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"The Face of
Stonewall"
[Mug shot by the NYCPD]
| This is the one and
only --
known or unknown -- New York City Police Department mug shot as a
result of the
total of 21 arrests from the notorious 1969 Stonewall Rebellion in
Greenwich
Village, New York City. There were 13 arrests the first night
(Friday, June 27th), 6 arrests on the second night (Saturday, June
28th)
and 3 arrests on the third night (Sunday, June 29th). There was
no rebellion on Monday and Tuesday due to rain. For
your information, Gays
do not 'rebel' when it's raining! When
the rebellion resumed for its fourth night (Wednesday, July 2nd)
and, then,
the fifth and final night (Thursday, July 3rd), there were no arrests.
There were, however, plenty of signs such as "Gay Power", "Gay
Rights", "Gay Marriage" and "Gay Unity". The original raid by the New York City Police Department very late Friday night on June 27th, 1969 was not, as it turned out, the typical raid. It was not just instigated by the local police Sixth Precinct. This raid came from much higher up as they were aware about the Gay bar pay-offs to some local police. The invasion involved the First Division Detectives and even included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ("ATF"). "The Face of Stonewall" (shown above), as has been named by many astute observers. If one is familiar with the times of Gays and the police in New York City in the 1960s, of course, the Stonewaller did not use his actual name. Elsewhere in America and throughout most of the World, the situation and scenario would have been far worse than in N.Y.C. Back on point with the unwritten Gay life two-point policy back then: do not bring any identification ("I/D") and do not use your real name! Therefore, with no I/D on a Stonewall person and a clean record in the system for any name, there was literally nothing for the police to check and nothing to compare. There was no I/D for probably ninety percent of the patrons who went to any Gay bar, particuarly one that was Mafia-run such as The Stonewall Club and, also like The Stonewall, was previously raided (many times) by the police. Gay patrons, notably Stonewallers, made sure not to bring one item with them to the Gay club... I/D! |
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