NEW YORK - For decades, “Tree” has been a fixture behind the bar at the landmarked Stonewall Inn.
The building, situated in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. And the 81-year-old bartender is one of only a handful of men who can say he was there from the very beginning – on June 28th, 1969 – the historic night the bar was raided by the police.
Tell me about that night. Were you scared? Were you angry?
“I was a goody-two-shoes and now I am throwing rocks and bottles, whatever I could find. Nobody was really afraid until we saw the riot squad car,” said "Tree" Sequoia, a bartender at the Stonewall Inn.
In your mind, what does Stonewall mean to the gay community?
“I call it Mecca for the gay community. It's our history, it's our home,” said Sequoia.
And still to this day, the Stonewall Inn remains the go to place for the LGBTQIA+ community for good times and bad. Drag queen and activist Marti Cummings, who is running for city council, frequents the bar as a performer and is often at the center of gatherings outside the building for both celebrations and protests.
“The Stonewall uprising to me was a revolutionary riot that was the direct result of police brutality. We gathered there a couple of weeks ago to honor the lives of black trans people who have been murdered, or have become victims of police violence. And it was a moment to celebrate their life, but also to carry on the movement to say, we can't let this continue to happen,” said Marti Cummings an activist and drag artist.
Marti says every time they take to the stage at Stonewall they think about the people – like Tree - who paved the way for the community.
“My ability to perform there today is because of the hard work of so many people who fought so hard for us to be able to have queer spaces that aren't hidden,” said Cummings.
The building and surrounding areas were given national historical landmark status in 2000 and furthermore declared a national monument in 2016. Tree has been there through it all, serving as an ambassador for the Stonewall Inn, even travelling around the world on behalf of the State Department.
“A man comes in and says, my daughter's only 14. Can I buy a tee shirt? I bring her a t-shirt and they cry and hug me and I want to cry, you know? The Stonewall Inn is my second home, my hideaway, my love. The reason I don't like it now is I don't see the people I work with. I don't see our regulars are there all the time and the people I haven't met yet is driving me crazy,” said Sequoia.