Ty Herndon Comes Out ... Then Billy Gilman Does, Too

After nearly two decades in country music and after nearly twenty years of speculation over his sexual orientation, Ty Herndon has come out as gay:

"I have an awesome relationship that I've been in for a good number of years. I] love him very much and he loves me."

Herndon was married twice in the past and revealed that both is ex-wives knew he was gay when they married him; sounds like marriages of convenience to stave off the rumors of his homosexuality.

"I had a lot of people around me that I trusted at a time and I was like, 'Hey, you know this about me but the world doesn't. So I'm gonna need to call on your services for a little while.' It was unfortunate that I had to do that, but I felt that's what I had to do to have my career. Standing on some pretty solid legs today, so I get to tell my truth today."

Truth. That’s what it means; being able to be yourself, love yourself, and let everyone know exactly who you are, damn the torpedoes.

"I've dreamed about being in country music since I was 6 years old. It's my life, it’s what I do, it's who I am, and I went to great lengths to cover up that fact to be to be a country star."

Rumors began circulating about Herndon's sexuality back in 1995, when an undercover male police officer alleged that Herndon exposed himself in a park where he’d gone to buy crystal meth:

"I wish I had really great recall or memory about that. I think I had been up for like 6 days doing drugs the night and the day was really a huge blur for me."

Now fully clean and sober, Herndon is looking forward to a future with Matt, his partner of five years.

Happiness, truthfulness; it’s all in those two words: I‘m gay.

And then, hours later, it happened again …

On the heels of Ty Herndon’s coming out, fellow country music performer Billy Gilman announced that he, too, is gay.

He had his Coming Out on YouTube, and during the five-and-a-half-minute long video, Gilman credited his friend Ty Herndon for making his road a little easier to follow. But, at the same time, he talked about the mere rumor that he might be gay hurt his career, and likely cost him a record deal:

“I threw a showcase in Nashville, and no major label showed. … It’s difficult for me to make this video, not because I’m ashamed of being a gay male artist, or a gay artist or a gay person, but it’s pretty silly to know that I’m ashamed of doing this knowing that I’m in a genre and an industry that’s ashamed of me for being me.”

Several months ago, a reporter took a picture of Gilman and his partner. He says at that moment he knew what he needed to do.

“It was in that moment that I knew that I’d rather it be from me, than you reading it from somewhere else. I can honestly say I’m scared to death.”

Scared, sure, because you never know what the future holds for you, especially in the country music arena.

I mean, look at it: it appears that Ty Herndon was encouraged to get married twice to maintain a heterosexual image; it seems that just the rumor that Billy Gilman was gay stopped him from signing with a major Nashville record label even though he’d been a very popular child star in country music.

And then there’s Chely Wright.

In the late 90's, after years of singing in Nashville, Chely Wright had her first Number One country hit, "Single White Female".  She followed that up with three other top 10 hits and sold over a million singles in the United States. She made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on September 16th, 1989 and made many subsequent appearances, especially after having that Number One. But, since coming out as gay in 2010, Chely Wright she has not once been invited back to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, even though she was considered a regular, pre-2010.

The good news is, that may be changing, slowly. Ty Herndon notes that he’s seeing increased support for gay country singers, and the LGBT community in Nashville and Country Music:

"Traditionally in country music, we don't see a lot of support for the LGBT community, but that's changing so much. Nashville is changing so much. I mean my goodness… Kacey Musgraves won Song of the Year for [the lyrics] 'follow your arrow, wherever it points' and two amazing songwriters that happened to be gay wrote that song."

So, maybe there is hope that gay country artists can record music, can be openly gay, and can be invited back to the Grand Ole Opry.

Failing that, at least allow the good folks at Homo HQ to offer a big “Howdy” and a “Welcome Out” to Ty and Billy, and to make sure they receive the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.

Welcome out, boys, welcome out.

Ty Herndon

Billy Gilman

The Weddings Have Begun ... With More To Come

It’s game, er, wedding on!

A Charleston County judge has issued South Carolina's first same-sex marriage license to Charleston County councilwoman Colleen Condon and her fiancé, Nichols Bleckley; it’s only fitting since they were the first couple to have their application for a marriage license accepted in Charleston County last month.

