Martin Boyce, one of a handful of surviving activists of the Stonewall Riots, will be speaking at Fleming College in Peterborough on Tuesday (April 18) as part of his ‘Courage to Stand Up’ tour presented by the International Day of Pink, a worldwide anti-bullying and anti-homophobia event held annually during the second week of April.
The Stonewall Riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 — a year where “homosexual acts” were illegal in every U.S. state except Illinois.
Patrons of the Stonewall and of other Greenwich Village 2SLGBTQ+ bars along with neighbourhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered a watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the 20th-century fight for 2SLGBTQ+ rights in the United States and in Canada.
A New York City native, Boyce came out at the age of 18 and, at the age of 21, was a regular at the Stonewall Inn when the Stonewall Riots (also known as the Stonewall Uprising) took place. Following the riots, he continued to participate in activism, completed a degree at Hunter College in New York City, and opened a restaurant in The East Village.
Boyce will be speaking about his involvement in the Stonewall Riots and answering questions from 4 to 6 p.m. on April 18 in the Whetung Theatre at Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus at 599 Brealey Drive.
The event will also include performances by Peterborough drag artist Betty Baker and singer-songwriter Evangeline Gentle, and information tables and exhibits featuring the history of Stonewall and the 2SLGBTQ+ rights movement in Canada will be on display in the main foyer from 3 to 6 p.m.
VIDEO: “Stonewall Uprising”
This event is open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend.
Tickets are free, although you can choose to pay $5, $15, or $30 for a ticket with funds donated to International Day of Pink.
You can reserve tickets at jersvision.myshopify.com/products/2022-stonewall-50-across-canada.
