logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2019
9m 11s

The Stonewall Riot

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In June 1969, the gay community in New York responded to police brutality and harassment by rioting outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The protest sparked the creation of the modern LGBT rights movement and the first Gay Pride events. Simon Watts talks to Stonewall veteran, John O'Brien.

PHOTO: Exterior of the Stonewall Inn, pictured in June 2015 (Credit: Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Up next
Today
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Yesterday
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Jul 8
The mystery of Evita’s corpse
When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed. Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup. But military officers feared her corpse would become a rallying point of protest against the new government. So they stole i ... Show More
10m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2020
Pride & Protest
June 28, 1970. Hundreds of people start to gather on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s West Village for an anniversary celebration. One year earlier, in that very same spot, the Stonewall Inn was raided by police, sparking a revolution. Now, LGBTQ+ people have come here again, no ... Show More
24m 18s
Oct 2021
16: From Riots and Raids to Gay Pride Parades: How Pride came to be
In 1969, the Stonewall Inn was just your typical, Mafia-backed queer bar in Greenwich Village, New York. But after yet another police raid, the LGBTQ+ community had enough and decided to fight back. Today, Bailey tells the story of how chaos in the streets of New York evolved int ... Show More
41m 23s
Jul 2020
Stonewall | Eric Marcus Remembers the Voices of Stonewall | 5
When the events of Stonewall happened in 1969, Eric Marcus was just a boy away at a New Jersey summer camp. Nearly 20 years later, he would document the voices of revolutionary LGBTQ activists like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Frank Kameny for his book, “Making Gay Histor ... Show More
39m 21s
Jun 2019
E26: The Stonewall riots and Pride at 50, part 2
Concluding part of our podcast episodes on the Stonewall rebellion , when LGBTQ youth fought the police in NYC for 6 nights, and went on to organise and form the gay liberation movement. We have a bonus episode about this for our patreon supporters. You can support us and listen ... Show More
1h 7m
Jun 2023
Unbreakable Smile with The Stonewall Inn
Did you know that the Stonewall Inn is where Pride was born? The bar's riot in 1969 sparked the celebration of Pride Month worldwide. In this episode, Stacy Lentz, an LGBTQ+ activist and co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, shares more about its history. Lentz is also the CEO of The St ... Show More
30m 4s
Oct 2023
The Compton Cafeteria Riot
Three years before the riots at Stonewall, the LGBTQ community of San Francisco's Tenderloin rose up. And the story was almost lost to time.  Learn how and why today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
37m 51s
Jun 2023
From the archive: Party and protest: the radical history of gay liberation, Stonewall and Pride
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors This week, from 2020: A police raid on a gay bar in New York led to the birth of the Pride movement half a century ago – but the fight for LGBT ... Show More
43m 57s
Jun 2021
Rituals of Protest
This week on Babel, Jon Alterman talks about Jordan with Dr. Jillian Schwedler, professor of political science at the City University of New York's Hunter College and a non-resident fellow at Brandeis University's Crown Center. Jon and Dr. Schwedler discuss the surprisingly long ... Show More
33m 29s
Mar 2023
Part One: Stonewall: The Criminal Queers Who Birthed a Movement
Margaret talks with Shereen Younes about the early fight for LGBT rights and how it was a literal fight, fought on every front.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
59m 16s
May 2019
The Gordon Riots
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most destructive riots in London's history, which reached their peak on 7th June 1780 as troops fired on the crowd outside the Bank of England. The leader was Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, who objected to the relaxing ... Show More
50m 19s