The reason the local precinct raided the Stonewall is never mentioned. Yes, this was an unlicensed saloon. That's clear. It always was clear. But what is invariably omitted is the undeniable fact the local cops were bleeding Stonewall, demanding monthly payments on their pad - the NYPD euphemism for the payoffs they collect.
The mob-owned, unlicensed Stonewall stopped paying the local cops and that could not be tolerated.
So the cops busted Stonewall.
This just happened to be one of the city's gay bars, but all unlicensed bars were bled by the NYPD. That was the cost of doing business. Stop paying and you get raided.
The story of Stonewall is rooted in NYPD corruption more than what would soon be labeled "homophobia."
As always, follow the money.
Will the NYPD apologize for its decades of extortion?
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
10
Is the large JetBlue ad still hanging across the front of this National Landmark?
Apologies like these only come after years of political activism. The only reason the police apologized here is the LGBT movement exercised its political muscle over decades to shape equality policies.
Yes, Eric Garner and the Central Park Five deserves similar apologies but it requires the police to fear your strength first.
10
Now the police need to apologize for a history targeting LGBT people to harass and arrest.
2
Can't say I'm much impressed, but I wonder what other people think about a half-century-delayed apology.
2
One should apologize for one's own actions, and never for something with which s/he had nothing to do. Common sense: Otherwise we all would go around apologizing for . . . much in human history. What would be the use of that?
9
We know that some of the straight cops back then quite enjoyed those "anatomical inspections."
8
Only going to make things worse. They take their cues from the bigot in chief. He would egg them on if he gets the chance.
No one is turning that barge around in a fast moving river.
4
Where is the apology for the central park five and Mr. Garner who was choked to death by the NYPD
20
Wrong move. NOBODY presently employed in the NYPD had anything to do with this event. Once the ball starts rolling like this on similar issues then we might see demands for reparations for the Civil War. The PC culture is running wild and must end soon.
8
@Donald Exactly, I can only surmise that this 'apology' was ordered by O'Neill's boss diBlasio as part of his presidential (LOL) campaign.
2
As I understand, the NYPD had a large hand in Stonewall.
Many out of town closeted gay men went to Stonewall for fun, and the police instructed the bar help to steal their wallets.
When these men went home to their straight wives and families, they were contacted by the police via their drivers licenses, that if they did not pay an extortion fee, their sexual orientations would be revealed to their own local police departments.
The NYPD cops made a ton of money via that scheme.
13
It took 50 years for NYPD to admit they were wrong that fateful night. But if they hadn't done what they did where would the Gay Rights movement be today? So all is well and good but in a way their actions made it all happen. An apology now is a bit anti-climatic given that their poor judgement and discrimination jump started the International Gay Revolution. We should be thankful that they erred so egregiously that night because the counter reaction has yielded a tremendous advancement in civil and human rights. What's sad is that it took 50 years for an NYPD brass to say anything constructive at all.
Secondly, In the concrete jungle where did all these stones and bricks come from many reports claim were used that night? When was the last time anyone has picked up either on a city street except perhaps in the vicinity of a construction site? It is my recollection that smashed cans (pre-aluminum), glass bottles (ditto plastic), city trash baskets, pocket change and an uprooted parking meter were the impromptu weapons of choice. In 1969 there were no bottle and can deposit laws. Trash bins were a trove of such readily available missiles. And when the bins were empty they got thrown too! Enough said!
7
Ya gotta love the type of offender who refuses to apologize, all while saying “We’re moving forward.”
How convenient and self-serving for the offender.
It only compounds trauma to not be heard.
7
It is about time.
10
Rampant homophobia was bad in the late 1960s and is still a problem today. It is just more concealed.
7
PUH-LEEZE! How stupid and meaningless.
5
"The department now boasts of hundreds of L.G.B.T. officers in its ranks, and since 1996, gay police officers have marched in uniform in New York City’s pride parade — an event that started to commemorate the uprising at Stonewall."
Yes, but what's missing is that the Gay Officer Action League (the group) matched in the pride parade for years in which the officers assigned to guard the parade would turn their backs when their gay colleagues came down the street.
If the police commissioner wants to apologize for something, perhaps he could talk about the shameful behavior that the rank-and-file treated their homosexual brothers and sisters.
