this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Kinda sorta. Marsha P. Johnson was a part of the queer vanguard at Stonewall, and dropped a brick on a police car (on the second night of rioting), but may not have started it.

From wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsha_P._Johnson#Stonewall_uprising )...

According to Carter, Robin Souza reported that fellow Stonewall veterans such as Morty Manford and Marty Robinson had witnessed Johnson throw a shot glass at a mirror in the torched bar, screaming, "I got my civil rights!" Souza told the Gay Activists Alliance shortly afterwards that it "was the shot glass that was heard around the world". Carter, however, concluded that Robinson had given several different accounts of the uprising and in none of the accounts was Johnson's name brought up, possibly in fear that if he publicly credited the uprising to Johnson, then their well-known mental state and gender nonconforming, "could have been used effectively by the movement's opponents". The alleged "shot glass" incident has also been heavily disputed. Prior to Carter's book, it was claimed Johnson had "thrown a brick" at a police officer, an account that was never verified. Johnson also confirmed not being present at the Stonewall Inn when the rioting broke out, but instead had heard about it and went to get Rivera, who was at a park uptown sleeping on a bench, to inform her about it. However, many have corroborated that on the second night, Johnson climbed up a lamppost and dropped a bag with a brick in it onto a police car, shattering the windshield.