The Stonewall Riots were the spark for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, affecting the social and political environments for people of the LGBTQ+ community. It took decades of organized struggle to get the political and social environment for queer people to where it is today. The watershed moment for that struggle was started in the early morning of June 28, 1969
The Stonewall Riots were an uprising against the prosecution of queer people. They started at around 1:20am on June 28, 1969 when police raided the popular gay bar the Stonewall Inn on Christopher street. They raided the bar under the pretense that the Stonewall was serving alcohol without a liquor license. Raids on gay bars were common in the early 1900s. According to the Stonewall Inn’s website “During a typical raid... the customers were lined up and their identification checked. Those without identification or dressed in full drag were arrested.” The raid on the Stonewall Inn happened in this fashion. The patrons that had been released formed a crowd, waiting for their friends to come out
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Protesters were smashing windows and throwing things. Writer Lucian Truscott IV said that the crowd was yelling things like “Gay power!” “I’m gay and proud!” as their slogans.
The crowd grew as LGBTQ+ people from the other bars on Christopher street and in Greenwich village joined the protests. The police reacted with reinforcements and the Tactical Police Force. The streets were soon cleared of protesters.
However the streets didn’t remain clear for long. The following night, the protesters returned. In contrast to the previous night's protests Saturday’s protests were not as chaotic and violent. In an article about the riots Truscott said that there were gay cheerleaders leading the crowd in gay power cheers "We are the Stonewall girls/ We wear our hair in curls/ We have no underwear/ We show our pubic hairs!"
The protests continued for five days, they ended the evening of Wednesday July 2,