Someone was always chasing Storme DeLarverie. Then she stopped running

Storme DeLarverié at the Chelsea Hotel
Photo: Homo History

No one questions where Storme DeLarverie was on the 27th of June 1969; she was at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar where she may or may not have thrown the first punch when police raided the bar. She claimed she did to her friend Lisa Cannistraci. Whether or not she was the person then attacked by police is also unclear, but she was certainly there and witnessed the protests that sparked the modern gay rights movement and are commemorated every year in New York during Pride week.

DeLarverie cut quite a figure for decades. She dressed androgynously and carried a gun, stalking the streets of lower Seventh and Eighth Avenues to protect lesbians from violence or discrimination.

For this, and more, she is still remembered and revered by those in the LGBTQ+ community but few today know her whole story, even if they recognize her face.

DeLarverie was born in 1920, the daughter of a black servant and the master of the house in New Orleans. According to an interview she gave in 2001, because of this, she had no birth certificate and was not even sure of her actual date of birth. She later chose to celebrate her birthday on Christmas Eve.

DeLarverie had a troubled childhood in which “white kids were beating me up: the black kids were….for being a negro with a white face.” The violence got so bad that her father sent her away for a time.

In addition to facing racial prejudice, DeLarverie was…

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