"I do hope that every parent, teacher takes a moment today to explain to kids what's going on and how historic this moment is."—Nichols Bleckley.

"We knew this was never about just the two of us. We wanted it for us, but we knew that we were a part of hundreds, thousands in South Carolina who were ready to get married right away."—Colleen Condon

And Judge Irvin Condon will be issuing the licenses to the couples who applied before he was ordered to stop by the state Supreme Court. Condon can issue the licenses due to a US district court ruling filed this past Tuesday that ordered South Carolina to legally recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states where same-sex marriage is legal; he began issuing the licenses to applicants who met all qualifications yesterday morning.

And it’s already happened for one same-sex couple.  First thing yesterday morning, Kayla Bennett and Kristin Anderson held their marriage ceremony right outside the Charleston County Probate Court and had South Carolina’s first officially recognized same-sex wedding.

South Carolina. Same-sex marriage. Who knew?

Congratulations to all the couples in the state — myself and Carlos included, as well as our good friends Bill and Michael who were married in New York on October 24 — who are now legally married, and best wishes to all those that come after.

source

UPDATE: It's Marriage Equality, Y'all!

It’s a great day in South Carolina.

Barring a stay, or emergency order, from the Supreme Court of the United States, marriage equality has come to the state; twice! A pair of rulings released yesterday by two different federal courts have basically dismantled South Carolina's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage clearing the way for the state to become the 34th state — and the first in the deep South — to legalize marriage equality.

And it all happened so quickly; yesterday afternoon I was not married in South Carolina, and then shortly after dinner I was, when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s request for an emergency stay on last week’s court ruling that declared the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional; the unanimous three-judge ruling said:

"Upon consideration of submissions relative to appellant's motion for stay pending appeal, the court denies the motion and denies the alternate request for a temporary stay."

And that simply means that, starting tomorrow at noon, same-sex marriages in South Carolina can proceed.

Still, Alan Wilson, obviously stomping his feet and twisting his head around in circles, has vowed to fight on; he  says the laws were voted on by the people of South Carolina in 2006 and that a court shouldn't overturn what the people chose.

Ah, Alan, but they did; in South Carolina and elsewhere, because, something you might have learned in law school you don’t let the majority vote on the rights of the minority. We did not let racist white America vote on the Civil Rights of black Americans; we did not let America vote on interracial marriage; we did not let America vote on the rights of women to vote; we should never have allowed Americans to vote of the marriage rights of gay Americans.

Pretty simple. Still, Alan Wilson released a statement after the ruling saying the issue has not been resolved nationally:

"It is still likely the U.S. Supreme Court will address conflicting rulings between federal circuit courts of appeal. Therefore, today's ruling by the Fourth Circuit does not end the constitutional obligation of this Office to defend South Carolina law. We continue to believe the doctrine of federalism and the Tenth Amendment should allow South Carolina's unique laws to be considered at the highest appropriate court of appeal. We will be seeking an application to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay shortly.”

Of course the ruling has not been resolved nationally, though it will, and sooner rather than later, but the issue has been resolved in this state, by the 4thy Circuit Court — twice — and by two separate federal judges.

Alan, honey, build a bridge and get over it. And take Governor Haley with you; she also released a statement saying she has a "responsibility to defend the Constitution of South Carolina and supports the Attorney General."

You mean the Constitution that treats some South Carolinians as second class citizens? That Constitution, Governor? Sit down.

And stay seated because right after the 4th Circuit told Alan Wilson to stop talking, Judge Michelle Childs — presiding over the case of Bradacs v South Carolina, the case for which The Will of the People Fund was created — ruled  that the marriage of Katie Bradacs and her wife, Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs — and all other same-sex couples in South Carolina who married elsewhere — should be recognized in the state because the constitutional ban "impermissibly violate [the] Plaintiffs' fundamental right to have their marriage recognized."

