![]() She saw a man on the ground near the Stonewall Inn and was trying to help him up when the police stopped her. On that fateful June night, after Stormé finished a show at the Apollo, she came down to Greenwich Village, still dressed as she would have been onstage. She was already known at the time for her drag performances with the Jewel Box Revue, a touring company of female impersonators-and one male impersonator-who were regulars at the Apollo. There is one person who multiple witnesses agree was present at Stonewall during the first night of the uprising, and who physically fought back against the police: Stormé DeLarverie, a Black, butch lesbian. Over the years, many myths about Stonewall have risen and been contested, and if you’re interested in the debate over “who threw the first brick,” I recommend this New York Times video. There are very few photographs of the Stonewall uprising, partly because it was not widely covered by the respectable mainstream press, and the coverage it did receive in New York’s tabloids, including the Village Voice, was riddled with anti-gay slurs. Pigs were loading her into the wagon when she shouted to a big crowd of bystanders: ‘Why don’t you guys do something!’” “Ironically, it was a chick who gave the rallying cry to fight. Or, as the Berkeley Barb, an alternative weekly from Berkeley, California, described it: Or perhaps it was a lesbian who punched a cop. Legend has it that the riot was instigated by someone who threw a brick at the police. The patrons of the bar fought back, leading to the six days that would become known as the Stonewall Riots. Police raids on gay bars were common at the time, but this night would be different. A collection of her personal artifacts, including her iconic leather jacket and motorcycle helmet, can be found in the Schomburg Center for Research of Black Culture at the New York Public Library.In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Stormé DeLarverie died at age 93, after suffering from dementia. Cannistraci added that she “just lived to be of service.” “She was a very serious woman when it came to protecting people she loved,” Lisa Cannistraci, the owner of Henrietta Hudson, told the Associated Press. She carried a licensed pistol and was unafraid to trade her kind demeanor for toughness when necessary. This prompted her to walk through the West Village at night, checking in on lesbian bars like Cubbyhole and Henrietta Hudson. She was intolerant of “ugly,” which was her term for bigotry and bullying of the LGBTQ+ community. She was known to lend her singing voice to fundraisers for victims of domestic violence. She was a member of the Stonewall Veterans Association, worked as a bouncer at several historic gay bars, and often marched at the front of the annual pride parade in New York City. Her drag king persona challenged gender expression long before the creation of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race.Īfter Stonewall, DeLarverie remained prominent in activist circles. She also performed at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem and at Radio City Music Hall. She worked with the Ringling Brothers Circus, traveled with the Jewel Box Revue (North America’s first racially integrated drag revue), and could carry a tune well into her 80s. She would celebrate on Christmas Eve.ĭeLarverie spent much of her life in entertainment. DeLarverie had a black mother and white father and since interracial marriage was illegal in the United States until 1967, she never received an official birth certificate. She was born in New Orleans in 1920, but the exact date is unknown. But DeLarverie led a life of activism beyond Stonewall, which she called not a riot but “a rebellion, an uprising, a civil rights disobedience.” The three day occupation on Christopher Street has since been memorialized as the catalyst for modern LGBTQ+ rights groups and movements across the country. As this took place, she allegedly shouted to the growing crowd, “Why don’t you do something?” Officers had handcuffed DeLarverie and hit her over the head with a billy club while she struggled. Some accounts, including her own, paint Stormé DeLarverie - a black lesbian and drag king - as the person who rallied bystanders to resist the police. Arguments about bricks thrown and activists present at the start of the conflict continue to evolve as queer history is brought into the mainstream. ![]() The events on Jat The Stonewall Inn are often disputed. The seventh is Stormé DeLarverie (1920–2014). ![]() In honor of the upcoming anniversary, we are highlighting one LGBTQ+ activist every week. A promotional photo of DeLarverie during her time performing with Jewel Box Revue.Īlmost 50 years have passed since the Stonewall Uprising sparked the modern gay civil rights movement.
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