On Friday evening, June 27, 1969,
the New York City tactical police force raided a popular Greenwich Village
gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. Raids were not unusual in 1969; in fact, they
were conducted regularly without much resistance.
However, that night the street erupted into violent protest as the crowds
in the bar fought back. The backlash and several nights of protest that
followed have come to be known as the Stonewall Riots. Prior to that summer
there was little public expression of the lives and experiences of gays
and lesbians.
The Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement
that has transformed the oppression of gays and lesbians into calls for
pride and action. Over the past decades we have all been witness to an
astonishing flowering of gay culture that has changed the world forever.
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