"We believed when we filed this case nearly two years ago that we were right, and Judge Childs agreed with us. It is such a great day for us and our family. It is a great day in South Carolina for marriage equality! Our family unit is complete!"—Tracie Goodwin-Bradacs

It is a great day for South Carolina.

sources:

MSNBC

Salon

WIS

I'm In A Marriage State Of Mind: UPDATE: West Virginia Goes Equal UPDATE: Nevada Won't Fight it

Man oh man, do I have marriage on my mind these days, and not just my own—have I mentioned on here at all that Carlos and I are becoming Mr. and Mr. next week? I wasn’t sure ….

Anyway, the way things stand in South Carolina right now is this: Governor Nikki Haley — soon to lose an election and any chance at a political future, fingers crossed — and Attorney General Alan Wilson have decided that the Supreme Court’s announcement this week to let the 4th Circuit Court’s ruling that marriage bans are unconstitutional stand doesn’t affect South Carolina — even though it does — and they have vowed to go down in history as a couple of the last hold-outs fighting against equality.

That’s quite a footnote to an already not-so-illustrious career, Nikki. Just sayin’.

The judge in our case — Bradacs v Haley, South Carolina — wants to hear arguments next Tuesday, and may make a ruling next week. If we win, and it’s quite likely we will because the Great and Powerful 4th Circuit Court has spoken, I imagine Nikki will dig her heels in further and try to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court who might just look at her and say, “Bitch, please! We already decided this, It’s done. Get back on your broom and get outta here.”

Marriage licenses for same-sex couples were issued yesterday in both Charleston and Richland counties, but Attorney General Wilson asked that the state Supreme Court demand that the licenses be stopped; for now.

Or something; but it’s more than South Carolina; it’s also Nevada and Idaho.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Nevada’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage imposes “profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms” on many of its citizens and overturned it, as happens quite often these days; the ruling also overturned Idaho’s ban as well.

In Nevada, Clark County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples yesterday, and up there in Idaho more than a dozen same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses, only to be turned away after US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy stay the 9th Court of Appeals’ ruling; he also stayed a court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Nevada.

So, it was on in Nevada and Idaho and minutes later it was off, but then, right after staying the ruling keeping the ban on marriage equality in Nevada and Idaho, Kennedy said that same-sex marriages were allowed in Nevada because his earlier order only applied to Idaho.

See, it turned out that no one in Nevada asked to halt the same-sex marriages, so Kennedy had no choice but to let them continue. It was on, then it was off, then it was on, and seems to be staying on now.

UPDATE I: The issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples is on hold due to pending motions in the courts. The 9th Circuit is currently considering whether to recall the mandate to the District Court requiring an injunction. The state had anticipated accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples today, but now it seems to be in limbo.
UPDATE II: The same-sex marriage opponents have decided not to fight; marriage is back on.

Okay, so what’s next?

UTAH Same-sex marriage is legal. Republican Governor Gary Herbert said the announcement "may be not satisfactory for some, but it is the law of the land."

KANSAS Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty directed the district court clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; same-sex marriage is legal.

OKLAHOMA Same-sex marriage is legal, though Governor Mary Fallin — a veritable Nikki Haley clone, though she’s a divorced Christian adulteress — said that “the will of the people has been overridden and that the rights of Oklahomans had been trampled by an arrogant, out-of-control federal government." Boo hoo, Mary.

WYOMING No marriage equality; Governor Matt Mead and his attorney general will continue to defend Wyoming's constitution defining marriage between a man and a woman, with their slated for a hearing in mid-December.

COLORADO Same-sex marriage is legal.

VIRGINIA Same-sex marriage is legal; Governor Terry McAuliffe called it "a historic and long-overdue moment for our commonwealth and our country."

NORTH CAROLINA A federal judge issued an order telling lawyers on both sides of the case challenging North Carolina's ban on same-sex marriage to submit documents supporting their arguments. Each party involved has 10 days to file.

UPDATE: A Judge has lifted the stays and it appears that same-sex marriages will begin today!

WEST VIRGINIA No marriage equality; a lawsuit challenging the state's ban was delayed by a federal court in the that the Supreme Court would rule on the issue which means that, for now, same-sex couples cannot apply for marriage licenses.
UPDATE: West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says his office will no longer fight a court challenge to West Virginia's ban on same-sex marriages.

