The Stonewall Uprising, Creating Safe Spaces, Education and Allyship

In this episode I talk about the Stonewall Uprising and how it has impacted the LGBTQ community. I address mental health within the community and what we can do to help support each other. 

Episode Transcript

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Content warning.

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The content of this podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes onlyand should not be considered medical or psychological advice.
The views expressed are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect theopinions of any professional organizations.
If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health issues or a crisis, please seekhelp from a qualified mental health professional or contact a crisis support service by

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dialing 988.
Always consult with the licensed therapist or counselor for personalized support andguidance.
Welcome to Queer and Here, Let's Talk Mental Health, which is dedicated to LGBTQ mentalhealth.
A diverse selection of mental health professionals and passionate storytellers will cometogether to create a safe and supportive space for listeners.

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By amplifying voices from all corners of the community, this podcast inspires hope, sparksdialogue, and promotes mental wellness for everyone.
I'm your host, Alicia Nolan She Her, and today is officially the first day.
of launching Queer and Here.
And right off the bat, I need to give a special shout out to Dara, who is essential ingetting this project up and going.

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You are all going to meet Dara on this podcast, hopefully in the near future.
They are an incredibly insightful human being that I believe we all can learn somethingfrom.
Let's get into today's episode.
October is LGBTQ History Month.
Now,
This is not going to be an entire episode about history, so please don't go away.

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What is going to move me into why talking about mental health in a marginalized communityis so important.
And with that said, I'm going to be diving into very sensitive yet crucial topics coveringsuicide and mental health within the queer community.
But first, let's get started with a little bit of history.

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I am finding it increasingly important to stand up for the LGBTQ community and having thatconversation about the history of the community and how far we have come can really paint
a colorful picture of hope.
But at times it can feel like we're falling behind.
I believe that our current climate within the community is scary and we need to understandthat we can come together as we have done in the past to fight for our rights and

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ultimately equality for all human beings.
And I don't believe that to be a stretch and that ideology can be obtained.
It is possible for true equality to be a reality.
We just need to speak up and work together.
I'm not going to dive too deep into history, but I believe that the Stonewall uprising isthe most important event to take place in our history, which happened in 1969.

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It feels like a long time ago, but really it wasn't that long ago.
I think we can learn a lot from it.
which if you don't know, the Stonewall Inn was a mafia controlled illegal gay bar in NewYork City.
It operated as a private club in order to avoid the control of the state liquor authority.

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And even though it was watered down alcohol, it was still a place for the gay community togo and be themselves.
At the time, it was illegal to have same sex relationships in the United States.
And when I say illegal, they literally arrested people if they were caught.
I will mention there is a documentary on Amazon Prime called The Stonewall Uprising, whichI highly recommend you watch.

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It's shocking the propaganda and stuff that was out there at the time against the gaycommunity.
It explains what it was like during that time, the violence against the gay community, andwhat's important here is that history has shown us a roller coaster of oppression and
cycles of freedom.
In the 19th century, America tolerated forms of homosexuality in the form of romanticfriendships.

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But in the 20th century, it brought medical and legal regulation of homosexuality as itwas looked at as a dangerous illness.
A major repression took place in the 1950s with the McCarthy era.
Senator McCarthy was the creator
of the second red scare of political repression and persecution of left-wing individualsto include trying to remove gay individuals from working in the federal government

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because, and I quote, homosexuals must not be handling top secret material.
The pervert is easy prey to a blackmailer, end quote.
He maintained that gay people were a threat to national security.
Interesting.
Homosexuals were targeted in an effort to reinforce, quote, traditional American culture.

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So yes, they were arrested and charged as criminals.
And at times they were subjected to corrective procedures and therapies.
What they deemed to be corrective, right?
This included lobotomy, castration, sterilization, and aversion therapy, which is wherethey would get an electric shock when looking at homosexual pornographic pictures.

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There were silly laws also that individuals must wear at least three articles of clothingthat belonged to their gender.
So that was obviously specifically targeting drag queens at the time.
In addition, the FBI began to make a list of known homosexuals and publish them in thelocal newspaper, which would out them to their community.

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This is a timeframe when gays and lesbians began to organize.
It's called the homophile movement.
The challenge in this was that the gays were not a class or race, so political languagewas difficult.
They were considered victims of a moral and medical defect.
The focus during this time from a civil rights point of view was employment rights andmilitary service.

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So let's move into the Stonewall Uprising event itself.
Now at this bar, Stonewall Inn, cops routinely raided it, but they were tipped offtypically.
the patrons, would warn the patrons and just basically tell them not to display

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do public displays of affection and whatnot.
And because of the political climate at this time, there was an increase in bar raids andtension with the LGBTQ community.
So on June 28th, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall bar without notice.
They blockaded the front doors and demanded everyone's identification.

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Because the police had just raided a couple days prior, patrons were upset and theystarted to resist a bit.
They began arresting people.
And as this was happening, a crowd grew outside and they got a bit rowdy.
Due to the aggressiveness of the arrests and patrons being thrown into the back of thewagons, the crowd continued to get angry and began throwing coins and stones at the cops.

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Then things got worse after a cop dragged someone out of the bar and struck them.
This incited more violence as members of the crowd began throwing bottles, trying to tipover the wagon, started ripping out parking meters and using them as battering rams.
Officers tried to get people to move back, but actually ended up being forced into the barfor safety.

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Before they knew it, hundreds of people were outside.
Eventually things settled down and everything dispersed, but over the next few nights moreriots took place and eventually fizzled out.
Now the real question is what happened as a result of the Stonewall uprising?
Well, it sparked many modern LGBTQ rights movements.

