Story
At 1:20 a.m. on June 29th, 1969, Seymour Pines pounded on the door of the Stonewall Inn shouting, “Police, we’re taking the place.” One other thing thought to have had an impact on the escalation of the events that night was that when the police broke in, they did not chase everybody out, but lined them up single file to check IDs and let them out one by one. The significance of this is that once you were outside, you had no idea what was happening to your friends inside the building so they stayed outside to make sure everyone was okay. Many of the patrons decided to make grand exits by camping it up with quipets and dancing, egging on the crowd. As this night persisted, the crowd outside grew as patrons were let out of the bar and as passersby came to join. As the police became rougher with the patrons, yelling and chanting began to break out. The night reached a point of no return when a lesbian pushed against a police car yelled, “Why don’t you guys do something” and the crowd (now ten times the size) erupted into flames.
The night consisted of chants such as ”gay power” and “Christopher Street belongs to the Queens,” as well as coins and other objects being thrown through the air. Finally, the cops barricaded themselves inside the building, which was the first time a riot (not just a gay one) had bested the cops securing the Stonewall right the place in history. Chants and protests continued outside the stone wall for the next five days, ending on July 3rd, 1969 –including yelling and the linking of arms, forming, at times, kicklines to keep the officers away as they chanted songs such as “We are the village girls, we wear our hair in curls.” For the first time ever, thousands of homosexuals had taken to the streets. Before the riots, there were only two main LGBTQ organizations, but afterward, organizations like the Pink Panthers, Gay Liberation Front, The Lavender Menice, and the Lesbian Liberation Front started to pop up all around the country.
Before Stonewall, there had already been talk about nominating a holiday but after Stonewall, the talk became action. One month after the happenings of Stonewall, on July 27th, 1969, hundreds of protesters took to Washington Park to commemorate The Stonewall Riots. After this first commemoration, what was then called Gay Liberation Day, and now known as Pride, happened once a year in late June as a reminder of the events that took place on the night of June 28th, 1969.
If you go to a pride today, there are more hugs and smiles than fists and rioting. It has become a celebration and a commemoration to remind us that the fight for gay rights started not so long ago. Our Zox family is so happy to be able to celebrate alongside LGBTQ members from around the world, after all, we love a good reminder. So when you wear these straps, remember those who came before you, remember how this came to be, and remember the love and support of all those wearing bracelets like yours.
Sending love, Isabella Campbell (she/her)
Artist
Nick Kearney
Details:
-20 inch long chain is made from stainless steel; the pendant is plated zinc alloy
-Laser engraved serial number on the inside
-Resealable packaging
People Details:
-Hand polished with love
-Happiness Guaranteed
-