INDIANA Same-sex marriage is legal; Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has ordered county to comply with a mandate from the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered that all obstacles to same-sex marriage be removed.

WISCONSIN Same-sex marriage is legal; same-sex couples married in June will now have their marriages recognized and same-sex couples who want to marry now can do so whenever they wish.

ALABAMA No marriage equality; lawsuits challenging the ban have been filed in each of the state's three federal court districts, but judges have yet to rule.

 ALASKA No marriage equality; a federal judge is hearing arguments tomorrow in a case filed by five couples challenging the state's ban.

 ARIZONA No marriage equality; lawyers in two pending federal lawsuits challenging Arizona's ban are expected to urge the judge to take note of that ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and immediately strike down the ban.

ARKANSAS No marriage equality, in May, a state judge struck down the state's ban, but the state Supreme Court halted the marriages, and is weighing state officials' appeal.

FLORIDA No marriage equality; a federal judge declared the state's ban unconstitutional, joining state judges in four counties, but he issued a stay delaying the effect of his order.

GEORGIA No marriage equality; a lawsuit challenging the state's ban was filed in federal court, and the state wants to dismiss the suit, but the judge has not ruled.

KENTUCKY No marriage equality; two Kentucky cases were among six from four states heard in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appealst; rulings are pending on recognition of out-of-state marriages, as well as the ban on marriages within the state.

LOUISIANA No marriage equality; a federal judge's ruling which upholds the state's ban has been appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A state judge ruled in a separate case that the ban is unconstitutional, a ruling that has been suspended while the state attorney general appeals to the state Supreme Court.

MICHIGAN No marriage equality; their ban was overturned by a federal judge in March following a trial; the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments and a ruling is pending.

MISSISSIPPI No marriage equality; the state Supreme Court has been asked to hear arguments on a woman's effort to get her marriage in another state recognized in Mississippi for purposes of getting a divorce.

MISSOURI No marriage equality; the state attorney general won't appeal a state court order that Missouri recognize marriages from in other states, but two other cases are pending.

MONTANA No marriage equality; four couples challenged the state's ban in a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court. The decision by the 9th Circuit to strike down Idaho's ban likely means Montana's voter-approved ban also will be declared unconstitutional.

NEBRASKA No marriage equality; the state's ban remains intact. A federal judge struck it down in 2005, but an appeals court reversed the decision.

NORTH DAKOTA No marriage equality; seven couples sued over the state's ban; a U.S. district judge now must decide whether to rule or hear oral arguments.

OHIO No marriage equality; two cases were argued in the 6th Circuit Court and a ruling is pending.

SOUTH DAKOTA No marriage equality; six couples sued over the state's ban, and arguments are being scheduled in U.S. district court on the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

TENNESSEE No marriage equality; the 6th Circuit Court heard arguments as to whether Tennessee's refusal to recognize a valid marriage from another state is constitutional and a ruling is pending.

TEXAS No marriage equality; a federal judge declared the state's ban unconstitutional, but the state is appealing to the 5th Circuit Court, which is soon expected to set a date for arguments.

And so there you have it; good news by the boatload, but still many fights to be fought, and won, before we all have the right to marry who we love, where we live.

The march goes on ….

Review Journal

Idaho Statesman
The Advocate: Idaho
The Advocate: Nevada
ABC News

Jim Gaylord Finally Gets An Apology

In 1972, Jim Gaylord was teaching social studies at Tacoma’s Wilson High School. He was 35 years old, popular with the students and his co-workers, and a confirmed bachelor, which was what most people called gay men in those early post-Stonewall days.

Jim knew he was gay — he’d known since he was quite young — but it wasn’t until the early 70s that he came out to himself and began seeking out other gay men for friendship and companionship, being very careful to keep his private life private; even his colleagues had no idea he was gay.

One day, though, one of his students, who knew a gay adult friend of Gaylord’s, came to talk with Jim about his own attraction to other boys. It was a brief conversation, at best, and Jim barely recalled much of it, but a time later that young boy tried to take his own life.

He survived, but while being interviewed by the police the boy said he’d spoken to Jim Gaylord because he assumed he was gay. What happened next was, and is, shocking.