20
While it is accurate that it is long overdue and incomplete, it is a start. My heart goes out to others who have been mistreated by authorities, in NY and everywhere else. It is a travesty, especially in a society that is supposed to ascribe to equal protection (not unequal persecution). However, it IS a start. A small start, but an essential start, and while we can not change the injustices of the past, we should all dedicate ourselves to preventing future injustices (which we can do while mourning previous ones).
7
Considering he was eleven years old at the time, that's a heavy burden he's lifting off his little shoulders ... never mind past injustice, focus on preventing future casualties.
3
Please update your subtitle to be more inclusive:
"The police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said he was sorry on behalf of the New York Police Department for the actions of officers during a 1969 clash with trans and gay patrons outside a Greenwich Village club."
2
That’s a start. Perhaps the then Police Commissioner will apologize in the year 2064 for the killing of Eric Garner and Akai Gurley.
11
No one has apologized for the Central Park Five yet. Our president would have had them executed.
21
@Steve Burns they were involved and they got a multi million dollar payout. Who should apologize for what exactly mate?
3
@bob they were not involved in the rape of that poor woman. Stop spreading lies!
10
the headline requires correction for historical accuracy: “...during a 1969 clash with gay men outside a Greenwich Village club.” and needs to corrected by correctly stating: gay men AND TRANS WOMEN” Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson and trans people today are always pinkwashed out by the gay focused media.
4
Good. So now, how about apologizing for Eric Garner and all the black and brown people that have died at the hands of NYPD over the years?
17
@James Lester
And Amadou Diallo. I think of that young man so often. Such a horrible death.
8
Or better yet, cops could just stop using their service revolvers in place of their cerebral function.
3
Why can the NYPD apologize to gay men but can't come up with an apology to the Central Park Five? Is it that hard to say "We're sorry" to young black men whose lives you destroyed?
13
@WorriedButHopeful, the $41-million settlement should have been apology enough.
As the authorities need to butt out of gay life, the christian and radical right need to keep their stupid prejudices to themselves regarding a woman's RIGHT to a safe, and legal abortion. If you come after our rights, we'll come after your bigoted churches.
15
I hear in Montreal now they’re starting to tax churches. That’s a good idea for us down here.
20
Where's the apology from the FBI? Hoover was a huge homophobe (beside being a closeted homosexual himself according to many) and besides the Red Scare (communists) there was the Lavender Scare (gays and lesbians). Hoover and many other conservatives felt the two were closely intertwined! Disgusting ignorance! Many, many careers and lives were destroyed! Apology please!
https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/103/3/819/2647749?redirectedFrom=PDF
BOOK: Hoover's War on Gays: Exposing the FBI's “Sex Deviates” Program
Hoover's War on Gays fills an important gap in the history of the gay rights movement by providing a comprehensive account of the five-decade campaign of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to intimidate and harass gay men, lesbians, and organizations that sought to advance their rights.
POLITICO: Washington at the time was in the grips not only of the Red Scare, but a more destructive (and less-remembered) “Lavender Scare.” In the popular imagination, communist disloyalty was intertwined with sexual immorality; communists were more likely to be “sexual deviants” and vice-versa.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/13/the-dark-history-of-anti-gay-innuendo-224930
4
how entirely embarrassing and tactless of the commissioner to state that the NYPD won’t CONTINUE to abuse lgbtq new yorkers - transwomen in particular are endemically abused and overrepresented in our criminal justice system. the NYPD has made it clear that they never were and never will be protectors of queer folks.
2
Your headline is incorrect. The Stonewall uprising was not just 'gay men" it was lesbians, gays, drag queens, and transexuals. It started when a lesbian was bashed in the head and yelled for the crowd to do something. The uprising consisted of the entire LGBT community, not just "gay men".
9
What a silly and feckless nation we have become. Apologizing for incidents half century old is for the weak and useless.
8
@Mike Murray MD, there must be something to the allure of cameras, microphones and symbolic gestures that makes America feel real. Feckless is an excellent word for it.
2
I don't have an appropriate response to such a callous comment. Hopefully, you're a pathologist.
