NEMEG meanwhile searched the offices and serving areas behind the bars, looking for drugs. NEMEG members would hit or shove the face of anyone back down to the floor if they even unintentionally looked up. These persons were not wearing any type of identifying uniform, and did not even identify themselves.Įveryone in the bar was forced to gather together and lay face down on the dance floor for a period of several hours. Had about maybe 50 or so people in the house.”Īlso according to David Boyer, whose account I quote and paraphrase for much of this blog and which generally corroborates what even the conservative Chicago Tribune reported, the Chicago police were not involved and, as one shall see, this is a most significant, telling detail.ĭavid describes how this, I would claim, vigilante group “stormed the front door, guns drawn,” and that they also broke in through the back. NEMEG was ostensibly looking for evidence of drugs and drug dealing.Īccording to David Boyer of Touche and Bijou and a noted figure in Chicago's gay community, who was then employed by Carol's (his first year as manager), the bar was hosting a wrestling promotion night: “We had put out mats on the dance floor and guys would challenge each other to wrestle. Wells Street (that strip still at that point in LGBTQ Chicago history was the center of a vibrant gay nightlife). One raid which attained notoriety, mostly because it showed how the politics of the gay Chicago community was becoming very much intertwined overall with mainstream politics, occurred on September 12, 1985.Ī group called NEMEG, Northwestern Metropolitan Enforcement Group, which consisted of officers from various north and northwestern suburbs, raided a popular gay bar, Carol's Speakeasy, located at 1355 N.
Often the goal of such histories is uncovering marginalized narratives of oppression and liberation that can frame our own interpretations of not just those people and events, but also give a valued context for the present-day legal, social, and cultural challenges to honor and justice that LGBTQ persons still face. The raid on Stonewall of course has become an iconic event because of its social and historical ramifications, but recently LGBTQ historians, including many who publicize history on social media platforms such as Twitter, have called attention to similar events before and after Stonewall.