The police took that information to the vice principal of the high school, who came to Jim’s house one night and asked him point blank if he was a “homosexual.” Jim decided then and there that he was tired of lying by omission and said it was true, he was gay.

A few weeks later he received a letter of termination; it said, in part:

“The specific probable cause for your discharge is that you have admitted occupying a public status that is incompatible with the conduct required of teachers in this district. Specifically, that you have admitted being a publicly known homosexual.”

Jim Gaylord, now 76, never taught school again.

But Jim fought back; openly gay — even to his parents who hadn’t known their son was gay until he was fired — Jim, who’d always taught his students about civil rights and equality and standing up for one’s self, was not going to just quietly sit back and do nothing.

He was jobless, with a mortgage to pay and no income, but thankfully his local teacher’s union stood behind him, even hiring him as their office manager so he would have an income and support.

So Jim appealed the termination to the school board, whose five-member panel had met in secret to fire him but, at his hearing only three showed up; it was still enough to let his termination for being gay stand.

But Jim wasn’t done, and he decided he would sue the school board for wrongful termination. And while many of Jim’s fellow teachers and more than a few students testified on his behalf — and just as many testified against him — a judge ruled in favor of the school district, saying that, in effect, being gay was immoral and the district was within its rights to fire Gaylord.

Jim then appealed his case to the Washington state Supreme Court where, in 1977, five years after being fired, that court ruled that a school board can discharge a teacher if it feels the teacher’s ability to do the job is impaired, and they felt that the complaints about Jim being gay did, in fact, impair his ability to do his job; ironically, though, the complaints about Jim being gay came out after he was fired.

Jim still refused to surrender and appealed his case to the US Supreme Court, who declined to hear his case at all. He would never get his job back. What he did get, though, some forty-two years after being fired, was quite unexpected, and yet quite welcome.

Another young gay man wanted to talk to Jim Gaylord, though this young man came to Jim to talk about being fired for being gay as part of an Oasis — Tacoma’s support and resource center for LGBT youth — oral history project.

Seth Kirby, the executive director of Oasis, was unaware of Gaylord’s story, but began wondering if the Tacoma school district would consider an apology to Gaylord? After placing a number of calls, climbing the ladder of succession, Kirby finally spoke with Kurt Miller, the Tacoma School Board president, who said an apology to Jim Gaylord was long overdue.

And when Oasis presented its oral histories project — including Jim Gaylord’s story — during its annual fundraiser, Proud Outloud, Kurt Miller formally apologized; Miller also spoke about the differences in Tacoma’s public schools from those old days when Jim Gaylord taught, noting that the school board recently passed a nondiscrimination and equity policy for students that deals with gender identity and sexual orientation; and the district has the same policy for its employees.

Jim Gaylord, who still lives in that Tacoma house where the vice principal knocked forty-two years ago, is a retired librarian — a job he took when his case when unheard by SCOTUS — and says he’s happy with the apology, even though he never asked for it.

“It helps put a relatively pleasant end on an unpleasant situation.”

And an end to an unpleasant time in this country where it was commonplace for gay men and women — especially those in education — to be fired simply for being gay, a condition that still exists in many parts of this country to this day.

And while the apology may seem a little too late, it does offer proof that the times have changed, and are changing. Jim Gaylord never taught again, but he stood up for himself, as a gay man, and stood up for an entire community. He may not have won his case, but he fought for himself as a gay man and that’s a lesson that keeps on giving.

If Jim Gaylord could stand up for us in 1972, then we can keep standing up for all of us in the LGBTQ community in 2014, and beyond.

source

Kentucky Baptist Church Will Hold Its First Same-Sex Wedding

Color me stunned, but out there in Kentucky, a Baptist church, the Highland Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, in fact, has agreed to marry two of its gay members, making it the first same-sex wedding for the congregation. 

In.Kentucky.

Those two members, David Bannister Jr. and Steven Carr II, have been together for six years and became engaged last summer in Washington DC weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act.  Then they returned home to Kentucky and took a deep breath and asked the pastor of their church, Joe Phelps, to marry them and he said he would.

