>>18243782 /LB
THIS really cemented it with me. I had never heard of the Stonewall Riots before.
On a hot summer night in 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar located in New York City’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven for the city’s gay, lesbian and transgender community.
At the time, homosexual acts remained illegal in every state except Illinois, and bars and restaurants could get shut down for having gay employees or serving gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs in New York at the time (including the Stonewall) were operated by the Mafia, who paid corruptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threatening to “out” them.
Police raids on gay bars were common, but on that particular night, members of the city’s LGBTQ community decided to fight back—sparking an uprising that would launch a new era of resistance and revolution.
https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-timeline#&gid=ci024785f780002481&pid=stonewall_nypl_1582302u