11
@Mike Murray MD. I think you must be one of those who thinks any apology is a sign of weakness. That's carp. Apologies are a sign of strength, and if they keep us reminded of past sins so that we don't repeat them, they are far from useless. If you're a doctor, I'm a heavyweight boxer.
6
Apologizing for the actions of others 50 years ago? Don't waste everyone's time.
If that apology is to be truly meaningful, make sure that the police treat everyone properly from here out, not just LGBTQ.
The LGBTQ community WERE and ARE particularly singled out.
8
I am reading many comments that are bowling right past the momentousness of this event.
I know there are tens of thousands of well-mannered gentle, forgiving gay men in heaven pulling tissues from the sleeves of their caftans and dabbing at their tastefully mascara’d eyelashes. “Bravo!” indeed. On their behalf that I say ‘thank you’, and accept his apology.
Our whole existence is changed in very real terms as a result of those police officers’ actions that night. We might have had the opportunity to more gradually and gently find our way to a lessening of the social stigmas surrounding homosexuality.
We might have had chances to make ourselves known in less degrading, shameful ways more gradually and not had to ‘come out swinging’.
But those opportunities — if they ever existed — were taken from us. The 50 years since have been hard; so very much of our heart as a people appears to have been lost to them.
If our heart as a people were not so battle-weary, more people might see that this man changed his mind, and admitted it publicly. That cannot have been easy to navigate, especially with no example in recent memory to look to for guidance.
Across the country Chiefs-of-Police, Sheriffs and other leaders also face the daunting task of re-examining their beliefs and actions and altering the way they interact with the public. Maybe the wait for this event can be put to good use by our wholeheartedly embracing his gesture of goodwill and show them all how its done.
13
Judy Garland died that day. Something had to give. I don't think anything at this point can make up for what gays have suffered. This feels like "thoughts and prayers."
4
@Ms M.: Judy Garland died almost a week earlier. Her funeral was the 27th.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
Conspicuously left out of this article is that whatever the consequences, a reason for the raid was that at the time, it was a mafia-run establishment, and unwary gay visitors were being blackmailed. See "The Real Mob at Stonewall" by Lucian K. Truscott IV, (NYT, June 25, 2009) who covered the riots for The Village Voice at the time. Granted, the fact that LGBT were discriminated against was why gay bars weren't allowed liquor licences, arguably creating an opening for the mafia to get involved and run bars illegally and pay off cops to look the other way.
8
Pretty easy to apologize for something obviously wrong that happened 50 years ago before your watch. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not very newsworthy or momentous.
2
Everyone's lives are better since Stonewall. Thank you. And the apology is good for the soul of law enforcement. Our souls were fine already, but thanks.
6
All this is great, but are we going to name the officers involved and hold them accountable?
8
Interesting comments from some regarding how the apology was supposedly too late and too little. Except the Commissioner had been asked and he provided one.
It's not like he could have done it any sooner...since he wasn't the commissioner earlier.
You have a choice. Continue being a victim or move on and take control of your life. At least he was willing to do what was asked and if any officers attempted something similar today, the department would come down on them.
In other words, it's never "too late."
10
I'm very pleased to read the apology, but as many others have commented, this is way too late.
Also, do we know if the photo at the beginning of the article was actually taken during the Stonewall Riot? The haircuts on the police officers look a bit shaggy, almost mid-1970s to me.
5
A day late and a dollar short.
2
Better late than never? I'm not at all sure.
1
How about apologizing for all the other times the NYPD raided gay bars, arrested patrons and called their employers, got them fired from their jobs, etc?
And the ongoing stop-and-frisk assaults on young black and Hispanic people for walking in their own neighborhoods.
14
Eric Garner? Amadou Diallo? Sean Bell?
11
Words matter. Thank you.
12
Cool. I would guess that zero people who were in the NYPD at the time of this disgusting incident are still in the NYPD. Another feel-good gesture that does absolutely nothing.
7
sorry seems to be the hardest word
3
If the queer community accepts this apology, we will be turning out backs on necessary activism and will be buying into a discourse structured by the police.
Make no mistake, the police knew what they were doing at Stonewall, and they know what they are doing now.
7
50 years go by, and now an apology from NYPD.
I guess it's better than the Southern Baptists, who confessed their defense of slavery from the pulpit in 1975, 121 years after the 13th Amendment.