"It takes courage to step out into the unknown. It's taking us courage to be one of the first churches to do this." — Pastor Phelps

Phelps says that when he first came to Highland Baptist in the late 1990s, there was a kind of ‘doesn’t ask, don’t tell’ policy regarding gay church members. But, that very next year, a gay couple's photograph appeared in the church directory and since then there has been a slow, but steady march to acknowledge and accept LGBT members, and their families, into the church. In fact, Highland Baptist ordained its first openly gay minister, Maurice Blanchard in 2012, and now Blanchard leads a gay ministry at the church.

"Inch by inch, it sort of begins to dawn on us. Over time, we've come to the realization that led us to today." — Pastor Phelps

In February 2013, a group of church deacons began to study the idea of allowing the pastor to perform same-sex ceremonies, but the group never came to any agreement. Then, in May 2014, a new group chosen to once again study the idea instantly, and unanimously, recommended the church begin offering same-sex weddings.  Actually, you could only all it a unanimous decision because no one in the church every voted on the idea; Pastor Phelps said it wouldn’t be right to pass judgment that way.

"To vote on it is to basically ask the question, 'Are gay people fully human like the rest of us?' I think spiritually and morally, that's a step we cannot take." — Pastor Phelps

And so, when David and Steven asked Pastor Phelps to officiate at their wedding, he was able to say yes, making Highland one of the first Baptist churches in Kentucky to hold a same-sex wedding.

And again. Baptist Church. Kentucky. Let that sink in for a spell.

And so David and Steven have set a wedding date for next May, and though they don’t see themselves as activists, they have hope that their wedding will make a statement.

"If people don't get the shades pulled back on LGBT people's lives, they won't learn. They won't see. So the onus is on us and our friends to talk with those around us. It would be very sad to us if we weren't able to have our church involved." — David Bannister

And in light of the fact that this past week a judge struck down Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriages — a stay has been granted — David and Steven hope that by the time they marry, same –sex weddings in Kentucky, even at Baptist churches, will just be weddings at Baptists churches.

Still, what a wonderful stop for the Baptist church, and Kentucky.

via The New Civil Rights Movement

Forty-Five Years Ago Today

Originally posted June 27, 2009:

It was forty-one years ago, a lifetime to some of us, a minute to others, but it marked a turning point for the LGBT community. It marked one of the first, and definitely the loudest, times that gay men and women stood up en masse and said, No. We will not be treated like this any longer!

The weekend of June 27-29,1969 began what is the modern day gay movement. To be sure, there were gay and lesbian activists before that weekend, but the confrontation between police and demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in New York lit a fire in the hearts of the LGBT community like it had never been done before.

And like any good story, there is controversy surrounding the Stonewall Riots; there are arguments and differences over what happened, how it started and how it ended. But the fact we all need to remember is that it did happen, and it should continue to be a rallying cry for the LGBT community to be, finally, considered equal in the eyes of America.

It was Friday, June 27, 1969, and the world was mourning the death of Judy Garland. Could it be that the death of one of the most famous gay icons was what sparked the fire of the modern day Gay Rights Movement? Many people have speculated that Garland's death did indeed push the gay community into the streets of New York that night. But it was also hot, that night, and many say it was the heat that fueled the crowd into action, into reaction. Maybe it was both Garland's death and the hot summer night; or maybe it was just that the gay community had finally had enough of being told what to do, what not to do, and how we should live our lives. Whatever the reason, it was enough. Finally, enough.

In the early morning hours of June 28, police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a small bar located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. Although mafia-run, the Stonewall, like other predominantly gay bars in the city, got raided by the police periodically.

Typically, the more "deviant" patrons -- drag queens and butch lesbians, especially if they were black -- were arrested and taken away, while white, male customers looked on or quietly disappeared. The bar owners would be levied an insubstantial fine--a sign of corruption and collusion between bar owners and police--allowing them to open for business the following day.

