MORGANTOWN — On the night of June 27, 1969, the streets of Greenwich Village in New York City were packed with curious individuals trying to get a glimpse at what was happening in front of and inside the Stonewall Inn.
According to reports, undercover police officers had entered the bar and were targeting staff members and drag queens, physically assaulting and arresting them as the crowd outside expanded and emotional murmurs steadily rose in volume.
The Stonewall Inn had become known as a safe place for New York City’s LGBTQ+ community. In 1969, “homosexual acts” were illegal in all states but Illinois. Restaurants, bars and clubs could be closed for employing or serving LGBTQ+ people.
Similar raids on LGBTQ+ bars were common in 1969. On June 27, however, the LGBTQ+ community grew tired — and then enraged.
On June 24, three days prior to the raid on the Stonewall Inn, officers conducted a preliminary raid on the bar during which they arrested several employees and confiscated the bar’s supply of illegal alcohol. The police had initially targeted the bar for its lack of a liquor license.
It was after the June 24 raid that the NYPD concocted its plan for the second raid.
As patrons were ejected from the Stonewall Inn that night, they remained in the area, immersing themselves into the crowd of people outside the bar. A police van arrived and officers began ushering Stonewall employees and detained patrons into it.
During the early hours of June 28, 1969, the crowd exploded. Witness reports describe various instances that could have triggered the eruption, but most seem to agree it was NYPD’s physical assault of a woman wearing masculine clothing. The crowd began calling the police officers names and threw first pennies, then bottles, while some started slashing the tires of police cruisers.
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera — two transgender women of color — are widely said to have been the first two to resist arrest and throw objects at the police officers in the vicinity, though Johnson later said she wasn’t at the bar until the riot was established.
The still-growing crowd continued to retaliate against the police, eventually forcing the NYPD officers to enter the Stonewall Inn and barricade themselves within. Protestors tried to force their way into the building until they had run circles around approaching squadrons of New York City riot police. The protests reached a state of calm sometime after 4 a.m. June 28.
Though it was in poor condition and was no longer serving liquor, the Stonewall Inn reopened the evening of June 29. Supporters gathered and chanted slogans advocating for equality. More riot police showed up and proceeded to physically assault and tear gas the crowd. This went on all night. The crowd scattered in the early hours of June 30.
For the next several days, LGBTQ+ supporters and activists returned to the Stonewall Inn to spread information and bond the community that would go on to spur a widespread LGBTQ+ rights movement. Police continued to return to the bar as well, though none of the altercations between activists and police remained tame in comparison to the riots.
The riots or protests were reported on in a discriminatory manner by local news outlets, so protestors gathered outside the newspaper’s office. Rioting was once again initiated when the police arrived to the scene, but the riot didn’t last long.
On June 28, 1970, the first ever Gay Pride parade was held. Its route started at the Stonewall Inn. The parade took place on the first anniversary of the police raid and the riots that ensued there.
Education-based organizations in the United States came together to officially designate October as LGBT History Month in 1994. The next year, 1995, the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month in a list it released of commemorative months.
Oct. 11 has been designated as National Coming Out Day. The first March on Washington, which took place in 1979, is also remembered and commemorated during LGBT History Month.
Despite LGBT History Month taking place in October, LGBTQ+ Pride Month is celebrated each year in June in remembrance of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. The uprising is regarded as a “tipping point” for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
Pride Month was initially marked the last Sunday in June, which was celebrated as Gay Pride Day. In major cities, the single day expanded to include a month-long list of events.
The United States government has taken to passing or announcing the outcome on LGBTQ+ community-related legislation in June as well. For example, the landmark civil rights Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges was decided June 26, 2015. Its 5-4 ruling determined bans on same-sex marriages and on recognizing those marriages were unconstitutional under both the due process and equal protection clauses present in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
That evening, the White House was illuminated by rainbow-colored lights as a reference to the appearance of the LGBTQ+ pride flag.
The purpose of Pride Month is to recall and celebrate the impact LGBTQ+ individuals have had on society and how society views and governs the LGBTQ+ community. It’s also a time for LGBTQ+ individuals to practice self-acceptance and celebrate who they are alongside people who are like them, but different.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
