The Gay Rights Movement began 57 Years Ago this Week

Although Gay Pride Month is observed for the entire month of June, we wish to make note of the specific date and events during the nighttime hours on June 27-28, 1969, when a series of riots and demonstrations against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn tavern in the Greenwich Village section of New York City launched the modern-day gay rights movement.

This was not the first time that the gay community had fought back against repression and persecution, but the Stonewall riots marked a turning point for the modern gay rights movement both in the United States and around the world.

The riot was precipitated when New York City police officers with the NYPD’s Public Morals Division (yes, that actually was its name) sought to conduct one of its  usual raids at the Stonewall Tavern, a gay bar. At that time, men even seen holding hands with each other could be arrested on charges of violating public morality.

Almost all of the gay bars in New York City in that era were operated by organized crime. The police typically would give the owners a heads-up about impending raids, which usually took place on quiet weeknights and resulted in the arrests of a few of their customers.

However, on the night of June 27-28, the police uncharacteristically conducted a raid on a weekend night when there were more than 200 patrons in the Stonewall.

As the police began to make arrests, crowds from the surrounding community gathered outside in support of those being arrested. The ensuing pitched battle between the outnumbered police and the hundreds of area residents carried on for the next two nights.

For the first time, persons who did not conform to society’s sexual norms had made it clear that they no longer would be treated like second-class citizens.

Although the Stonewall Tavern itself was set on fire during the riots and never reopened, President Barack Obama designated the area as a national monument on June 24, 2016, thus ensuring its legacy as the spot that marked the beginning of a new day of freedom for Americans of the LGBTQIA+ community.

To be sure, tremendous strides have been made over the past 57 years for the gay community. But there is still much work to be done to ensure that those in our society, including federal and state government officials who are seeking to turn back the clock, do not succeed.