Stonewall Inn, New York CityCyArk
Where it all began...
The Stonewall Inn, located on New York's Lower East Side, was the scene of a demonstration by gay rights protestors following a bungled raid on June 28, 1969. Undercover police attempted to raid the bar but word quickly spread and a crowd gathered outside.
Police Altercation at Long Island Gay Activists Alliance Demonstration, 1971 (1971-08-22) by Richard C. WandelThe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
As police attempted to drag customers from the bar to waiting police wagons in the street, the crowd grew increasingly restless and agitated by the unfair treatment and a confrontation occurred between police and protestors.
Gay Activists Alliance Protest of New York City Board of Examiners, 1971 (1971-04-13) by Richard C. WandelThe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
The situation escalated until the Tactical Police Force was called in to clear the streets, which they did at around 4am. But something had changed that night and the local community realised that something needed to be done.
Christopher Street Liberation Day March, 1973 (1973) by Rudy GrilloThe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
The events at the Stonewall Inn would inspire a global movement that continues to grow to this day.
Marchers in Central Park during Christopher Street Liberation Day, 1972 (1972) by Rudy GrilloThe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
The Stonewall Inn itself would close (later to reopen in 1972) but this flashpoint inspired the community to organize the world's first Pride Parade, taking place on 28 June 1970 (exactly one year after the raid), from Greenwich Village to Sheep Meadow in Central Park.
Gay Liberation Front marches in Times Square, New York City (1969) by New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives DivisionThe National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Although the bar itself would go through good and bad times over the following decades, the events of that evening of June 28, 1969 would be the epicentre of a global movement for equality and freedom from prejudice.