9
Stonewall wasn't "just" about police vs. gays. The Mob had been running gay clubs in NYC which technically couldn't hold a liquor license, and paying off local cops.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/
The story is never as simple as it first appears.
16
50 years later and all we get is "wrong" and "oppressive". I'm sorry that is not enough. How about compensation, reparations? How about talk a little about how the cops pursued gay people like hunting animals, abused them, ignored them when they needed help. How about doing the same for African American people and admit Black Lives Matter is doing Nobel Prize work? Step up to the plate.
Check out what Canada has been doing for First Nation people. Reparations to the tune of 2 billion dollars.
9
@Jana DuJour There will be another american Civil War before that happens, missy. We are ready!
2
Gee, that's great. And it only took 50 years.
3
Throughout American history police often have been the initiators of violence, not the peaceful protesters they attack. And recent history shows it has not stopped. Peaceful unarmed students protesting on UC Davis campus about legitimate concerns that administrators refused to address. Cops walk up and pepper spray a dozen or two causing serious injuries. The cops weren’t satisfied with being able to arrest the protesters. No, they needed to use illegal violence to them to teach them a lesson. Armed right-wing domestic terrorists occupy a federal building in Oregon and the police do nothing and use no violence except to try to help some of the terrorists out. Unarmed, non-violent Students protest the Vietnam war. The National Guard is brought in illegally to perform local police work and kills several students. Coal Miners protest and strike. Coal miners are winning so the US Government sends in a bomber plane which drops bombs on the coal miners. The first bombing of the American people by the US Government. (The federal government claims it didn’t do the bombing and only sold the bombers to the coal mine companies who did the bombing yet not one coal company executive was arrested or charged in the bombing so at the very best the government was completely complicit in bombing its own people.) Waco, Texas, - the police attack a compound on its own private property for no legitimate reason and murder dozens of children. Repeat same scenario over and over.
6
Many of these comments are puzzling. Maybe the answer is that apologies for slavery are simply time-barred now. And if apologies are time-barred, certainly reparations are, too. Even for blacks who could demonstrate lineage through a slave (and many cannot), 10 generations have passed--certainly too long to have a meaningful connection with the original event.
5
@Wine Country Dude... Slavery is the event to point to but the list of offenses does not stop there. The list is continuous and multitudinous. After slavery there were "pig laws" which led to the chain gangs (a cost -effective improvement upon slavery). From there Jim Crowe, codified segregation through "separate but equal" and then Civil Rights. Some people aren't even one generation removed from the movement and this list is not comprehensive.
Even after CR there was the "war on crime," then "the war on drugs" and before that the redlining housing policy, which still occurs today. Sure slavery is 10ish generations removed, but the underlying racism that allowed for slavery, also created all those policies and is still going today. Sure reparations are said to be for slavery, but they are really for the continued post-emancipation political inequity that has permeated America, socially, politically, and economically.
9
@Wine Country Dude. Your comment seems to be unrelated to Stonewall, aside from an oblique reference to the lengthy amount of time between the event and the apology. Hmm.
3
@Wine Country Dude: Be careful with your generational generalizations: My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, and my colleague’s great-grandmother was born a slave.
1
That was then. This is now. What use is an apology from someone who would not repeat said behavior, and certainly had nothing to do with it to begin with?? Empty apology. Nothing more.
5
@Simon It's an acknowledgement of a 50-year-old injustice.
4
@Simon, O'Neill has never met a politician he wouldn't kowtow to, as shown by his vendetta against the sergeant who shot to death a schizophrenic woman swinging a baseball bat at his head. This time it's Corey Johnson's turn.
Don't forget the Compton's Cafeteria riot in San Francisco three years earlier:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton%27s_Cafeteria_riot
An even earlier turning point.
6
Easy to pretend to come clean by admitting to the sins of an earlier generation, when most of the perps are safely in their graves. Want to impress us? Own up to the malfeasance you're committing, yourselves, now!
9
Thank you Commissioner - very late but still welcome.
13
Reminds me of when the NYT admitted that Goddard was right when Apollo 11 was on the way to the moon..
Very late in the game but thanks New York City..
Really late getting off the dime. Easily done when Koch was Mayor.
2
Well...you know Mayor Koch didn't like to be associated with the gays.
