June 28, 1994: The Judy connection.Mythology and iconography go hand in hand, especially when it comes to gay men and lesbians and their leading divas. In 1994 The Advocate's Christopher Guly explored the supposed connection between Judy Garland's death and the Stonewall riots Stonewall riots (June 28, 1969) Series of violent confrontations between police and gay rights activists in New York City. In response to the second raid in a week by police on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village that had been selling liquor without a , which began within hours of Garland's funeral on June 27, 1969. Yvonne Itter, a transsexual trans·sex·u·al n. A person who strongly identifies with the opposite gender and who chooses to live as a member of the opposite gender or to become one by surgery. adj. 1. Of or relating to such a person. 2. who had been involved with the rebellion, said, "A lot of people attended the funeral and were just sick and tired of being pushed around by the cops." Vee Martense, a former drag queen drag queen Female impersonator, gynemimetic Sexology A ♂ with ♀ affect–often 'overplayed'; a ♂ homosexual and ♀ wannabe, with ♂ genitalia; DQs may take hormones to ↑ breasts, and thus are hormonally, but not surgically , remembered a "feeling of malaise" at the Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn was the site of the famous Stonewall riots of 1969, which have come to symbolize the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States. It is located at 53 Christopher Street, between West 4th St. and Waverly Place, in Greenwich Village, New York City. that night. "I think the riots would have happened either way that evening," Martense said. "But Garland's funeral kind of began a snowball effect." Historian Martin Duberman, who wrote an oral history of the uprising, said the Garland theory "serves as a disservice. It's long been said that this tortured savior's death for the gay community produced this expression of outrage, but that's only schmaltz schmaltz also schmalz n. 1. Informal a. Excessively sentimental art or music. b. Maudlin sentimentality. 2. Liquid fat, especially chicken fat. ." Riot witness Bob Kohler added that the melee was started by gay street youths. "They wouldn't have known who Judy Garland was and, even if they did, couldn't care less about death because they faced it every day of their lives." Guly wrote that when it comes to the "facts" of folklore, "in a way it hardly matters," adding, "Eventually such tales take on a truthfulness of their own." Find this 1994 Advocate article on Judy Garland in its entirety at www.advocate.com |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion