Gays of Future Past: West Valley Discusses the Stonewall Riots and Tests its LGBTQ Trivia Knowledge

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By Avi Vieira

Glendale

This year, June 28th marks the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, an event seen as the birth of the modern pride movement. While many of our West Valley one•n•ten youth had heard about Stonewall, there was still some question as to what made the event so special. Our very own volunteer and commander Avi took the stage to provide a little historical background of what LGBTQs experienced before the riots – highlighting laws that banned homosexuals from most establishments and were frequently raided and harassed by police. In 1969, that all changed following several nights of rioting by LGBTQs in New York, which gave birth to the modern Pride movement.

Following the discussion of Stonewall, the group was introduced to a new LGBTQ trivia game “That’s So Gay!” which aims to turn a putdown into a positive rallying call, while teaching players a thing or two about history and pop culture pertaining to the LGBTQ community. The group was split into two teams complete with 2 staff/volunteers per team as they answered questions in categories like “Politics, Protest and the Courts,” “Music, Theater and Dance,” and “Science, Spirituality, Health and Grab Bag,” all the while trying to build a rainbow flag of colored chips.

With limited time on the clock for the game, the competition between the teams was fierce in every way imaginable as they debated the responses to questions before giving their “final answer” to win a colored chip, or allow the opposing team a chance to steal. In the end, one team was declared victorious – with vows for a rematch in the near future. Feedback was positive for the new game, which allowed group members to explore LGBTQ history and pop culture without feeling individually pressured to know an answer, but still actively participate and contribute to the team.

Special thanks to Tracy Baim, co-founder and publisher of Windy City Times who developed the game “That’s So Gay!”