2
As JimH says above, this is a "fake" apology because "you can't apologize for something you did not do." I would go further and argue that fake apologies are actually cheap self-congratulatory virtue signalling that points to A.N.Other as the real culprit even as you go through the pious display of pseudo-contrition. The current Prime Minister of Canada is a master of the art of the pharisaical pseudo-apology. It would not matter very much, were it not for two terrible unintended consequences: 1) genuine apologies now get tarred with the same brush, so even genuine contrition looks fake; 2) because apologies in general have become meaningless, pious authoritarian politicians and (especially) human rights tribunals increasingly have recourse to the imposition of fake apologies as a punitive measure. That is an appalling development. Either the apology is warranted or it is not. In either case, the imposition of compulsory contrition is a violation of human dignity.
4
very insightful
Apology is too little, too late.
4
@C Barghout. But far better than never.
7
Let me also apologize to that girl in my second grade class, in 1969,for being insensitive.
At least that involves me taking responsibility for my own actions.
Someone apologizing for someone else's actions long ago, is cheap and easy, and serves no purpose. The NYPD long ago revised its policies regarding the lgbtq and other communities, and had acted accordingly for decades.
Now what purpose does grovelling serve? Now? It's like those lawsuits that try to find the modern state of Israel culpable of Jesus' death.
2
Absurd. Apologizing for something that happened in a different time, when the culture was different.
Of course the NYPD is doing stuff this very day thought to be fine but 50 years from now will be reckoned horrible.
I'm still waiting from an apology from Mongolia for the atrocities Khan committed against my Russian forebears.
3
@vbering
The culture is not as different as you think
2
Honestly, thank you to those corrupt, bullying cops because had they not entered Stonewall that night and harassed those particular gay patrons, we would not have had the riot that ignited the gay rights movement.
Thank you to the transgender people of color and the other patrons of the bar, probably closeted men, who refused to back down and get arrested as usual. They took back the night, and their power and fearlessness paved the way for mine.
We owe it all to them.
29
Those who critique the apology as a waste of time because it is too late should not critique the NYPD. They should critique the Speaker of the NYC City Council. He is the one who made the request. Commissioner O'Neal merely honored the request.
2
These types of apology are feel good moves for the person making the fake apology. It does no good for anyone and does address the issue because the time to do so has passed. Additionally you can’t apologize fir something you did not do.
8
I find the Commissioner's apology leaves me cold. In recent memory the cops harassed the crowd outside the Stonewall when they presented for the Orlando shootings and it seems to me that they roughed up some gay men when the Stonewall was dedicated as a national monument or possibly at a gathering celebrating the Supreme Court case legalizing gay marriage.
Too often the police force seizes the opportunity to demonstrate their power over groups they consider less powerful. No individual deserves to be brutalized for participating in a public assembly. Mr Johnson has neglected to ask for an apology for the unnecessary roughness inflicted upon the LGBT community in more recent years.
Sweeping police brutality under the rug and accepting empty apologies only serves ensure that the police force will continue to exercise unnecessary force against vulnerable communities.
Yes, the apology was long over due, but actions speak louder than words.
17
Not so brave to offer an apology when all involved are safely into their seventies and nobody in politics or culture will be effected by this. Symbolically important, sure; but fifty years late.
As for “all New Yorkers” I am sure the city’s highly surveilled Muslim communities don’t always feel that way. How about an apology for the now discredited mosque infiltration program? Just look up the CLEAR report.
13
yup. talk is cheap. the NYPD continues to commit atrocities against African American, Latino, and muslim new yorkers.
1
50 years late, long after the uniformed perpetrators have gone. But it'll happen again, in one form or another, with one "unwelcome" group or another; and then in 2070 somebody will again say, "Oh, sorry 'bout that."
4
It is a nice gesture on the part of the police department, though in one sense they were only one of the guilty parties. The state liquor laws of the time for example had laws against serving liquor in same sex establishments, and there also were rules on the books making it illegal to be cross dressed, that weren't finally invalidated until the early 1970s, and the legislature should be apologizing for giving justification to the cops to raid and harass gay bars in the first place. Too, religious groups should be apologizing, many of them were cheering on the cops and what they were doing and demonized the LGBT people who finally fought back, the troglodyte who was the Cardinal in NYC at the time encouraged the police to basically crack the heads of those evil sinners and whatnot...and one can only hope maybe some day those parties will wake up and realize the damage that caused, the pain, for no reason.
