Artifact: 
The Village Voice paperweight 

Where to find it: 
Metropolis on the Move, Newsstand 

The Village Voice, a weekly newspaper based in New York City’s Greenwich Village, had a significant and surprising role in the events of the Stonewall Uprising. Dick Leitsch (1935–2018), leader of the New York chapter of the Mattachine Society, summed it up in the Mattachine’s August 1969 newsletter: “That paper’s editorial policy has long infuriated most homosexuals, as the paper pretends to be ‘liberal’ and avant-garde, but actually is conservative and uptight about homosexuality.” 

On the night of Friday, June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar just down the street from the offices of The Village Voice. At the time, there were numerous laws that criminalized homosexuality, and raids of gay bars were common. At Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ community fought back for six days, lighting a spark that led to new organizing for LGBTQ+ rights. 

After a weekend filled with clashes between organizers and police, Monday and Tuesday were relatively quiet. On Wednesday evening, The Village Voice landed on newsstands, with articles about the uprising by Lucian Truscott and Howard Smith, and photographs by Fred McDarrah. This was far more press than the events received in other more mainstream publications, but both authors used insensitive language and biased reporting. Fighting immediately picked up. The Mattachine Society, which had advised the community to end violent actions in favor of peaceful protest, blamed The Village Voice for re-igniting the violence. 

That fall, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) paid for an advertisement in The Village Voice, and editorial staff edited out the word “gay.” The GLF was later told that the paper would not print “obscene language.” On September 12, 1969, the GLF set up a picket line in front of The Village Voice’s headquarters. After negotiations, The Village Voice management agreed to not alter paid advertisements and to allow the words “homosexual” and “gay” to appear in the publication. In celebration, the GLF ran a new advertisement reading, “The GLF sends love to all Gay men and women in the homosexual community.”