Stonewall Riots and Rebellion

Morgue Martin - English 12: Big Research Project

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While the community was up against “New York’s finest,” this, some 400, ruthless citizens of the New York, underground club scene fought back (the editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica). Lasting six nights, from the early hours of June 28th to August 3rd, 1969, the Stonewall Riots -- or the Stonewall Rebellion -- took the streets of Manhattan, and the world by storm. 

From what was meant to be a routine police inspection, the raid soon became violent (History.com staff). With knowledge of the man’s vendetta against queer culture, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn began to push back against the brutality, quickly escalating to a dual-sided exchange of violence (the editors of the Encyclopedia Brittanica).

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...on that steamy summer night in June that The Stonewall Inn would forever become the 'Place Where Pride Began'

The Birthplace of the Gay Rights Movement

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In the article published by Encyclopedia Britannica, the writer states that, before severe harassment from police, gay bars had become a safe haven for all members of the LGBT+ community in the late 1960′s (the editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica). It wasn’t until the early morning of June 28, 1969, had the refuge of the bars become somewhat of a battle ground for LGBT rights.

Image source: Travis Wise via flickr

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According to book by Sue Hyde, Come Out and Win “ongoing police rampages through gay bars would ignite the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City in 1969, as well as other important but lesser-known acts of resistance to police aggression” (Hyde, 49).