15
An apology takes courage and is part of moving forward... it also takes time. I’m grateful the commissioner demonstrated that courage now, it will help us heal.
9
@Ted A
Half a century is way too much time. Apologies, like justice, delayed are denied.
1
@Ted A It takes no courage at all to "aplogize" for something someone else did. That kind of apology is at best cowardice, at worst pharisaical pride (coded virtue signalling).
2
This apology is a bright spot in our month of gay pride celebrations. At a time when there is significant opposition to gay rights coming from conservative Evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and others who have an ear in this administration and SCOTUS, this is reminder of the progress that we've made, and the allies that have joined us, in our continuing struggle for equality. Apology is graciously accepted.
24
Apologies are nice, actions are better.
In the last several weeks three transgender women were murdered in Dallas alone. In the last several months transgender people have been banned from serving in the military. Discrimination cases for firing people for their sexual orientation and gender identity are about to land on the docket of the most conservative SCOTUS in decades. The fight is far from over.
As egregious as the NYPD actions were, they finally were so beyond the pale that it unified a movement that has changed the rights of LGBT people in the U.S. and beyond. Fifty years after Stonewall, 55 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and 47 years after Title IX, we’re a nation that still struggles with affirming the basic idea of equality.
Hopefully the indignities of our time will eventually create equal protection under the law that the 14th Amendment guaranteed. An apology from NYPD is a nice step, but given the current political rhetoric, I fear equality won’t come any time soon.
22
Can we sometimes just sit back and say, "Thank you" when something good happens, rather than exploiting the opportunity to present yet another long list of "social justice" grievances? It's really very, very tiresome. The world is not prefect, or equal, and never will be.
38
@Joanna
Thank you so very much for educating us about the ongoing struggle. As a member of the LGBT Community I try to stay informed, but I learned a lot more about our struggle because you took the time to share your knowledge here, today.
Thank you! And Happy Pride!!!!!
8
@PeteH
Actually, I did say that the apology was nice. Apologizing 50 years after the fact (coming from someone who wasn’t on the force at the time to a group that has largely passed away by now) IS better late than never, but how much does that really do? I was merely trying to point out that this is important, and that it’s not over.
You may find the desire for equal treatment tiresome, but history has moved toward equality. There are setbacks along the way, and while there may never be true equality I hope we can get closer. To me that’s a goal worth striving for (and a symbol of what Pride and Stonewall hope to achieve).
Mentioning we still have a long at to go isn’t exploitation. It’s the point.
4
Our Republic represents everyone. Pride belongs to ALL of us. We must never forget Stonewall, 24/7.
8
I’m in tears. I remember the first year I saw the parade – 1978. No one knew then that history had been made less than 10 years before. That year, we celebrated the fact that the police had deigned to field a baseball team to play against a group of gay boys. High level détente had nothing over those negotiations.
In "Angels in America," Tony Kushner writes, "The world only spins forward." Stonewall was one of those seminal moments. Today, the police commissioner made another one happen.
Thank you.
19
“gay boys”?? How about gay men.
2
A nice gesture- however the police at that time were just doing their job. Where are/were the apologies from the city mayors or NY governors for the hateful legislation? While the Speaker suggested an apology from the police, there are others to be held accountable as well.
22
@Charlie "Some were asked to submit to anatomical inspections. " I've never seen that in a police officer's job description. Everyone needs to be held accountable for their actions. Do not allow anyone to hide behind "I was just doing my job"
7
@Joe Fair point. However, those same officers administering the "anatomical inspections" had to have gotten the order from somewhere. Perhaps it was a supervising officer? Or maybe the order came from a D.A. so the city could "protect" itself from a lawsuit? Cops can't be the only scapegoats.
2
Thank you Commissioner O’Neill, your word will do much for all of us - perhaps especially for the many LGBTQ Law Enforcement Officers throughout the world
17
Better late than never. NY's police commissioner's long over due apology is quite appropriate recognition of gay rights. Many Americans are probably not aware of the lasting contribution of men from Greenwich village to the development of an effective Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) that has helped prevent Hepatitis B virus infections in millions of humans.
