June 28th 1969 was the start of the stonewall uprising. Many people call it the stonewall riot but it was far from it. The Stonewall Inn was a popular gay bar in New York. Same sex relationships were illegal in New York until the 1980s so many people had to keep their identities secret. The Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia so if they made money they didn’t care what was happening there. 

The Stonewall Inn was raided quite often about once a month and many would just run away. This time they were pushing customers and employees into police cars instead of what they used to do and just told them to get out. No one was doing anything though but then it started, people were throwing bricks and sharp objects too. They’ve tried to fight back before but not like how they did this time. Their protests stretched over 6 whole days. This was one of the biggest LGBTQ+ uprisings in all time.

One of the famous people involved with Stonewall was Marsha. P Johnson. She is a trans woman born on August 24, 1945. She spoke out about transphobia and founded STAR with Sylvia Rivera. After the raid at Stonewall the first gay pride parade was on June 28, 1970 on the one year anniversary after Stonewall.

“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.” – Marsha P. Johnson

June 2020 was the 50th year anniversary for the Stonewall Uprisings. Now in the present Stonewall is a national monument as well as a tourist destination. People are allowed to go in the bar for drinks and take pictures. Today people can freely express their identities, we have parades to celebrate and have representation in the media, we should always look back on how we got here.