Serving Up Wisdom: The Stonewall Riots and the Start of the LGBTQ Rights Mo

This program is recommended for individuals 55+; however, all are welcome.

Join us for Enoch Pratt Free Library’s FREE luncheon series, which offers patrons an afternoon of engaging conversations, performances, and activities. Pratt is excited to work in partnership with several community organizations to bring in a variety of dynamic presenters and performers, with rich academic and artistic backgrounds to lead these programs.

At June’s luncheon, Pratt is working in partnership with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Towson University to host James Waller, freelance writer, editor, and educator, for a lecture and conversation about the Stonewall Riots.

The Stonewall riots exploded in New York City over several nights in late June 1969. The lecture explores what is known and what remains unknown about this critical event in LGBTQ history, which is widely—and perhaps inaccurately—believed to mark the beginning of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. The uprising and the ensuing gay liberation movement are examined in the context of late-1960s counterculture and movements for social justice; Stonewall itself is situated against the backdrop of earlier efforts to secure civil rights and social tolerance for sexual minorities. Attention is given to organizations (the Mattachine Society, the Daughters of Bilitis, and San Francisco’s Council on Religion and the Homosexual) that helped set the stage for the radical transformation of gay politics sparked by the unprecedented mass resistance to a police raid on a gay bar in NYC’s Greenwich Village neighborhood 55 summers ago.

Lunch and all supplies will be provided.

Please contact Madelyn McCaully at [email protected] or 410-396-5494, if you have questions about registration or to arrange for FREE transportation from designated locations.

Host or Publisher Enoch Pratt Free Library