A concentrated population in Greenwich village that was more likely to be infected with HBV was central to a very clever design of a candidate HBV vaccine human trial conducted by the New York Blood Center that resulted in a vaccine that protects against HBV caused liver disease that could progress to liver cancer. Thank you to the gay men for consenting to participate in the trial.
13
@Girish Kotwal I participated in that trial. Thanks for mentioning it.
2
@Hywel NYC. Thanks for your participation in one of the best trials of the past century.
2
How about for the Central park five
34
Appreciate the apology..but thanks to that illegal and immoral raid, we eventually got our full rights.
3
@orestes - we finally got our full rights? We must be reading different newspapers.
2
@orestes Please explain how this raid was 'immoral?'
As a member of the New York City Gay Liberation Front founded in response to Stonewall, and with whom I will be marching as a Grand Marshal in WorldPride2019 on June 30, I welcome this apology. Roberto Camp
40
@Roberto - glad to hear GLF will be marching as a Grand Marshal this year. I was photographing the 2018 March and it was a surprise to see the Gay Liberation Front contingent buried fairly far back in the order of march. I spoke briefly with the group. The only name I remember was Jim Fourett.
Not sure if the comments allow a link to the photo I took:
https://alphonse.zenfolio.com/2018-06-24-nyc-pride-v3/eafd816a9
3
Apologizing for the deliberate evil acts of others may be fashionable these days, but what's important is that those now in charge clean up their own act.
7
A semantic to consider during these conflicted times. In a divided nation of diverse populations. Beliefs, Identities. “Truths,” Facts.” All operating within an enabled, toxic, WE-THEY culture which continues to violate. Daily. By words and deeds; created, selected and targeted “ the other.”
Saying in some fashion that “I apologize” or that “I am sorry for my words and/or deeds” to the harmed, violated ONE leaves the power with the violator.
To ask for forgiveness -“I ask YOU to forgive me” - leaves the decision to do so, or not, when, how, etc., and the associated powers, with the harmed-violated person.
The daily reality that the vast majority of policymakers, whatever their political ideologies and party labels, at all levels, local, regionally, state and national, operate with personal unaccountability, as a norm, neither apologizing nor asking for our forgiveness, is part of the semantic surrealism which each of US contributes to.
2
Figures the police will only admit their guilt and apologize after decades have gone by.
4
It's honestly criminally negligent of the NY Time to report on this and not include any mention of the trans communities ongoing fight against "walking while trans" laws and the huge need for decriminalization of sex work to help our LGBTQ+ community. There are activists fighting HARD about this right now, and Marsha Johnson said she was arrested over 100 times for prostitution. The fight is still happening, we haven't won it, and comments like this are relatively empty while the NYPD still harasses trans people.
12
Yeah so forget about the apology I guess.. right?
2
Truth and reconciliation !
Three cheers for honesty....better late than never !
Be kind to your fellow human.
44
Nice gesture, but it comes far too late. Are we also to expect an apology for the chokehold death of Eric Garner in 40 years rather than accountability and reform today?
8
Thanks for covering this long overdue, but-neverthless-welcome, apology.
Please stop using "gay" and "gay men" and "the struggle for gay rights," however, as if they capture the facts of what happened at Stonewall and what was a stake. It is 2019. We know that lesbians, bisexuals, and trans people were at the center of what happened during the uprising and in the weeks and months and years that followed, alongside their gay brothers.
Yes, you acknowledge the existence of these people at Stonewall in this article. In the 7th paragraph. Yes, you do use LGBT--once in a quote.
We are not all gay. We never have been. We are not all men. We never have been. We have always been here.
If your style guide objects to the use of "queer" (the umbrella term of choice for most non-het, non-cis people under the age of 40ish) for political reasons or because of sensitivity to those readers who still consider it a slur (as is their right), please use the acronym LGBT to describe the whole community (which is who was present at Stonewall). Better yet, use LGBT+ or LGBTQIA+ to be more fully accurate.
Erasure is both inaccurate and harmful to the public good. Thanks.
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@George
Beautifully put, George. Thank you.
