Research Paper by Darren Panicali
The Washington Square Arch and the Liberation of Human Sexuality
Take a stroll down to the north side of Washington Square and walk beneath the illustrious Washington Square Arch; you’re guaranteed to feel a sense of grandeur and magnificence. With its beautiful bas-relief detail, massive stature, and two contrasting sculptures of one of our most integral Founding Fathers, George Washington, it is easy to get lost in the majesty as you look on. In fact, that is what happened to many unconventional, bohemian New Yorkers in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries: There was a division of the square between the north border’s conservative, rich population and the south border’s liberal, poor population, which seemed to be growing as immigrants poured in (“New York Architecture” par. 10). Henry Marquand, at the time of the construction of the arch, remarked, “It is true that the neighborhood may all be tenement houses in a few years. But have the occupants of tenements no sense of beauty? No patriotism? No right to good architecture?” (“New York Architecture” par. 6). Yet these words would come to mean so much more as the arch became a symbol of a right to not simply good architecture but also bigger and better rights for the plebeians and bohemians of Greenwich Village – perhaps the greatest right of all being the freedom to be what you want to be, no matter what anyone else thinks. Washington himself was the leader of a revolution, and he was and continues to be displayed for all to see, an ever-present reminder that sometimes you must fight for what you believe in, and if you succeed, times of peace and prosperity will greet you with open arms. As time went on and the area developed, one of the peace-desiring groups that gained (and still possesses) a major presence in Washington Square and Greenwich Village was the long-time rights-deprived non-heterosexual community (i.e., homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, transgendered individuals, and those who questioned their sexuality, to be referred henceforth as “LGBTQ,” short for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered/transvestite, and questioning”). But with the tantalizing vision of Britain-defiant George Washington as their guide and the magnificence of the arch (though it was theirs to view, a splendid right already) being not nearly good enough for them, they were not about to settle. A spark of social insurrection was in the air, and it would come to ignite aggressively by the late 1960s, when the gay liberation movement was in full throttle (Aldrich 212) and the war on oppression of unconventional sexuality was taken up by the little people, who were part of the community of Washington Square and basked in the glory of its architectural symbol of rebellion. And if the flames of these nonconformists’ loves were to burn in hell, they would drag – in drag – their rights and their dignity with them.
“A tipsy crowd of revelers climbs [sic, climbed] to the top of the arch in Washington Square to declare Greenwich Village an independent nation” (Stinsell 2). John Sloan and his fellow artistic rebels made quite a statement in 1917 (Axelson par. 2), but it would take decades before the message would apply to the LGBTQ community. Though LGBTQ culture was strong and visible from the 1890s to the 1930s, a “host of laws and regulations [that] were enacted […] in the 1930s that suppressed […] drag balls, censored lesbian and gay images […], and prohibited restaurants, bars, and clubs from employing homosexuals or even serving them” would stifle their growth and lifestyles until the 1960s (Chauncey 8). The LGBTQ community was suppressed heavily and could not escape the unyielding prison that society had established for it – that is, until Greenwich Village’s very own Stonewall Inn set the ties that bound the community for so many years chaotically ablaze in a single night.
“‘And there were men dancing with men. And when I [saw] the two men […] I had such a thrill in my stomach. It was … like an electric shock. And it was so f***ing exciting’” (Carter 71). This was the fiery dynamic that could be found in the late 1960s within Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village on Christopher Street, just a few blocks west of Washington Square’s enormous symbol of revolutionary insubordination. But the police wouldn’t have it: They often conducted raids on secretive gay bars at the time (Carter 83), and Stonewall Inn was fated to be busted soon enough as well. But when the police barged in one memorable night in June and forced everyone out, people did not disperse but rather watched, and the crowd grew larger and larger until a few aggressive moves were made and berserk, violent pandemonium ensued (Carter 151) – a “protest without precedent in gay history” (Aldrich 212). This was the first instance in history of such an uprising for this group, and it signaled a radical shift in the treatment of the LGBTQ community by society. As a result of the riots at Stonewall, the summer of 1969 ushered in the founding of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) to allow the new LGBTQ generation to “take to the streets to manifest their discontent” and fight for “authenticity, sensuality and community, rebelling against what they saw as social alienation produced by a bureaucratic and consumerist society” (Aldrich 213). And so the stage was set for the LGBTQ community to finally make a stand and advocate for their rights both in society and in court. Largely thanks to an offshoot of the GLF known as the Gay Activists’ Alliance (Aldrich 216), the rest is simply recent political history, with a general “happy ending” of LGBTQ rights gained in many sociopolitical areas, although the fight for true sexual equality lives on. But had the arch not been there and the square not developed into a sanctuary for the condemned, the unusual, and the surreptitious, it is possible that none of this would have ever taken place – a bone-chilling thought for LGBTQ people today. Luckily, the arch and the environment it promoted were present, and the fight went on – to sweet victory.
The Washington Square Arch means a number of different things to a number of different people. For some, it is an example of sheer beauty. For others, it is an architectural masterpiece, representing a technically correct and aesthetically pleasing example of neoclassical Beaux-Arts work. But for the sexual deviants of Greenwich Village, it was freedom. In an area thought of as “a free territory untrammeled by convention” (Axelson par. 3), the hopes of the LGBTQ people were so built up and gained such blazing momentum that even New York’s Finest was powerless against them. And it all started with the creation of this environment with an affinity for the bizarre and the poor, the tired and the eccentric, the intellectual and the hopeful. But none of this could have achieved its full potential without the addition of the arch and the unyielding message of liberation behind it. The grand structure screamed, “Fight for yourselves; your efforts will not go in vain, and the fruits of your labor shall be great.” And so the drag-queens, lesbians, and gay men fought at Stonewall, hearts on fire, minds racing, and souls fed with the promise of a brighter tomorrow. And thanks to the arch and their efforts, that brighter tomorrow is today.
Works Cited
Aldrich, Robert. Gay Life and Culture a World History. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006. Print.
Axelson, Erik P. “The Free And Independent Republic Of Washington Square (Part II).” New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The Daily Plant, 24 Jan. 2007. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/daily_plants/daily_plant_main .php?id=20026>.
Carter, David. Stonewall: the Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s, 2004. Print.
Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Makings of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. New York: Basic, 1994. Print.
Landmarks Preservation Commission. Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report. Vol. 1. New York: City of New York, 1969. Print.
“New York Architecture Images- Washington Square Arch.” Nyc-architecture | New York Architecture- Historic and Contemporary. 2010. Web. 02 Nov. 2010. <http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GV/GV046WashingtonSquareArch.htm>.
Stansell, Christine. American Moderns: Bohemian New York and the Creation of a New Century. New York: Metropolitan, 2000. Print.
