![]() ![]() She went home to take care of her eye, got hold of a lawyer, and went back with money in case she could bail out any of her friends. She stayed back and watched to see what was going on.Ī cop, who perceived Stormé as a man, said, "More along, faggot", and when Stormé declined, hit her from behind, injuring her eye. Stormé responded by spinning around and knocking him out with a punch before leaving. She'd walked over to check on her friends & see if anyone needed her help) after the last (midnight) show of the Jewel Box Revue at the Apollo and found the fighting already started. By William Yardley Storme DeLarverie, a singer, cross-dresser and bouncer who may or may not have thrown the first punch at the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich. Or, as Charles Kaiser noted in In the Life, possibly the only punch).Īfter finding as many historical sources and reading/watching/listening to the earliest accounts from Stormé herself (ie the ones least likely to be affected by memory issues due to her vascular dementia), these are my own conclusions: this story gets mixed with "threw the first punch" (which is likely true.Charles Kaiser says Stormé told him that wasn't her.this account contradicts Stormé's own words, across multiple interviews over many years.There are issues with this version, including: ![]() Wherever it was, by 1943, Stormé and Diana were together.Īlmost everyone, I think, has heard the story that Stormé was the cross-dressing dyke who fought back against the cops while handcuffed & shoved into a police car, and yelled something like "Why don't you guys do something.", "sparking the riot". Or it could've been in Florida, where Ringling's winter quarters were. It was illegal for LGBT people to get together and have a drink or dance with same-sex partners. ![]() Johnston, Stormé DeLarverie, and Sylvia Rivera. According to friend Lisa Cannistraci, DeLarverie carried a photograph of Diana with her at all times. Ditto if they hired anywhere else on tour. Amongst some of these pioneers are Marsha P. Her partner, a dancer named Diana, lived with her for about 25 years until dying in the 1970s. I believe it's likely that they met at Ringling Brothers or via the greater Showmen community in 1942 or 1943.Ĭould they have met in Chicago, with Stormé auditioning and joining Ringling there? I don't know if Ringling worked that way, but it's possible. Her partner Diana was an aerialist (a person who works on tightropes, high wires, and/or trapeze) as well as a dancer. DeLarverie was shaking and dehydrated, and she was taken to and treated at the nearby St. She turned 20 in December 1943, which means if it was in her teens, it had to be in 1942 or 1943. Stormé related in more than one interview that she learned to ride horses at home (and her BIL did indeed have horses) and was an equestrienne for Ringling Brothers in her teens until an injury forced her to quit. At the same time, both In the Life Media's A Stormé Life and Penny Coleman's book Village Elders state that when Stormé's partner Diana died in the month after Stonewall, they'd been together 26 years. ![]()
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