This is yet another book that I came across and grabbed off the shelf while I was weeding. I have known the basics of the Stonewall riots because of the importance they play to the gay rights movement. There is a certain aura that surround them, and many people look back at them as being the start of things for the movement much the way the murder of Emmitt Till encouraged the Civil Rights Movement. I had seen a few documentaries about the riots, but I have always wanted to do more than stick my toe in the pool to test the waters. This was my chance.

Carter does a nice job of balancing the personal perspectives of what happened with the historical importance. It was not an easy job because so many people disagree about so many of the specific details surrounding the riots. He makes that clear from the very beginning. As a result, he tried to use as many sources as possible to corroborate various stories. This meant using interviews and oral histories from people that were there. He also looked to official police reports and periodical articles that presented the events at the time. As a result, the reader is presented with various perspectives that provide for a well-rounded view of the events that changed the way gays and lesbians viewed their rights.

Carter started by introducing us to many of the major players that ended up being involved in the events. Then, he describes the Stonewall Inn itself. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it was a hole in the wall bar that was run by the Mafia. Now you might think that meant the mob supported gays, but it was really just a chance to exploit something for money much the way they controlled speakeasies during Prohibition. It was against the law for places to be available for same-sex couples to dance as well as to sell them liquor. Leave it to the mob to find a way to do it and make a profit. To give you an idea, the three partners invested just $3500 to spruce up what was a burnt out structure and turned it into something that was bringing in $6000 a night!

One thing that I found most interesting is that the riots were just something that happened. They weren’t planned. It came about through a series of events that just made gays and lesbians frustrated. They were sick of being abused by the city, the police (who took money to avoid the bars, but then periodically raided them anyway), the mob, and society in general. So, when the police raided the Stonewall in at peak hours early on a Saturday morning, things got out of control pretty quickly.

There was shouting, pushing, shoving, marching, singing and throwing Molotov cocktails. The police ended up baracading themselves into the Stonewall in for their own protection before support came.

The story doesn’t end with a series of riots that continued on the following Sunday and Wednesday. It talks about how the riots brought about a realization that gays and lesbians had a voice,a nd that they could use it in the fight for equality. This led to the creation of two influention organizatons: the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Actavist Alliance. It was this second organization that organized the first gay pride march in June of 1970 to commemorate the riots. That is why we celebrate pride in June.

I also learned by lambda is a symbol for gays and lesbians. That has always been a bit of a mystery for me. Obviously, it is a one of the letters of the Greek alphabet, but I assumed that there was more to it than that. Well, it was chosen because it looks like an inverted y, and in science it is the symbol for the complete exchange of energy. That is amazing and incredibly deep. Originally, it was designed to be yellow on a navy field like the equal sign that is used for the Human Rights Campaign.

I am probably doing a crappy job summarizing the events of the riot as well as the aftermath because there is so much more to it, but this review can only be so long. It was just so inspirational to see the early movement progressed, particularly knowing how far we have come in the fight for equality. I thought the book was totally amazing.