Stonewall riots

Overview

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations and confrontations between police and LGBTQ residents of Greenwich Village, New York City, beginning in the early morning of June 28, 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn. The events are widely regarded as a turning point in the American gay rights movement, though they were not the first instance of LGBTQ resistance to police harassment in the United States.

Background

Through the 1950s and 1960s, LGBTQ people in the United States faced systemic legal and social persecution, including surveillance by the FBI and local police, exclusion from federal employment, and classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Early homophile organizations such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis pursued assimilationist strategies. Earlier instances of resistance included a 1959 riot at Cooper Do-nuts in Los Angeles and the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria riot in San Francisco, both involving drag queens, hustlers, and trans people confronting police harassment.

In Greenwich Village, gay bars—including the Stonewall Inn—were typically owned by organized crime, specifically the Genovese crime family, which paid off police to limit raids. The Stonewall Inn lacked a liquor license and basic sanitation facilities but was popular for allowing dancing and for welcoming marginalized patrons including drag queens, transgender people, and homeless youth.

The Raid and Riots

At approximately 1:20 a.m. on June 28, 1969, plainclothes and uniformed officers, led by Detective Charles Smythe and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine, raided the Stonewall Inn. Unlike typical raids, patrons resisted identification checks, and a crowd of released patrons and bystanders gathered outside, growing to several hundred people. Tensions escalated after officers used force on some patrons, including an unidentified woman in handcuffs who urged bystanders to act. The crowd began throwing coins, bottles, and bricks, and set fires; police barricaded themselves inside the bar for a period before the Tactical Patrol Force arrived to disperse the crowd. Thirteen people were arrested, and several police and bystanders were injured that night.

Rioting resumed the following night, June 29, with thousands gathering near the reopened bar, and further clashes occurred after a July 2, 1969 Village Voice article described participants disparagingly, prompting another confrontation with arrests and injuries.

Aftermath

The riots catalyzed the formation of new activist groups, including the Gay Liberation Front, and directly influenced the July 4, 1969 Mattachine Society picket in Philadelphia, where participants for the first time held hands publicly. The first anniversary of the riots was marked by organized demonstrations in several U.S. cities, precursors to modern LGBTQ Pride marches. The Stonewall National Monument was established at the site in 2016.