1

Jamis Barcott
CSP 5 Section 1
September 27, 2013
The Stonewall Riots: Intersectionality of Sexual Orientation and Class
The Stonewall riots stand as the key turning point in the gay liberation movement of the
modern era. Movements for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, hereafter LGBT, existed
before the Stonewall riots, however, they remained relegated behind other political issues. The
Stonewall riots brought the LGBT movement to the front stage.
1
They questioned not only queer
identity, but also other disadvantaged identities that intersect with the LGBT community. The
modern LGBT community continues pushing for recognition of these different intersecting
identities and how they affect members of the LGBT community. Although this paper recognizes
the multiplicities of identities that intersect with the LGBT community, this paper focuses
primarily on class. The Stonewall riots revealed the socio-economic gap between members of the
LGBT community and those who identify as heterosexual as systemic and not accidental. This
paper contends that the systemic nature of this socio-economic gap remains a pertinent issue to
the modern LGBT community.
The Stonewall riots definitively proved an intersection between sexual orientation and
class identities. Different identities, such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, are not
mutually exclusive. Modern scholars recognize the fluidity of identity politics and how an
intersection or overlap between different disadvantaged groups creates a multitude of different
identities.
2
However, pre-Stonewall movements, such as the Mattachine Society, focused solely

1
Nolly Ncuaiiy anu Fieu Wasseiman, !"#$%&'( *&+&,-". /' 0--1+2342"5 6&+2$37 $8 9"+,&4'
4'5 :47 9&8" 0' ;<"'2&"2=>?"'2137 /%"3&#4 (New Yoik: Penguin Stuuio, 1998), 17-18.
2
Kimbeile Cienshaw, "Napping the Naigins: Inteisectionality, Iuentity Politics, anu
violence Against Women of Coloi," @24'8$35 94< A"B&"< 4S (1991), 12S1-12S2.
2
on providing political dialogue to members of the LGBT community.
3
Before the Stonewall
riots, the LGBT community understood the socio-economic disadvantages their members faced,
however, they choose establishing an LGBT dialogue as more important than exploring this
intersectionality. The Stonewall riots of Greenwich Village mark the beginning of this
exploration. During the 1960s, The Stonewall Inn notably attracted the poorest and most
marginalized parts of the LGBT community of New York City, ranging from drag queens to
male prostitutes. Police raids stood as a daily reality of the Stonewall Inn and police often
arrested the clientele of the bar. Tension between the police and the Stonewall Inn finally
reached a peak on June 28, 1969 when violent protests broke out against a police raid that
occurred the previous night.
4
The location in of the Stonewall Inn in a gay urban ghetto allowed
many members of the surrounding community to quickly gather and violence only worsened.
5

The sheer concentration of people in such an impoverished area increased the intensity of the
riots to a level that similar protest in a more gentrified part of New York could never reach. This
interplay between class and sexual orientation helped demonstrate the fluidity of both identities.
The modern LGBT community still faces these same pressing issues and research continually
points to the prevalence of systemic injustice.
Although the modern LGBT community made tremendous gains since the Stonewall
riots, LGBT people still face a systemic socio-economic oppression. Discrimination in the
workplace still remains a constant struggle for members of the LGBT community, especially
transgender people. Studies from 2008 demonstrate that up to 64 percent of transgender people

S
Ncuaiiy anu Wasseiman 142-146
4
Naitin Bubeiman, @2$'"<4-- (New Yoik: Penguin Books, 1994), xvii.
S
Baviu Caitei, @2$'"<4--. ;=" A&$2+ 2=42 @C43D"5 2=" :47 A"B$-12&$' (New Yoik: St. Naitin's
Piess, 2uu4), 2S6.
S
report incomes of below $25,000, well below that of the poverty line.
6
Gay men on average earn
almost 32 percent less than their heterosexual equals.
7
Beyond just income, LGBT youth
experience homelessness at a rate higher than any other group, as 20 to 40 percent of all
homeless youth identify as LGBT.
8
Socio-economic disadvantages remain statistically
undeniable within the LGBT community. These statistics are not the product of chance, but
rather systemic heterosexism. For example, 33 states allow firing someone solely for being a
transgender person.
9
Furthermore, even though United States v. Windsor struck down the
Defense Against Marriage Act, legal discrimination in the workplace against LGBT remains
legally permissible by any state.
10
The striking down of DOMA turned into a scapegoat, by
which society ignores other aspects of heterosexism, such as workplace discrimination. The
problem still remains similar to that of the Stonewall riots; people do not recognize the LGBT
movement as tied to other disadvantaged groups such as the poor. Political dogma surrounding
gay rights continues focusing solely on the right to marriage and morality.
11
The problem
still persists because the publics view of the LGBT community changed only slightly since the
Stonewall riots in their recognition of different intersecting identities. Furthermore, the rise of
LGBT members to positions of prestige, especially in the media, blinds the general public to the
systemic oppression a majority of LGBT members face.