2
George
from my perspective, as an older trans person and someone from a decidedly small demographic (we may not have the buying power of the gay population but we do buy stuff and we subscribe to journals and national papers like the NYT) and, are easily pinkwashed and are, (see the headline) most often often overlooked, your clarification is needed and is very much appreciated.
Thank you.
2
@Daphne Thank YOU so much. As a bi man married to a straight woman, and as someone born two weeks before Stonewall, I have for the last 40 years, more or less, struggled to find a community in which I can feel fully "seen" and at home. I was stunned when I first learned of the critical involvement of drag queens, bi people and what we would now honor as trans and gender non-binary/fluid people at Stonewall, as well as that of homeless gay men. I was further stunned to learn that many of these people were people of color. Stunned because I had always been taught--to the extent I was taught at all--that Stonewall (and the Pride movement that followed) was all about/by gay white men. So much erasure, and so unnecessary. We can absolutely acknowledge and honor the critical roles that gay (white) men and lesbians played, without erasing others' histories. I have always been grateful for the close alliance, sympathy, and understanding between the bi+ community and the trans community, and especially for the beautiful presence of those many people who are in both.
1
Wonderful. A dignified, sincere message of big importance to all Americans regardless of their class, race, economic level or sexual identity. This is a fine example of Americans working together to heal.
11
I am a heterosexual male and give the commissioner a lot of credit.What he did was right and will elevate human dignity.He will pay with the Neanderthals,but what is right is right.
Thank You,
J Fitz
4
How far we've come. How far we still have to go...
8
Only 50 years too late but who’s counting?
2
What about an apology for the Central Park Five?
1
@Nelson Payamps They were guilty of that crime and others, son!
Wow. What a milestone. Thank you. Apology accepted.
2
Great!! Excellent!!
[seriously]
Eagerly awaiting official NYPD apologies for any number of other things.
1
Wow! Gotta love New York!
2
Please change the subtitle: “clash with gay men” is inaccurate and grossly narrow, considering the homage owed to others in the LGBT community for their leadership role in this uprising.
4
From his lips to officers, in towns big and small, all over America.
4
Good for him.....shame it took 50 years
4
Sobbing with tears of joy to see this apology. Best news for ages!!! Happy Pride Month!
36
I lived in NYC during Stonewall. This is great news. Great!!
39
Don’t police have enough to do beside interfere with who loves who or who cares about who?
Thanks to Mr. O’Neill. 1969 - 2019 without an apology?
Well, let’s try to give credit to credit that’s due with the understanding that all Americans deserve freedom and to really mean it. New York, of all places, Statue of Liberty as we enter, should take heed.
14
This was a good step, but when discussing Stonewall it would be a shame to leave out the involvement of trans people as well, especially Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
53
@Shula The article specifically says "Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who were forced out of the bar that night taunted the police. Some threw bottles and stones." Trans people were definitely included in that list.
You might also be interested in reading the recent Times piece (and watching the excellent video which accompanies it) regarding what "really" happened at Stonewall. Johnson and Rivera certainly deserve all credit for everything they did. But so does every brave individual who stood up to the police that fateful evening.
20
@Shula Was just going to post this. The sub-headline names "clas with gay men" but it was folks across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and transwomen were key in this movement. Could the headline please be updated?
During a time when the federal government is looking for any possible way to roll back lgbtq rights, it's great to hear that reconciliation and inclusion are on the minds of some very forward thinking public officials.
127
It's long overdue, but great nonetheless. Kudos to the commissioner.
65
A nice gesture. Very late, but a nice gesture.
35
There were also transgender women involved, who still to this day face a disproportionate risk for police violence, especially trans women of color. I hope people can keep that in mind during Pride Month and every other month, really.
73
@Aurelien
Every article that involves this type of thing always has someone coming in, ignoring the article and the groups involved, and instead jumping to some other more oppressed group.
5
@Nick Trans women started the riot and have been fighting for decades for the LGB of our community. Isn't it time the community started fighting for them?
1
This is the kind of societal reconciliation we need to encourage and support. Kudos to the Commissioner.
149
shame it took 50 years
3
@bonmarchebabes, better late than never.
3
@John,
Yep. Maybe 50 years isn't that bad. Let's see if the U.S. Customs and Border Protection issues any apologies in the next 50 years.
6