When did you first learn about the Stonewall Riots? 

When guest speaker Dwayne Steward posed this question to an audience at Otterbein at a presentation on June 16, most in attendance had not learned about the Stonewall Riots until college or even later in life — and most didn’t know very much about the historical event. 

The Stonewall Riots, which took place in NYC in 1969, are widely considered to be the watershed event that kicked off the activist movement for LGBTQ rights in the U.S.  

To celebrate Pride Month, Otterbein’s Office of Social Justice and Activism (OSJA) sponsored a screening of the short documentary Stonewall Forever: The Past, Present, and Future of PRIDE, followed by a discussion of Stonewall and the Pride movement with Steward, an award-winning writer, speaker, and activist. 

For the Otterbein Community not on campus in June, the Courtright Memorial Library and OSJA have created a LibGuide with a link to watch the documentary at home, a recommended Pride Month book list curated by the Courtright librarians, and other resources.  

Whether you are a student, alumnus, or friend of Otterbein, we hope you enjoy this lifelong learning opportunity!