Stonewall Riots
Patrons of the Stonewall Inn resisted police raids, sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement
June 28, 1969
A Night of Resistance
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Police raids on gay bars were common at the time — homosexuality was still criminalized in most U.S. states, and gay people could be arrested simply for being in a bar that served them. But on this night, the patrons — many of them gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people of color — fought back. They threw bottles and coins at police officers, chanted slogans, and refused to disperse. The confrontation continued for several nights, drawing larger and larger crowds.
The Spark That Lit a Movement
The Stonewall uprising did not start the gay rights movement — organizations like the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis had been working for LGBTQ+ rights for years. But Stonewall transformed the movement in a fundamental way. It shifted the strategy from quiet lobbying to open, assertive protest. In the months after the riot, new organizations sprang up, including the Gay Liberation Front. On the one-year anniversary of Stonewall, protesters marched through the streets of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. These marches became what we now call Pride parades, held every year in cities around the world.
From Riots to Rights
The decades following Stonewall saw dramatic changes in the legal and social status of LGBTQ+ people in the United States and many other countries. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973. State sodomy laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003. Same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in 2015. These victories did not come easily — the AIDS crisis of the 1980s devastated the gay community and prompted further activism. Discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people still occur, but the movement born at Stonewall fundamentally changed what is possible. President Obama designated the Stonewall Inn a national monument in 2016.