What Would Today Look Like if the Stonewall Riots Didn’t Happen?
Thursday, June 25th, 2009By Monica F. Helms
I have this wonderful part of my being that I like to pull out and play with every so often. Okay. I suppose that sentence could have been written differently. I am referring to my “imagination.” My imagination has play tricks on me quite often, but then I get many chances to tame it with the wave of my typing fingers. This happens to be one of those times.
On June 28, 1969, at about 3 AM EDT, one of the most pivotal events in LGBT history took place in front of the Stonewall Inn on Christopher St. in Greenwich Village. Like a super nova, the explosion that happened that morning expanded rapidly outward to engulf the entire planet with the sounds of millions clamoring for their equality and freedom. The events from that moment in time have continued to expand even today, 40 years later.
But, I have to ask the one most important question that hides within my imagination, waiting for the next time to appear. “What if?” Countless fiction writers have made a comfortable living asking those two famous words. So, I ask the question with the qualifying words that allow this piece of writing to continue. “What if the trans people at the Stonewall Inn that night did not have the guts to start the riots?”