Stonewall Riots

The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, were a series of spontaneous demonstrations that began in the early morning of June 28, 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Raids on gay bars were routine at the time, but on this night patrons and neighborhood residents fought back over several days. Figures such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were part of the resistance, alongside drag queens, gay men, lesbians, and homeless queer youth. Stonewall was not the first act of LGBTQ+ resistance, but it became a turning point that sparked Pride marches and a wave of new advocacy organizations. The site is now a national monument.