What were the Stonewall riots and how did it affect homosexual rights?
At 1:20am on the 28th June, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. The plan was to put the 200 or so customers through the standard police raid procedure - lining up along the walls, checking their ID and identifying their gender. If the gender didn't match the clothes they were wearing, they would be arrested. However, things did not go as planned. Those who were arrested refused to go with the police, and those who weren't arrested stayed outside Stonewall. Soon a whole crowd of people began to watch the raid. When an unidentified lesbian was brought outside after being hit on the head with a club for complaining about her handcuffs, she shouted "do something!" to the crowd, and that was all they needed to simply go beserk. They threw anything and everything they could find at the police, shouting things like "gay power!". Reinforcements for the police arrived, but the crowd just got larger and larger, with both straight and homosexual people joining in. The next day, another riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, this time with over 1000 participators.
The Stonewall riots inspired many support groups, organisations, and events. The Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the first homosexual support organisation to use the word 'gay' in it's name, was formed, inspired by the Stonewall riots. The very first Gay Pride parade in U.S. history was celebrated on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and continued throughout the years in various other cites and countries.
The Stonewall riots inspired many support groups, organisations, and events. The Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the first homosexual support organisation to use the word 'gay' in it's name, was formed, inspired by the Stonewall riots. The very first Gay Pride parade in U.S. history was celebrated on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and continued throughout the years in various other cites and countries.