Stonewall Was a Riot By Drag Queens

“I think we would do well to remember that Stonewall is named after a riot by drag queens. That is all I want to say.”  Those are the words of  Joe Galliano, editor of GT, as reported in the Pink News article ‘Celebs split over trans protest at Stonewall Awards.’  [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9523.html]

The trans protest in question was against the nomination as Journalist of the Year given to Julie Bindel, whose past comments on the pointlessness of Gender Realignment Surgery had incensed many in the trans community.  The protest, however, was as much against Stonewall for not only nominating Bindel, but also for not incorporating trans issues into their campaigns (Stonewall Scotland do include trans issues, but not the rest of the UK organisations).   This meant that many of those commenting in trans internet sites after the demonstration (probably the largest trans demo ever held in the UK) saw Galliano’s comments as a vindication, especially as one particularly large banner at the demo proclaimed “Stonewall Was A Riot.”  I am not sure, however, that Galliano was supporting them.

Stonewall was a riot at the Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, New York on 27th June 1969.  To find out more about it you can view the online version of Columbia University’s exhibition [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/sw25/].  That exhibition was named ‘Stonewall and Beyond:  Lesbian and Gay Culture.’  That title is one that annoys many trans people, as within the trans community there is an often heard claim that Stonewall was a riot in a pub frequented by trans people of colour, and that the street riot by gays meant that the trans origins of the Stonewall Riot was forgotten.  Those who hold to that view will not like the Stonewall and Beyond Exhibition as it provides absolutely no evidence of Stonewall being a trans club.

Galliano called Stonewall a riot by drag queens and certainly one of the memorial moments of the riot was the drag queens chanting either:

We are the Stonewall girls
We wear our hair in curls
We wear no underwear
We show our pubic hair  . . .
We wear our dungarees
Above our nelly knees.

or the original version:

We are the Stonewall Girls we wear our hair in curls,
We always dress with flair, we wear clean underwear,
We wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees,
We ain’t no wannabees, we pay our Stonewall fees!

So was Galliano supporting the demonstrators’ claim by implying that if Stonewall was a riot by drag queens then the Stonewall organisation should support Trans rights as well as Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual rights?  Or was he suggesting that as it was a riot by drag queens that the trans community had no claim to be involved in an organisation just because it is called Stonewall?

Well he stated that is all he has to say about that, so I guess we will never know, but  what is the truth behind the Stonewall Inn?  The reports in the press in the Stonewall and Beyond Exhibition focus on gay men, but then that was an era when most of the journalists would not know the difference between gay and trans (other than those who were hiding their gay or trans status in order to keep their jobs).  More telling is the report that one of the slogans put up on the boards covering the Stonewall Inn’s windows was “Support Gay Power — C’mon in, girls,” which does not sound like a trans pub.  Even more telling is the description of a typical Stonewall Inn crowd as “some transvestites, a lot of students, young people, older people, businessmen.”  So has history been re-written very successfully or has the trans community over-estimated the trans element at the Stonewall Inn?  That should be easier to find out that Galliano’s opinion, so any views with evidence cited in the comments would be very much appreciated.