hustlers, homosexuals, and street youth. “Two cops ostensibly checking I.D., a routine harassment, arbitrarily picked up two hustlers, two queens, and a young man just cruising and led them out. As the cops packed the back of the squad car, one of the men objected, shouting that the car was illegally crowded,” recalled author John Rechy. “While the two cops switched around to force him in, the others scattered out of the car.” Onlookers poured out of the donut shop, throwing whatever they could get their hands on, forcing the police to retreat. “The police faced a barrage of coffee cups, spoons, trash. They fled into their car, called backups, and soon the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars.” Eight years later in San Francisco, transgender patrons set off their own riot at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria when they were denied service.

.....(snip).....

In the months after she died, attacks on queer youth of color increased in the West Village. Many complained that the “Quality of Life” policing begun under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani specifically targeted youth of color who hung out on the West Side Piers. FIERCE (Fabulous Individuals for Education, Radical, Community Empowerment), an advocacy group for homeless queer youth, countered the hyper-control of this space by holding rallies and speak-outs and stacking community board meetings to publicize their call for services rather than policing. They called for the city to keep the West Village a safe space for LGBTQ youth, to give priority to their needs, and to counter their displacement and criminalization. The aim was to ensure that the West Village remained a place that benefits all of the communities who live, work, and access the area. In doing so, the group became a constituency while struggling to democratize access to public space itself. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=503

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1. Kick.

:kick: