On the 28th of June, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall inn, a mafia-owned gay bar in New York, became a turning point in the fight for LGBT rights when the bar’s patrons began violently protesting their mistreatment. While the police had a warrant to search the bar for the sale of alcohol without a liquor license, they were also motivated by morality laws which included many anti-gay restrictions. The Stonewall riots continued for several more nights, and gave rise to an extreme increase in the number of gay liberation organizations and gave the LGBT community a more powerful voice, with the protests coming to symbolize the beginning of the gay liberation movement.
Homosexuality in the 1960s
The 1930s ushered in a long period of stricter legal, political, and social regulation of homosexuality. In the 1960s, homosexuality was regarded as a moral perversion and a psychological disorder. Open or suspected homosexuals suffered public suspicion, job
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As people finally exited the bar, instead of leaving, they waited outside the bar. A crowd started to form. People on the street noticed the commotion and joined the crowd to see what was going on. A patrol wagon arrived, and the police began to load their prisoners. As the arrestees were shoved onto the wagon, tension filled the growing crowd of onlookers; Sylvia Rivera, a drag queen at the scene, recalled that “You could feel the electricity going through people.” An officer shoved a drag queen, who in return smacked him with her purse. The officer clubbed her, and was booed by the crowd. Some people began trying to overturn the wagon. Others began throwing pennies and beer cans. The crowd became angrier when a rumor spread that people still inside the inn were being beaten. In the mess, some of the crossdressers managed to escape from the