The Stonewall Riots (1969)
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn — a gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York City — fought back against a routine police raid. The spontaneous uprising lasted several nights and became the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Life Before Stonewall
In the 1960s, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association and criminalized under sodomy laws throughout the United States. Police routinely raided gay bars, arresting patrons, publicizing their names, and ending careers. The Stonewall Inn, at 51-53 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, was operated by the Genovese crime family and catered to some of the most marginalized members of the gay community — drag queens, transgender women, homeless youth, and those who could not risk being seen at more "respectable" establishments. The bar had no running water behind the counter, glasses were rinsed in buckets, and it was frequently extorted by the mob and raided by police. Yet for many, it was the only place they could be themselves. New York State liquor law banned the serving of alcohol to gay people, and officers frequently used this pretext to conduct raids.
Did You Know?
The Stonewall Inn had no fire exits — the Mafia-owned establishment was deliberately kept that way to control patrons. During the uprising, management actually tried to lock the crowd inside, but this backfired when people used the bar's own furniture to fight back against police.
The Night of June 28
At approximately 1:20 AM on June 28, officers from the New York City Police Department's First Division entered the Stonewall Inn for a raid. What began as a typical arrest scene turned quickly when patrons — many accustomed to complying quietly — began to resist. Witnesses reported that a lesbian woman being roughly handled called out to the crowd to do something, and the atmosphere shifted. Coins were thrown at officers; then bottles. When police called for backup and retreated inside the bar, the crowd outside grew to several hundred people. Over the following nights, larger protests erupted in the surrounding neighborhood. Gay rights organizations that had previously counseled quiet respectability found themselves overtaken by a new, more confrontational politics.
Legacy: The Birth of Pride
Within weeks of the uprising, activists in New York formed the Gay Liberation Front — rejecting the cautious assimilation strategy of earlier homophile organizations. On June 28, 1970, exactly one year after the raids, the first gay pride marches were held simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, drawing thousands of participants. Those marches evolved into the Pride parades now held in hundreds of cities worldwide each June. In 2016, the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding area were designated a National Monument — the first in American history dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights. The riots did not start the gay rights movement, but they galvanized it, transforming a community accustomed to shame and secrecy into one prepared to demand equal rights openly.