• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Watch: Thousands of Israelis celebrate Pride in Jerusalem despite counter-march
  • World Bank’s new chief asks staff to ‘double down’ on development, climate efforts
  • California law would make tech giants pay for news

Storme DeLarverie, Who Fought Police at Stonewall Riots, Dies at 93

Andy Towle May 27, 2014

Storme DeLarverie, a 93-year-old veteran activist who took part in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, died on Saturday morning in her sleep.L

DelarverieThe New York Times did a powerful story on her four years ago. You can read it here.

Wrote Manny Fernandez:

"The woman in Room 609, Storme DeLarverie, has dementia. She is but one anonymous elderly New Yorker in a city with thousands upon thousands of them. And many of those who marched down Fifth Avenue on Sunday would be hard pressed to realize that this little old lady — once the cross-dressing M.C. of a group of drag-queen performers, once a fiercely protective (and pistol-packing) bouncer in the city’s lesbian bars — was one of the reasons they were marching."

I also posted about DeLarverie back in 2009 when she was facing eviction from her apartment in NYC's Chelsea Hotel.

Here is her page on the Stonewall Veterans' Association website.

DelarverieThe Bronx LGBTQ Center sent out this remembrance of DeLarverie:

The Bronx LGBTQ Center is deeply saddened by the loss of a pioneer of the modern-day LGBTQ civil rights movement, Stormé Delarverie. Often referred to as the "Rosa Parks" as the gay rights movement, Stormé was a fierce woman who stood up for our community on countless occasions. She passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of Saturday, May 24, 2014.

Stormé was an amazing and warm individual who spent her life taking care of people. It didn't matter if they were lesbian, gay, straight, young, old, transgender, questioning, bisexual, Black, White, Latino — she treated everyone with the same warmth, compassion, kindness, conviction, courage, strength of spirit, and love. This led her to be dubbed the unofficial mother of our community, especially by those who knew her.

She was not someone who tolerated injustice, though she faced it on an almost daily basis throughout much of her life. Stormé was a Black lesbian who often presented as a Black man, although she could easily have passed for a White woman — she choose not to do so. Her love of people made Stormé an advocate, and she stood up to all injustice whenever she encountered or heard about it.

It was this conviction that led her to change the world for all of us, for the better. Stormé is credited as having thrown on of the first punches during the Stonewall Uprising in June, 1969. But it was her ongoing effort throughout decades of caring for our community that most people who knew her, remember her.

A celebration of her life and immeasurable contributions to the modern Gay Civil Rights Movement will be held on Thursday, May 29th from 7-9pm at the Greenwich Village Funeral Home, 199 Bleecker Street (@ 6th Avenue), New York, NY. All are welcomed to honor this woman who forever changed our lives and helped launch the movement that will bring us equality.

Thank you Storme, and rest in peace.

(top image via NYT)

Topics: Drag, News, World More Posts About: Deaths, Deaths, New York, New York, News, Stonewall, Stonewall

Related Posts
  • New York begins offering gender neutral driver’s licenses
  • UK Cancels Global LGBTQ Conference After 80 UK Groups Refuse to Attend With Trans Conversion Therapy Left Out of Proposed Ban
  • Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;
  • World Bank’s new chief asks staff to ‘double down’ on development, climate efforts

    World Bank’s new chief asks staff to ‘double down’ on development, climate efforts

    Published by Reuters By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank’s new president Ajay Banga on Friday asked the lender’s 16,000 staff to “double down” on development and climate efforts as he seeks to accelerate …Read More »
  • California law would make tech giants pay for news

    California law would make tech giants pay for news

    Published by AFP A bill making its way through the California state legislature would mandate that internet giants pay news agencies monthly 'journalism usage fees' based on viewing of stories via their platforms San Francisco (AFP) …Read More »
  • New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

    New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

    Published by AFP The sun lines up between rows of skyscrapers in Manhattan on the evening of May 30, 2023 New York (AFP) – Snapping pictures with cell phones, hundreds of New Yorkers and tourists gathered …Read More »
  • Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Published by DPA Our memory of events during lockdown is on a similar level to prison inmates, according to new reseach showing that many who stayed at home during the pandemic struggle to recall the timing …Read More »
Previous Post: « Gay Marriage News Watch: Updates from PA, OR, UT, MT, SD, ND, TX, and ME – VIDEO
Next Post: The Gay Lives of Straight Guys: VIDEO »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Drag queen story time comes to Independence Hall

    Drag queen story time comes to Independence Hall

  • onePULSE Foundation says it’s time to shrink down plans for Pulse museum and memorial

    onePULSE Foundation says it’s time to shrink down plans for Pulse museum and memorial

  • Raven-Symoné Admits She Makes All Her Dates Sign NDAs ‘Before the Naughty Time Comes’

    Raven-Symoné Admits She Makes All Her Dates Sign NDAs ‘Before the Naughty Time Comes’

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • Andy Cohen Admits Further Plastic Surgery Discussions Were Cut From ‘KUWTK’ Reunion Special: ‘People Would Be Really Surprised’

    Andy Cohen Admits Further Plastic Surgery Discussions Were Cut From ‘KUWTK’ Reunion Special: ‘People Would Be Really Surprised’

  • Neil Patrick Harris feels excited to turn 50

    Neil Patrick Harris feels excited to turn 50

  • Ben Platt engaged to fiancé Noah Galvin – again!

    Ben Platt engaged to fiancé Noah Galvin – again!

Partner Links

  • Today’s Morning Man: Anderson Cooper!
  • DOJ Sues West Virginia's Jim Justice Over EPA Fines
  • Celebrate Pride With 'The Village, A Disco Daydream'
  • Paramore’s Hayley Williams: Vote DeSantis, You're Dead To Me
  • Jennifer Lawrence Looks Sporty on the Way to the Gym in NYC While Husband Cooke Maroney Grabs an Uber

Most Recent

  • Watch: Thousands of Israelis celebrate Pride in Jerusalem despite counter-march

    Watch: Thousands of Israelis celebrate Pride in Jerusalem despite counter-march

  • World Bank’s new chief asks staff to ‘double down’ on development, climate efforts

    World Bank’s new chief asks staff to ‘double down’ on development, climate efforts

  • California law would make tech giants pay for news

    California law would make tech giants pay for news

  • New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

    New Yorkers gather to watch ‘Manhattanhenge’

  • Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

    Covid lockdowns fogged our memories of big events, study shows

  • ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

    ‘This is Disgusting and Wrong’: Disney Blasted by Conservative Critics After Male Disneyland Employee Dons Dress and Makeup

  • Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

    Trump captured on tape acknowledging he kept a classified document on Iran -CNN

  • Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

    Amazon’s Ring used to spy on customers, FTC says in privacy settlement

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×