Scott Autenreith
2/23/16
Rough Draft
StoneWall
Stonewall: The Beginning
of the End of Gay Oppression
When one thinks of America, most
would envision a land of freedom. It is envisioned as a place where individuals
can come to live as they wish without the persecution of others. On June 28th,
1969, the fight for LGBT sexual liberation in hopes of having freedom took
place. The LGBT community protested in a common way. They rioted, held signs,
and chanted loudly as a collective group. Although it was not an original
protest, their message began an uproar that spread throughout the entire United
States within the near future. One sign being propelled into the air that
stated, “Stonewall means, FIGHT BACK! SMASH GAY OPRESSION! Gay Caucus of
Y.A.W.F.” (Word Press) provided meaning as to why the events at Stonewall
occurred and why the LGBT community demanded freedom.
The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar
within the Greenwich section of New York City. On the night of June 28th,
1969, police raided the establishment in hopes of shutting down the gay bar for
the night. During the raid, there happened to be over two hundred people in the
bar and many became anxious and angry when the cops were shutting the business
down and eventually, it led to an outrage. Within an hour, violence ensued and
the riots moved out onto the streets of New York City (PBS). Demonstrations
lasted for six days, with the crowd of protestors growing larger and larger
every day. It became an event that although began through frustration, in the
future was know to be the kick-starter of other LGBT movements throughout
America.
The sign shown above was simple, but
established a great deal of pathos. The use of the word “oppression” evoked a
great deal of emotion towards their audience. When one thinks of oppression,
many examples can be connected such as the Japanese Americans that were present
during World War II. Because they were seen as a threat, they were put into
concentration camps, stripped of their rights, and were being watched over the
U.S. Government (HubPages). Also, African Americans received oppression just
prior to the time of the Stonewall riots. People of color could not share the
same public space, use the same bathrooms, or shop in stores that all white
people could. Because of their skin, they had less rights and were treated
differently. It was not until 1965 when the Government delivered the first civil
rights package (HubPages). With oppression still fresh in peoples’ minds, the
LGBT community then comes out to the public, letting them know that they felt
oppressed as individuals. “Oppression” gauged the audience to feel the same
emotion that they felt during examples similar to the situation that the LGBT
people were experiencing. The idea of oppression could also be applied to a
logical appeal.
During the 1960’s, the idea of equal
rights was a topic of much discussion. Racism and sexism were primary examples
that were being argued in the United States. As stated above, the United States
first civil rights package was completed in 1965. Race was a long debated issue
that eventually was resolved by giving more equal rights to African Americans.
When the protestors of Stonewall brought up the idea of equality and
oppression, they were hitting the rhetoric of logos. In history, America had
voted that citizens should have received equal rights (HubPages). So as a
result, it was a strong use of logos from the protestors. They acknowledged
that they were not equal amongst everyone else by way of sexuality, and appealed
to the audience by explaining that there were still groups within the United
States that were being discriminated against. Along with the word “Oppression”,
the phrase “Gay Caucus of Y.A.W.F.” also demonstrated rhetorical strategy.
In the time of Stonewalls
occurrence, Americas military was deep into the war of Vietnam. Large groups
protested having soldiers on the ground and demanded peace. Using the term,
“Gay Caucus of Y.A.W.F. (standing for Youth Against War and Fascism)” was a
strong use of ethos because it reached out to the audience who agreed with those
beliefs. The Caucus was a national organization that stood up for the rights of
all oppressed people (African Activist). It recognized that the protest was not
an issue that was only New York City’s problem. It showed that is was
discrimination occurring throughout the entire country. In fact, “The act of
homosexual sex, even in private homes, was punishable by a fine, 20 years in
prison, or even a life sentence” (PBS). The Y.A.W.F. organization led the
protests against the Vietnam War. Having Y.A.W.F.’s support provided
credibility to the LGBT’s argument.
The protests that occurred at
Stonewall were at the time relatively small, but the demonstrations led to the
creation of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Stonewall
led to the creation of many other gay rights activists groups that returned to
New York City to commemorate the Stonewall riots. Even fours years after the
protests, the American Psychiatric Association took homosexuality off of their
list of disorders. In 1978-1998, gay, lesbian, and bisexual groups have emerged
as key parts of fortune 1000 companies (Odinity). Jumping to June 26th,
the United States Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was to be legal in all
fifty states (ProCon). Stonewall served as a catalyst for all major advances in
the law changes of LGBT rights. It was the first national publicity to a gay
rights protest and after the event occurred, the mentality began to shift
within the United States. Society slowly began to change their belief in the
discrimination of LGBT’s. Although the protest used at Stonewall was ordinary,
it was effective and made a difference. The sign above provided so much
information within such a small area. The use of “Oppression” and “Gay Caucus
of Y.A.W.F.”, was able to grasp the audience at that time period and not only
combined emotion into their argument, but the sophistication within the text
provided credibility and reason for American citizens to agree and support the
LGBT community.
Works Cited
"Politics
of Reproductive Violence in the U.S." Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://ameliastagg.com/impact/>.
"Stonewall
Uprising." American Experience. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/stonewall-intro/>.
"Who Have
Been the Most Oppressed Group of Human Beings in the History of Humanity?"