On this night, the charge at the Stonewall was the illegal sale of alcohol. The raid began as they always did: plainclothes and uniformed police officers entered the bar, arrested the employees, and began ejecting the customers one by one onto the street. For some reason, however, the crowd that had gathered outside the Stonewall, a somewhat campy and festive crowd, began to cheer as the patrons were pushed out of the Stonewall Inn. But soon the mood changed; it was Judy Garland's death, or the summer heat, or the fact that the summer of 1969 was a particularly busy one for police raids on gay bars. Or maybe it was watching drag queens and lesbians being pushed and shoved and kicked into paddy wagons.

Whatever it was, the on-lookers lost their patience. No one really knows who threw the first punch; some say it was a drag queen, some say it was a rather butch-looking lesbian. But someone defied the police that night; someone had finally had enough.

The crowd, now numbering several hundred, exploded. People began hurling coins at police officers, then they moved on to rocks and bottles, whatever they could grab. The police, at first stunned that the normally docile and shamed homosexuals would react in such a fashion, soon began beating the crowds with nightsticks. This group, however,was too angry, and could not be pushed down; the police officers were forced to take refuge inside the Stonewall.

As news spread throughout Greenwich Village the crowd grew ever larger; many residents, some gay, some not, ran down to the Stonewall Inn to join the fight. Lighter fluid was squirted inside the bar and someone tried to light it; others grabbed a downed parking meter and used it as a battering ram against the front of the Stonewall. Someone began chanting "Gay Power!"

The riot-control police unit arrived to rescue the trapped officers and break up the demonstration, though it took over an hour before the crowd dispersed. To taunt their attackers a group of drag queens began to sing at the top of their lungs:

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!

That first Stonewall Riot ended the morning of Saturday, June 28, but the fight was far from over. That night a second riot broke out and the crowd now numbered in the thousands, filling the streets in the name of Gay Pride. They marched to the Stonewall Inn and waited for the police to arrive; and they did, in the early morning of Sunday, June 29.

For over a week, though in smaller numbers, protests and demonstrations continued in Greenwich Village. There was finally a sense of what could be accomplished by banding together, by being out, by being seen, by being heard. By being angry. It was a new day.

A month after the riots, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed. Radical and leftist, the GLF was one of many politically focused lesbian and gay organizations formed in the days and weeks following the riots. The number of lesbian and gay publications skyrocketed as well, which led to an even greater sense of community. The LGBT community was no longer strictly marginalized in United States society. Now, out and proud lesbians and gay men were developing their own communities in cities across the country.

Since 1970, marches have taken place in New York City--and all over the world--every year on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In June 1994, hundreds of thousands of people converged on New York to celebrate Stonewall's 25th anniversary. In 1999 the United States government proclaimed the Stonewall Inn a national historic site. The following year, the status of the Stonewall was improved to "historic landmark," a designation held by only a small percentage of historical sites.

It is our Plymouth Rock. It's where the gay community landed and came together and began the march toward equality. Stonewall was our first glimpse of a new world where we weren't alone, we weren't all that different, where we belonged.

It makes no difference how it started. The death of an icon; the summer heat; a sense of frustration. It makes no difference who started it; drag queens or lesbians; coin tossers or rock throwers. The difference is that it happened.

Forty-five years ago today.

A Step Forward ... A Two-Step Forward

While you were out and about yesterday, living your life, doing your thing, did you feel it?

History being made.

Yup, the US Senate made history when it voted to confirm Darrin Gayles to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Gayles, who was confirmed 98-0, is the country’s first openly gay African-American man to be confirmed to the federal bench.

And his confirmation came right after the Senate confirmed Staci Yandle to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, by a vote of 52-44. Yandle is the first African-American lesbian federal judge in over twenty years, just the second one in the history of this country—the first, Judge Deborah Batts, was sworn in during June 1994.

"Never before in the course of the history of our state has there been an Article III federal judge who is openly a member of the LGBT community. In short, Staci Yandle's confirmation marks another important milestone in America's journey toward equality of opportunity."—Senator Dick Durbin

Equality for both the black community and the gay community. All at once, in the same day; twice.

Sidenote: President Obama has already nominated more African-American judges and openly gay and lesbian judges than any of his predecessors.

Of course, that’s not really a surprise, since he is the country’s first African-American president and the first president to fully embrace, and stand up for, the LGBT community.

sources:

The Huffington Post

Lambda Legal