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In fact, a year after the uprising, the first gay pride parade took place.
They called it the Christopher Street Liberation Day.
And it obviously began a trend across the U.S.
shortly afterwards.
Gay rights organizations started spreading across the country and the world.
like the Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activist Alliance formed, and many more organizationsover the years have popped up like GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG as well.

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It has been a fight ever since Stonewall, and we continue to fight.
Even though all of these things have taken place in recent years and these organizationshave come out and there's so many resources and support out there, the fight is not over.
Now, I don't
want to get into politics, but we have a huge election coming up.

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In the United States, there were 75 anti LGBTQ bills that became law in 2023.
And there were there have been another 44 in 2024, most of them targeting transindividuals and youth.
Things that we can do as a community is support organizations, obviously like GLAD andPFLAG and the Human Rights Campaign, the Trevor Project, and there's just so many out

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there.
I will be actually updating queerinhere.com with all of those resources.
So you have a place to go if you want to help support.
You're just getting more involved and also sharing our stories can be the most powerfultools that we have to promote visibility and solidarity.

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So why is all of this important?
Mental health.
We suffer greatly in the LGBTQ community due to discrimination, lack of acceptance,rejection, fear of rejection, bullying and societal pressures.
It's the perfect environment for isolation and hopelessness to fester.

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LGBTQ individuals face significantly higher suicide rates compared to heterosexual andcisgender counterparts, and certainly higher rates for depression and anxiety.
According to the Trevor Project's 2023 national survey, over 40 % of LGBTQ youth seriouslyconsidered suicide in the past year.

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And it's not just youth.
Many adults in the queer community also experience mental health challenges.
And then mix in the stigma around mental health that prevents individuals from seekinghelp to begin with.
Feeling they need to tough it out or fearing they won't be understood.
So what can we do?
I'm glad you asked.

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Education.
It really is essential in prevention efforts.
Implementing LGBTQ inclusive subjects in schools can help combat bullying and foster anenvironment of respect and understanding among students.
Now, last week, the city that I'm from, Virginia Beach, Virginia, the school board agreedto allow schools to recognize LGBTQ History Month, the month of October.

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And I can't tell you how happy this made me because it is a step in the right direction topromote allyship and educate peers about LGBTQ experiences, reducing the stigmatization of
LGBTQ community and more important, creating a safe space for LGBTQ youth to feel valuedand heard.

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Because that was not the case when I was in high school, as many of you can relate, Ididn't come out in high school because I saw
you know, the two individuals that did come out, I saw how they were treated and they werebullied.
It just, wasn't a safe space.
Now mind you, was a jock and no one would have messed with me, but I didn't want to painta target on my back.

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And this is why we need these conversations.
And this is why education is so important.
Community support systems are also incredibly important for reducing suicide rates.
among LGBTQ individuals.
Just having resources, events, outreach programs, these can create a sense of belonging,but also sharing your story.

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Not being afraid to share and be vulnerable.
And I can't force people to be vulnerable.
That's not an easy ask.
So I get that.
It's not easy.
Before my wife died by suicide, I never spoke up.
I never asked for help and I just put on a strong face because I didn't know what else todo and I didn't want to look weak.

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After my wife died by suicide, I became a completely different person.
In the beginning of 2024, I decided that it was time to share my story on whateverplatform I could.
I shared on podcasts, unfiltered stories and various online articles and the responses Ireceived about how grateful people were that I shared.

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just thanking me, it was just so incredibly powerful.
Someone out there needs to hear your story.
Someone out there is feeling alone and helpless and your story could be what they need tokeep fighting.
especially in the LGBTQ community.
There was someone in the closet right now that wants to hear your coming out story to givethem the confidence to do the same.

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Someone out there needs to hear it.
We really need to band together as a community.
This is why I created this podcast.
It is more mental health based because we struggle so much and are so afraid to recognizeit because we think that it's just the way life is.
And I'm here to tell you that's wrong and that you don't have to struggle.
We can support each other, share our stories of triumph, of the hurdles that we haveovercome, because someone else is facing a similar hurdle right now.

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This podcast is going to take a lot of work, but I'm hoping you, the listeners, will help.
Listen, share with everyone you know, and if you have a story that you want to share tothe LGBTQ community, well, I just so happen to have a platform for you.
And you can do just that.
Head to my website at queerenhere.com and fill out the guest form because I would love tohave you on here.

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would love for others to hear your story.
Listeners, if you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out for help.
You are not alone.
Remember that you are loved, you are valid, and there is support out there.
Thank you for listening in.
Hearing a little bit about our history and mental health in the LGBTQ community.

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I am so excited also about the next episode, which I plan to release on October 22nd.
Smash Field with Field Therapy will be joining us with two other mental healthprofessionals to talk about how we can take care of ourselves during election time, which
I know I'm very excited about because I don't know about you.
but my anxiety has been very high about this election.

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Please don't forget to like, subscribe, share, all the things.
It helps me out so much to get the word out about this incredible journey.
And of course, I'm going to read something from Charlotte Freeman's book.
Her book is called, This Was Meant to Find You When You Needed It Most.
I am in awe of you and the way you keep going, regardless of how many times you have askedyourself if you should.

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I am proud of you for putting it all on the line, for believing in yourself enough to findwhat your heart is looking for.
I have one last ask for all of you, and I know I ask a lot.
I want you to comment on this episode with organizations, events, community programs thatyou would love to see in your city, wherever you may be, and I want you to list your city.

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Thank you again for tuning in.
You are loved, you are enough, and keep fighting.
See you next time.