Described by a witness as “a typical New York City butch” and “a dyke-stone butch,” she had been hit on the head by an officer with a baton for, as one witness stated, announcing that her handcuffs were too tight. She fought with at least four of the police, swearing and shouting, for about ten minutes. Police brought her through the crowd several times, as she escaped repeatedly. However, DeLarverie was very clear that “riot” is a misleading description: “It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience – it wasn’t no damn riot.”Īt the Stonewall rebellion, a scuffle broke out when a woman in handcuffs, who may have been Stormé, was roughly escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon. The events of 28 June 1969 have been called “the Stonewall riots”. According to friend Lisa Cannistraci, DeLarverie carried a photograph of Diana with her at all times. Her partner, a dancer named Diana, lived with her for about 25 years until Diana died in the 1970s. She realised she was lesbian near the age of eighteen. She rode jumping horses with the Ringling Brothers Circus when she was a teenager, but stopped after being injured in a fall. She celebrated her birthday on 24 December.Īs a child, DeLarverie faced bullying and harassment. According to DeLarverie, she was never given a birth certificate and was not certain of her actual date of birth. She worked for much of her life as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard and volunteer street patrol worker – the “guardian of lesbians in the Village” (Greenwich Village, New York City).ĭeLarverie’s father was white her mother was African American, and worked as a servant for his family. She was born in New Orleans, and is remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer, who performed and hosted at the Apollo Theatre and Radio City Music Hall. Stormé DeLarverie (24 December 1920 – ) was an American woman known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to Stormé and many eye witnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall rebellion, spurring the crowd to action. Today marks seven years since Stormé DeLarverie died, and it seems like a good time to honour her as she was often overlooked when Stonewall was featured in the media. On 28 June 1969 an uprising began at the Stonewall Inn, New York City, which went on to impact the future of LGBT rights around the world.
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