At 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, 1969, four plainclothes policemen in dark suits, two patrol officers in uniform, Detective Charles Smythe, and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine arrived at the Stonewall Inn's double doors and announced "Police! We're taking the place!" [72] The music was turned off and the main lights were turned on. Approximately 205 people were in the bar that night. Patrons who had never experienced a police raid were confused. A few who realized what was happening began to run for doors and windows in the bathrooms, but police barred the doors. Michael Fader remembered, The 1995 movie Stonewall, directed by Nigel Finch, is loosely based on the incidents leading up to the Stonewall riots. In addition, the Stonewall rebellion sparked the next major phase of the gay liberation movement, which involved more radical political action and assertiveness during the 1970s. Groups such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), Radicalesbians, and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) were organized within months of Stonewall. Since Stonewall occurred in the media capital of the U.S. and took place over multiple days, it attracted more attention than previous confrontations. At the one-year anniversary, the first annual Christopher Street Liberation Day March (later known as the Gay Pride March and then the LGBT Pride March) took place in New York, with similar events in other cities in the United States; the number of marches expanded internationally over the next few years. The annual March contributed greatly to solidifying the significance of Stonewall in LGBT history. Christopher D. Brazee, Corrine Engelbert, and Gale Harris, Stonewall Inn Designation Report (New York: Landmarks Preservation Commission, 2015). Creating the First Visual History of Queer Life Before Stonewall". Atlantic. June 30, 2019 . Retrieved June 30, 2019.

While the community has always included all LGBT people, the one-word unifying term in the 1950s through the early 1980s was gay (see Gay liberation). Later ('70s/80s) this was expanded by many groups to lesbian and gay, then by the '90s and '00s to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT). Also by the late eighties and early nineties, queer began to be reclaimed as a one-word alternative to the ever-lengthening string of initials, especially when used by radical political groups. [3] Chu, Grace (July 26, 2010). "An interview with lesbian Stonewall veteran Stormé DeLarverie". AfterEllen.com . Retrieved August 1, 2010. The buildings are both part of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's Greenwich Village Historic District, designated in April 1969. The buildings and surrounding area have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2000. [6] They were the first LGBTQ-associated properties listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and were the first LGBTQ National Historic Landmarks. [5] On June 23, 2015, the Stonewall Inn became the first landmark in New York City to be recognized by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on the basis of its status in LGBT history, [7] and on June 24, 2016, the Stonewall National Monument was named the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the LGBTQ-rights movement. [8] [9] [10] [11] Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was the largest international Pride celebration in history, produced by Heritage of Pride and enhanced through a partnership with the I ❤ NY program's LGBT division, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, with 150,000 participants and five million spectators attending in Manhattan alone. [12] Early history [ edit ] Heritage | 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day Gay-In, San Francisco". SF Pride. June 28, 1970. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014 . Retrieved June 28, 2014. Much of what we have seen in policy in the modern era is an impulse to assimilation — we can get married, serve in military, be just like you. There’s been a real push to become part of these mainstream institutions, part of the system of laws and politics in the country. But the most important questions are these: Who does this leave out and what kinds of bargains have to be made to prove that we are just like straight people?”

At Stonewall Gin we took our inspiration from the 1969 New York Stonewall riots when brave customers of the Stonewall Inn gay bar stood up and fought back against oppressive policing and for their human rights. This stance pathed the way for the Gay Pride street movement and was followed by changes in US law enabling greater equality and freedom for the LGBTQ+ community. But the struggle for acceptance goes across the world hence Stonewall Gin.

a b In the years since the riots occurred, the death of gay icon Judy Garland earlier in the week on June22, 1969 has been attributed as a significant factor in the riots, but no participants in Saturday morning's demonstrations recall Garland's name being discussed. No print accounts of the riots by reliable sources cite Garland as a reason for the riot. Only one contemporary account suggested it, an account by a heterosexual person ridiculing the riots. [91] Bob Kohler used to talk to the homeless youth in Sheridan Square and said, "When people talk about Judy Garland's death having anything much to do with the riot, that makes me crazy. The street kids faced death every day. They had nothing to lose. And they couldn't have cared less about Judy. We're talking about kids who were fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. Judy Garland was the middle-aged darling of the middle-class gays. I get upset about this because it trivializes the whole thing." [92] The 1970s were characterised by radical grassroots and community-based activism and support. There were many splinter groups from the Gay Liberation Front: the Campaign for Homosexual Equality was a key driving force, and the focus of activism was often explicitly focused on directly challenging heteronormative, conservative norms of family and gender roles; other community-led initiatives coming out of the 1970s included Gay News(set up in 1972), Switchboard (1974), and Gay’s the Word bookshop (1979).

On the Tuesday before the riots began, police conducted an evening raid on the Stonewall, arresting some of its employees and confiscating its stash of illegal liquor. As with many similar raids, the police targeted the bar for operating without a proper liquor license.

Frank Kameny soon realized the pivotal change brought by the Stonewall riots. An organizer of gay activism in the 1950s, he was used to persuasion, trying to convince heterosexuals that gay people were no different from them. When he and other people marched in front of the White House, the State Department, and Independence Hall only five years earlier, their objective was to look as if they could work for the US government. [158] Ten people marched with Kameny then and they alerted no press to their intentions. Although he was stunned by the upheaval by participants in the Annual Reminder in 1969, he later observed, "By the time of Stonewall, we had fifty to sixty gay groups in the country. A year later there were at least fifteen hundred. By two years later, to the extent that a count could be made, it was twenty-five hundred." [159] Truscott, Lucian (July 3, 1969). "Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square". The Village Voice. p.1 . Retrieved June 20, 2010.

The fire department and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue those inside Stonewall, and disperse the crowd. But the protests, sometimes involving thousands of people, continued in the area for five more days, flaring up at one point after the Village Voice published its account of the riots. Stonewall's Legacy Stonewall (officially Stonewall Equality Limited) is an LGBT rights charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1989 and named after the Stonewall Inn because of the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall Awards is an annual event the charity has held since 2006 to recognize people who have affected the lives of British lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. The Manhattan neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and Harlem were home to sizable gay and lesbian populations after World WarI, when people who had served in the military took advantage of the opportunity to settle in larger cities. The enclaves of gay men and lesbians, described by a newspaper story as "short-haired women and long-haired men", developed a distinct subculture through the following two decades. [46] Prohibition inadvertently benefited gay establishments, as drinking alcohol was pushed underground along with other behaviors considered immoral. New York City passed laws against homosexuality in public and private businesses, but because alcohol was in high demand, speakeasies and impromptu drinking establishments were so numerous and temporary that authorities were unable to police them all. [47] However, police raids continued, resulting in the closure of iconic establishments such as Eve's Hangout in 1926. [48]

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a b Gold, Michael; Norman, Derek (June 6, 2019). "Stonewall Riot Apology: Police Actions Were 'Wrong,' Commissioner Admits". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved June 6, 2019.