Hub Pages. 16 Nov. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://hubpages.com/education/Who-have-been-the-most-oppressed-group-of-human-beings-in-the-history-of-humanity>.
Nakagawa, Scott.
"Race and the Religious Right." Race and Ethnicity. Web. 23 Feb.
2016. <http://race.eserver.org/race-and-religious-right.html>.
"Youth
Against War & Fascism." African Activist Archive. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://africanactivist.msu.edu/organization.php?name=Youth Against War and
Fascism>.
Murray, Kelsey.
"The Stonewall Riots and Their Influence on Workplace
Discrimination." Odinity. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.odinity.com/stonewall-riots-in-new-york/>.
"Should Gay
Marriage Be Legal?" Pro Con. 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://gaymarriage.procon.org/>.
ReplyDeleteScott,
Overall, I think you did a nice job, but I do have some suggestions regarding the clarity of the paper. In terms of clarity, I was somewhat confused about what the object is. At first I thought it was the banner in the image you chose, but as I continued reading I began to think the object was the protest itself. I was also left somewhat unsure about the intended audience. What I believe you are saying is that the intended audience included the police officers themselves who perpetrated the discriminatory acts against the gays, but I also feel as though the audience could have been other gay individuals in the society. Also, you provided a very nice context of the civil rights injustices of the time period in paragraph three, but I believe it would have been beneficial to include more information on the history of homosexuality and homophobia up to the point of the Stonewall riot.
Furthermore, I completely agree with your identification of the caucus as a source of ethos, but I’m not convinced yet that it’s an example of logos. I think it may be difficult to find an example of logos with this topic. You could additionally mention the first part of the banner in which the protestors redefine the word “stonewall” in their own terms. Perhaps the Stonewall Inn was named after the general Stonewall Jackson, but the protestors seem to be using the name to send their own powerful message. Lastly, I personally found the word “smash” in the banner to be the most emotionally evocative. It may be useful to use this to add to your section on pathos.
In terms of the paper’s organization, I think the topic sentence in paragraph two could be expanded to include more context to smoothly lead into the rest of the paragraph. I would also add a distinct second thesis to lead into the ethos/pathos/logos section of your paper. The transition from paragraph 2 to 3 seems rather abrupt, and a second thesis would help the paper flow.
In my opinion, your revisions will be mostly at the micro level with just some minor adjustments to the organization and paragraph clarity. For example, in the last paragraph you mention the date “June 26th” but you didn’t include a year. I really like the second sentence of the first paragraph, but I think the first sentence would be a more substantial hook to readers if you mentioned gays and their individual freedoms specifically. Also, I think your Explication section could be longer and more thorough, so you may want to add another paragraph after paragraph 1 discussing the history of gay rights.
Scott,
ReplyDelete1. I really liked the title of your essay. I thought it was clear and really summed up what you were trying to say throughout the essay.
2. I think your essay needs more context in terms of gay rights before the Stonewall riots occurred. Why were people so mad? Were raids like the one you described normal? You have a little of this context later on in the essay (paragraph 5), so I think if you reorganized to have the context earlier on, it would provide your reader with more clarity.
3. To me, this essay looked like it had two objects (similar to what Sydney said): the Stonewall riots in general and the banner in your image. If you picked one and focused on that one object, your paper would be clearer. For example, if you wanted to use the Stonewall protest in general as your object for the LGBT movement, I would begin your essay with more context about the beginnings of gay and lesbian oppression, instead of how/why the banner is linked to the riot. But if you wanted the banner to be your object, I would take out the material in your last paragraph about how Stonewall impacted the LGBT movement. Instead, you could comment on how the banner itself helped the Stonewall riots achieve such success in kick starting the LGBT movement.
4. In regards to using other current political movements to explain the Stonewall riots, I think that this is an interesting perspective to take (one that I had never thought of before) but I think that the connection needs to be made clearer. Instead of introducing this relationship in the middle of your paper, I would suggest moving it so that it is introduced in the intro paragraph. Set up the historical context (that you describe in paragraph 3) as a way to begin the essay and then weave that context in throughout the paper, continuing to draw parallels between the Stonewall riots and other social movements. You did this well in paragraph 4, where you drew the parallel between the Civil Rights Movement, Stonewall, and the use of the word “oppression.”
5. Like Sydney, I am not convinced that your argument for logos is substantial enough. To me, it seems like the words oppression and equality are more pathos driven (like you mention in paragraph 3), and not necessarily logos driven.
6. Overall, I thought your choice of protest was interesting! Your revisions will probably fall in between the macro and micro levels. There is some restructuring that needs to happen at the macro level in terms of picking one object and sticking with it, as well as revising the use of other social movements as I described in point 4. But I think that the majority of your revisions will come from the micro level, where you just need to work within paragraphs (especially in the rhetorical strategies sections) to make your arguments clearer.
Libby
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. Explain the difference between Stonewall and the banner.
ReplyDelete2. Talk about how the banner affected the protest.
3. Earlier on, explain the history of gay rights (why are they upset?)
4.Lack of logos. Instead, use kairos. Be sure to explain the lack of logos.
5. Include the gay community in the hook to make it more appealing.
6. Explain why people felt that they shouldnt say anything about being opressed.
7. Adjust the works cited page.