Unsung Heroes of Pride - Sermon from June 9, 2019

A few weeks ago, when we talked about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, as a young attorney, working quietly but diligently behind the scenes for equal rights for women, Debbie suggested a sermon series about unsung heroes, especially women and people of color,  who helped change the world but were never given the proper credit for it. I am starting that series on this Pride weekend, with three unsung heroes of the Stonewall uprising, 50 years ago this month, which was the beginning of the modern gay rights movement, and has usually been portrayed as white and male. A little history: In 1969 the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, was owned, like most clubs in NYC, by the mafia. The police turned a blind eye to the selling of liquor without a license and underage drinking for a weekly payment from their owners. But if payment was late or missing, they raided them.  At Stonewall, in addition to a general shake down, they lined those dressed as women up against the wall, and took a few at a time to the bathroom for a check.  If their private parts didn’t match their outfit, they went to jail. The patrons endured this harassment and humiliation because the Stonewall was the only place that they could go and dance and meet people who were like them.

But on this particular night, they didn’t react as they had in the past. They decided not to comply with the police’s orders. So they were ushered outside, some in handcuffs, to be taken to jail, but the paddy wagons were late getting there. They began to shout that this was harassment. People on the street and coming out of other bars joined them, and the police, with riot gear and batons, started beating them. They fought back, with their hands and whatever else they could find. And an uprising began, which lasted for six days. Those days were so hectic, that there was not a lot of agreement about who did what when.  But documentarians have since interviewed participants and witnesses that give us with some of the details.

The three heroes I want to lift up were marginalized even among other gay people at the time, which is one reason we haven’t heard much about them.   

Storme’ DeLaverie was a butch lesbian and drag king. By her own account and those of eye witnesses, she was the first to fight back that night. She had been hit on the head with a police baton, and was bleeding badly when she yelled to the crowd, “Why don’t you guys do something? “and then decided to do it herself.

For years after Stonewall, Storme’ served as a volunteer guardian of the lesbian community patrolling bars in the village.  According to her obituary in the New York Times, “She roamed lower 7^th and 8^th avenues into her 80’s, checking in at lesbian bars, always on the lookout for what she called ugliness, any form of intolerance, bullying, or abuse.”

You might have heard of Sylvia Rivera, who was Latina and transgender, although, the word wasn’t in use during that time. She called herself a transvestite.  She was a regular at the Stonewall and participated in the uprising. Throughout her life, Sylvia suffered from racism, poverty, and homelessness,  But she took her pain and used it to show younger people that they were not alone. She cofounded the organization Star, which offered shelter and food and services to homeless gay youth.  Sylvia was booed at the 1973 Pride Parade, just 4 years after Stonewall, when she called out the middle-class white folks for forgetting that trans people helped pave the way for them.

Someone almost no one has heard of unless they saw the Netflix documentary about her,  is Marsha P. Johnson, who was likely the one that threw the first brick. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and led the first gay pride march in 1970. She was also a model for Andy Warhol, a dancer, and a drag performer. When asked, she always said the P in her name was for “Pay it no mind, honey.” She loved and accepted everyone. In 1992, just a few months before Marsha’s body was found in the Hudson River, a case that was never properly investigated, which is what the documentary is about, a Stonewall memorial was erected on Christopher Street. She said this about it: “How many people have died for this little statue to be put in the park to recognize gay people? How many years does it take for people to see that we are all brothers and sisters?  How many years does it take for people to see that we are all in this together?”

Three women who didn’t fit in, who were mocked and shunned not just by straight people, but by members of their own community, risked their lives to say ‘No’ to the shameful treatment that people like them received. And, they spent the rest of their lives caring for and protecting others. In so many ways, we have made great progress in the years since Stonewall.

I was blown away at the attendance and support at yesterday’s parade and festival. Especially the young people walking with their significant others and seeing all of us cheering them on. Today, almost 70 percent of Americans support non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. We can be legally married.  I never thought that would happen in my lifetime. While the fundamentalist church has not wavered in its opinion of us, our denomination, the United Church of Christ, welcomes and even ordains us.

Here I am, pastor of a church in a very small town in a very conservative state.  Here so many of us are, accepted and loved and celebrated as equals. The struggle for full equality is not over.  It might not ever be. Transgender women of color are still being murdered, and their cases are not properly investigated. Gay teens are still killing themselves. We have more work to do. And we, here, are doing that work. We were the only church who marched yesterday. We have made it our mission to fight for justice and equality for everyone and to help make the world a better place for each other and for those who will come after us. And I am so grateful and so proud to be a part of it all.

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Our modern reading is “Love Wins, a Jewish Pride Prayer” by Alden Solovy.

One day, the words ‘coming out’ will sound strange,

Oppression based on gender or orientation will be a memory,

History to honor and remember,

The pain of hiding, repressing, denying,

Honoring the triumphs of those who fought to be free,

Remembering the violence and vitriol that cost lives.

When love wins,

When love wins at long last,

‘Love your neighbor as yourself’

Will be as natural as breathing.

One day, love will win every heart,

Love will win every soul,

Fear will vanish like smoke,

And tenderness for all will fill our hearts.

Love wins. In the end, Love wins.

Man for man,

Woman for woman,

Woman for man,

Man for woman,

All genders,

All orientations,

All true expressions of heart.

Let this come speedily,

In our day,

A tribute to the many

And the diverse

Gifts from heaven.

A tribute to love deep and true,

Each of us for one another.