Stonewall Inn Uprising and First Gay Pride March: Six Issues of Village Voice Reporting (1969-1970)
A rare collection of six issues of the Village Voice reporting on the Stonewall Inn police raid and "riot" beginning with the July 3, 1969 issue covering the events of the preceding weekend, and ending with the July 2, 1970 issue covering the "first mass coordinated event of the gay liberation movement," - or in other words, the first Gay Pride Parade on the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
Issues include:
- July 3, 1969: "Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square" by Lucian Truscott IV. A report on the Stonewall uprising and the events of the June 28 raid: "The forces of faggotry, spurred by a Friday night raid on one of the city's most popular, and longest lived gay bars, the Stonewall Inn, rallied Saturday night in an unprecedented protest against the raid and continued Sunday night to assert presence, possibility, and pride until the early hours of Monday morning." Plus a first-hand account, "Full Moon Over The Stonewall" by Howard Smith, a reporter who took refuge inside the bar with the police during the melee: "The door crashes open, beer cans and bottles hurtle in. At that point the only uniformed cop among them gets hit with something under his eye. He hollers and his hand comes away scarlet...They are all suddenly furious".
- July 9 and 17, 1969: each with a letter to the Editor in support of gay liberation.
- July 24, 1969: The advertisement to "Support Gay Power" at Washington Square Park on July 27; "Wear a lavender arm band." This event turns out to be the pre-cursor to the first large-scale Gay Pride Parade the following year (and many consider it to be the true first Pride march). The Village Voice initially refused to print the advertisement because the organizers insisted on using the word "gay".
- July 31, 1969: "Gay Power Hits Back" by Jonathan Black. Coverage of July 27 "Support Gay Power" event at Washington Square Park: "They marched under a lavender banner, 500 strong, from Washington Square to the Stonewall Inn...As the traffic up Sixth Avenue ground to a halt, the marches gathered confidence, The chants and the cheers rang out more defiantly."
- July 2, 1970: "A Happy Birthday for Gay Liberation" by Jonathan Black. Coverage of the June 28 Christopher Street Liberation Day March, the first official Gay Pride Parade on the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising: "They stretched in a line, from Gimbels to Times Square, thousands and thousands and thousands..."
A rare collection of original "as it happened" documents reporting on the beginnings of the Gay Liberation movement. Item #2148.
Condition: Fair to Good, newsprint is heavily toned and brittle; edgewear and chips, plus some dogears; some tears along middle folds; mailing address labels affixed to front pages, July 31 issue with corrected address written in pencil; some issues folded unevenly.
Price: $3,000.00