Travellers, Freaks and Aliens

(Historical Event: Stonewall Riots (1969)

People thought that only travellers

Could consider an inn to be their home;

Thinking that freaks could only

Live within a circus, and that aliens

Were always within flying saucers-

Zipping back and forth across the sky,

Clamouring to find a way home.

I've been an alien, a freak

And a traveller, in the people's eyes.

My heritage, my heroes and saviours

Were all seen in that light too.

As travellers, seemingly unwelcome,

They whiled away time in the

Stonewall Inn, nestled in Manhattan-

It became a home for people like us.

Whilst they see us as aliens and freaks,

We see ourselves just as people...

Well, unless they've brainwashed us.

Us- we're the folks that people hate:

We're the ones leered at in the streets,

Our labels used as insults; we're taught

To be ashamed of who we are.

Us- we're what they call 'the queers':

Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and more,

Trans people, sex workers, those that

Don't fit into society's norms.

The year was 1969, and we were illegal.

Our existence was against the law-

And the police arrived at Stonewall Inn.

Us- they hurt us. Arrested just for being

Who we are, the time had come for change.

My black trans sisters put up a good fight,

And the rest of our family came through.

Us- we're a family, all bound together

By the way that we're dehumanised.

Police brutality favours those like us-

We've been beaten black and blue, shot at,

And verbally abused. We are the ones

That get heckled for being ourselves:

People scream such vicious words,

And I want to be taken back to the Inn.

Back to Stonewall, where we stood strong-

They said that it was a 'riot', as though we

Were in the wrong for fighting,

But we were making such a difference.

Things have changed for us since then,

But so many problems still persist.

My black trans sisters are persecuted:

Proportionately, they're the group

That loses the most lives through murder

In the USA since the records began.

My brothers and sisters are dying today,

Yet it's not 1969 anymore. My heroes;

They've long since passed away,

After taking that gallant stand.

The hate crime, the discrimination,

The prejudice, the violence we face-

We cannot let it define who we are.

Now, I realise that we need new heroes;

We need to stand and fight yet again,

For equality hasn't been given to us.

Us- we won't live in fear anymore.

Us- we won't be labelled as freaks and

Aliens anymore, nor will we become

Travellers, for we'll make places to be.

Us- we are the new heroes.

The Stonewall legacy has fallen to us.