6
Rhonua Factoi anu Esthei Rothblum, "A Stuuy of Tiansgenuei Auults anu Theii Non-
Tiansgenuei Siblings on Bemogipahic Chaiacteiistics, Social Suppoit, anu Expeiiences of
violence," }ouinal of LuBT Bealth Reseaich S (2uu7), 2u-21.
7
Ibiu., 2S.
8
Nicholas Ray, 9"+,&4'E :47E !&+"F14- 4'5 ;34'+("'5"3 G$12=. /' HC&5"%&# $8 6$%"-"++'"++
(New Yoik: National uay anu Lesbian Task Foice Policy Institute anu the National Coalition
foi the Bomeless, 2uu6), 9-11.
9
"Employment Non-Bisciimination Act," Buman Rights Campaign, Accesseu Septembei 26,
2u1S, http:www.hic.oigcampaignsemployment-non-uisciimination-act
1u
0niteu States v. Winusoi, S7u 0.S. SSS (2u1S)
11
Nauiice Isseiman anu Nichael Kazim, Ameiica Biviueu: The Civil Wai of the 196us (New
Yoik: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess, 2u11), 4
4
The visibility of some members of the LGBT community, especially in representations of
the media, closes the minds of modern society to the intersectionality of sexual orientation and
class. Although visibility remains a necessary component of equality, the way in which society
sees some members of the LGBT community in the media reinforce ignorance. Television stars
like Neil Patrick Harris and George Takei become the framework by which a majority of
American society sees the LGBT community. In a study of her classes, Professor Suzanne
Walters, found that even though media exposed students to the LGBT community, it constituted
a majority of their understanding.
12
Since media coverage generally centers on wealthier
members of the LGBT community, people get the false impression that being LGBT does not
impact your socio-economic class. If George Takei can be gay and rich, why cant you? This
thinking leads to the invisibility of a majority of the LGBT communitys problems, which today
remain unaddressed.
13
Additionally, society forces members of the LGBT community to solely
focus on gay rights instead of tackling these socio-economic inequalities. Most of media
representation of the LGBT community focuses only on the identity of sexual orientation.
14

Members of the LGBT community lose other identities because the media refuses to see them by
anything but their sexual orientation. LGBT celebrities, and especially other members of the
LGBT community, cannot address these issues of intersectionality because their political voice is
limited to only sexual orientation identity politics. The intersectionality between class and sexual
orientation remains just as invisible today as it was during the Stonewall Riots.
Though the socio-economic gap remains a pertinent issue to todays modern LGBT
community, the issue remains invisible in the grand political arena of modern society. Before

12
Suzanna Walteis, /-- 2=" A4(". ;=" @2$37 $8 :47 *&+&,&-&27 &' /%"3&#4 (Illinois: 0niveisity of
Chicago Piess, 2uuS), 11.
1S
Ibiu., 1S-14.
14
Ibiu., 1S-16.
S
devising any solution, one must first understand how the intersectionality of class and sexual
orientation affects the LGBT community. The Stonewall riots revealed this intersectionality as
important, but modern society must actually enact policies and bring this intersectionality into
light. The United States government should fund programs that bring resources into historically
disadvantaged LGBT communities. Furthermore, media representations of the LGBT community
need exploration on the socio-economic pressures members of the LGBT face daily. Finally,
academic discourse surrounding the LGBT community must recognize these intersecting
identities as significant in order to fully understand the systems of power that control sexual
orientation.













Bibliography

Caitei, Baviu @2$'"<4--. ;=" A&$2+ 2=42 @C43D"5 2=" :47 A"B$-12&$' (New Yoik: St. Naitin's
Piess, 2uu4), 2S6.
6

Cienshaw, Kimbeile "Napping the Naigins: Inteisectionality, Iuentity Politics, anu violence
Against Women of Coloi," @24'8$35 94< A"B&"< 4S (1991), 12S1-12S2.

Bubeiman, Naitin, @2$'"<4-- (New Yoik: Penguin Books, 1994), xvii.

"Employment Non-Bisciimination Act," Buman Rights Campaign, Accesseu Septembei 26,
2u1S, http:www.hic.oigcampaignsemployment-non-uisciimination-act

Factoi, Rhonua anu Esthei Rothblum, "A Stuuy of Tiansgenuei Auults anu Theii Non-
Tiansgenuei Siblings on Bemogiaphic Chaiacteiistics, Social Suppoit, anu
Expeiiences of violence," }ouinal of LuBT Bealth Reseaich S (2uu7), 2u-21, 2S.

Isseiman, Nauiice anu Nichael Kazim, Ameiica Biviueu: The Civil Wai of the 196us (New
Yoik: 0xfoiu 0niveisity Piess, 2u11), 4

Ncuaiiy, Nolly anu Fieu Wasseiman, !"#$%&'( *&+&,-". /' 0--1+2342"5 6&+2$37 $8 9"+,&4'
4'5 :47 9&8" 0' ;<"'2&"2=>?"'2137 /%"3&#4 (New Yoik: Penguin Stuuio, 1998), 17-18,
142-146.

Ray, Nicholas, 9"+,&4'E :47E !&+"F14- 4'5 ;34'+("'5"3 G$12=. /' HC&5"%&# $8 6$%"-"++'"++
(New Yoik: National uay anu Lesbian Task Foice Policy Institute anu the National
Coalition foi the Bomeless, 2uu6), 9-11.

0niteu States v. Winusoi, S7u 0.S. SSS (2u1S)

Walteis, Suzanna, /-- 2=" A4(". ;=" @2$37 $8 :47 *&+&,&-&27 &' /%"3&#4 (Illinois: 0niveisity of
Chicago Piess, 2uuS), 11, 1S-16, 2S.