Get Your Pride On!

Feature, By Christian Taylor, 20th June, 2008

Stonewall Pride week is celebrated all around the world. It is the time we reflect on the Stonewall Riots back in 1969 – the beginning of gay liberation as we know it. It started Pride around the world and our Mardi Gras Celebration is in remembrance of this event.

The Stonewall Riot began on Saturday, 28 June, 1969 and lasted for several days. Sparked by a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York, it was a series of violent clashes between the gay community and the police. It was a day when brave people stood up and said, “You know what? Fuck this. We’ve had enough,” and the movement gathered unprecedented momentum right around the world.

Police raids on gay bars were once a regular part of gay life – in some neighbourhoods they still are. In New York, before the riots, police used to charge men in gay bars with indecency for holding hands, for kissing, often for just being there. Sometimes they’d record their personal information and publish it in the newspapers. The Stonewall Inn was used to being targeted by police because they didn’t have a liquor license and they offered scantily clad go-go boys as entertainment, but on that fateful night when eight police officers entered the bar searching for illegal sales of alcohol, before questioning and arresting patrons, trouble started.

When the police started putting patrons into police vans, the crowd gathering around the Inn erupted into violence – bottles were thrown at police, a parking meter was used as a battering ram, fires were lit. As word spread through the neighbourhood the crowd grew bigger and stronger, and when police tried to break up one mob, another would form behind them.

For five days 400 protesters threw bottles and lit fires around the Stonewall Inn. They chanted phrases like “Gay Power”, drag queens sang made up rhymes. It was the transgender people, the butch women and the effeminate men who were the most targeted by police – 13 people were arrested on the first night, and four police were injured. The crowd, estimated at over 2000, fought with over 400 police officers.

Decades on, and Stonewall Pride Week is still celebrated all around the world. In the past Pride Week was run by the Sydney Pride Centre, not only to honour what happened in 1969, but also as an important fundraising opportunity for local community groups. Now that the Sydney Pride Centre is no more, it seems only natural that Stonewall Pride Week take place at our very own Stonewall Hotel.

There’s something on every night, with the Pride Week Launch kicking things off tonight – Friday June 20. The launch is a fundraiser for Kids With Aids. Fiona Leigh-Jones will be singing between 7 and 8pm, Mitzi McIntosh, Amelia Airhead and Minnie Cooper will be bringing you their Britney Spears show called Britney Unhinged.

On Saturday night Beyonce G Spot, Ripley Waters and David Olsen star in Mermaid 2 – the sequel to the 2007 Diva Award winning show. Funds raised go to Bobby Goldsmith Foundation. Sunday night is Picnic In The Park, a fundraiser for ACON’s Fun And Esteem project. Stonewall urge you all to “bring a picnic and some friends and relax”. It’s billed as a night of hilarious fun and visual pollution.

Monday and Tuesday night is all about talent… Or lack thereof. Monday night is the first heat of the new talent quest Stonewall’s Got Talent. The name pretty much says it all. There’s a $2000 grand prize up for grabs. So if you think you’ve got what it takes to win, then call 02 9360 1963. Tuesday night is good ol’ karaoke night with Penny Tration.

Wednesday is the Stonewall favourite Malebox – the biggest pick up night on the strip. Be treated like a number! Send and receive flirtatious mail all night long! It’s just like Gaydar, but a hell of a lot more fun. It’s also a fundraiser for the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation. We like that. Flirt, mingle, be cheeky – and raise cash for an excellent cause at the same time. Win win.

Polly Petrie hosts Late Night Trading on Thursday night. Make sure you smash your piggy bank, because gold coin donations made at the door will be going to the Luncheon Club.

Friday night is Orgy Of Drag, hosted by Candy Box. It’s going to be an all night drag smorgasbord, with $5 entry on the door going to ACON.

Pride Week draws to a close on Saturday night with the Riot 69 Dance Party. Stonewall promises shows by Beyonce G Spot, Ripley Waters and David Olsen, along with the hottest DJs in town. All funds raised go to youth organisation Twenty10.

It’s great to see Stonewall keeping the tradition of Pride Week alive in Sydney. Make sure you get down to Stonewall Hotel during Pride Week, to remember the origins of our civil liberties – and have a damn good time while doing it!

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