The Historic Fight for Equal Rights
During the last weekend of June of 1969, police and Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agents entered this vary bar I’m standing in front of, “The Stonewall Inn” on Christopher Street, in New York City. “Allegedly there to look for violations of the alcohol control laws, they made the usual homophobic comments and then, after checking identification, threw the patrons out of the bar, one by one. Instead of quietly slipping away into the night, as we had done for years, hustlers, drag queens, students and other patrons held their ground and fought back. Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it to barricade the door. 
The agents and police were trapped inside, They wrecked the place and called in reinforcements. Their vehicles raced to the scene with lights glaring and sirens blaring. The crowd grew. Someone set a fire. More people came. For three days, people protested. And for the first time, after innumerable years of oppression, the chant, Gay Power, rang out.” (Stonewall Rebellion History)
While in New York City last weekend for my birthday, I couldn’t help but be inspired by this vary spot where so many of the men and woman of the LGBT family that I look up to had collectively made a decision that night to stand up for who they were and no longer fall victim to the political harassment’s and public acts of hate against homosexuals. As I stood posing for the photo, an incredible sense of power and honor rush through me, while also a sense of humility entered as I thought of the men and women’s feet that stood in that vary spot years before and fought for many of the rights I as a gay man have this vary day. Yes, I am reminded that we still fight for our rights and face many oppositions with same-sex marriage, but with the inspiration of what began at Stonewall, the dream of one day having a spouse and sharing the same rights as a married man and woman aren’t worth giving up on!
I know that many of us have experienced the roller coaster of the struggling economy, but one thing we do have to offer if not monetary support of Human Rights, NOH8 campaign and other equal rights movements would be volunteering your time to strengthen our voice. Many of the local organization offices offer resources that allow anyone who is willing to take part at your pace and availability. The Human Rights Campaign offers a program that allows you to enter neighborhoods in teams and speak with individuals that are just not educated on what we as gay men and women are facing, these individuals believe and vote still based on what was embedded in them growing up and threw mostly the opinion of others in their lives! So many of our LGBT family do not give support at all, thinking their vote during the election was enough! That’s just simply not the case! We need your voice to remain consistent and in a anti-violent yet demanding state of urgency! And if you are able to support the movements in a financial way, don’t wait for it to come to you on the sidewalks of your local gay neighborhood, but rather go right now to the website and donate as every second counts to the next decision to limit our rights!
XOXO, Tucker
Tucker, I’m impressed that you have posted this entry – it helps draw peoples attention back to the more profound issues which affect us as gay people the world over and provides a
reminder of what others sacrificed on our behalf. Stonewall turned out to be a pivotal moment for gay rights and its impact extended far beyond New York, because in the following year (1970) gay men and lesbians built their own versions of GLF in Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Australia and New Zealand. Although the GLF is no more the concept of ‘gay power’ is as strong as ever. Like a lot of other gay men I was exposed to discrimination as a gay child (from nine years old onwards) not only by other children, but worse – by ADULTS who should have known better. In spite of this, I can honestly say (hand on heart) that I have never once agonised about my orientation (then or now). I was born gay and consider myself to be an individual first and a proud gay man second.
Re gay marriage: Although we have a ‘Civil Partnership’ in the U.K. (which is viewed as a legal marriage between gays and lesbians) there is still discrimination in my view because there is no religious aspect involved during the ceremony and the word ‘marriage’ is not used. We are ‘told’ that the word marriage is a religious word in itself so a clergy cannot perform a ‘Civil Partnership’ – it has to be a specified registrar.On the surface this is viewed as a ‘technicality’ but really its just discrimination sugar-coated and many still oppose same-sex marriage here.Thank you for demonstrating your support of equality in such a pragmatic way (donation links etc); the fight for right goes on!