06/02/2026
June is Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Riots.
At 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn. Unlike prior raids, this time there was no tipoff, and rather than happening during a weekday, this was orchestrated when the bar was full of people.
Normally, a raid like this would involve identification of people present, and female officers bringing 'those they thought' women into the rest room to verify their biological s*x. Any transwomen or those in drag would then be arrested.
This time, people refused to allow officers to undress them, people refused to identify themselves. Police assaulted several people with inappropriate 'frisking'. While waiting for police wagons to transport the bar's confiscated liquor and their detainees, a crowd began to form outside.
The crowd sang "We Shall Overcome". People shouted "Gay Power". An officer shoved a drag queen. Officers were beating people inside, using batons on already handcuffed victims.
Stormé DeLarverie's shout of "Why don't you guys do something?" while being forced into the police wagon spurred the crowd into action, breaking the inertia of powerless dread.
Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Zazu Nova, Jackie Hormona names we all know. Dozens of others also fought for their human rights, their civil rights, and they found back hard. Hurling beer bottles, stones, and the infamous bricks from a nearby construction site, nearly 600 people forced the police to take refuge within the Stonewall Inn itself - having barricaded themselves and some of their detainees inside once the crowd began to get the upper hand.
"When did you ever see a f*g fight back? ... Now, times were a-changin'. Tuesday night was the last night for bu****it ... Predominantly, the theme was, "this s**t has got to stop!""
— Ronnie Di Brienza
"We all had a collective feeling like we'd had enough of this kind of s**t. It wasn't anything tangible anybody said to anyone else, it was just kind of like everything over the years had come to a head on that one particular night in the one particular place..."
— Michael Fader
"I just can't ever get that one sight out of my mind. The cops with the [nightsticks] and the kick line on the other side. It was the most amazing thing ... And all the sudden that kick line, which I guess was a spoof on the machismo ... I think that's when I felt rage. Because people were getting smashed with bats. And for what? A kick line."
— Danny Garvin
By 4am, the police retreated. 13 people were arrested, some people injured.
The next night, riots began again as police tried to stem the tide of thousands of people filling Christopher Street and the neighborhood.
Activists joined together. Poets, artists, and the press together documented the 6 days of rebellion, of empowerment, of action.
This was not the end of police raids on gay bars in New York. Months later, police raided The Snake Pit, arresting 167 people and Diego Viñales, a student so afraid of deportation due to his s*xuality, leapt from a 2nd floor window and was impaled on a spike fence. He did survive.
Protests, marches, and a letter writing campaign to Mayor Lindsay to demand an end to police raids on Gay Bars followed.
On June 28th, 1970, the anniversary of Stonewall, the first Gay Pride March was held as a celebration of Christopher Street Liberation Day. That first year, it was New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. in 1971 marches also happened in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin and Stockholm.
Almost unrecognizable from the efforts of previous Gay Rights groups like the Mattachine Society, this new side of Q***r Liberation was 'ugly'- or rather, it was honest. It was open, it was loud, it was vulgar and unseemly and revolting to the normative polite society. It took place in the open, in the daylight, in public. People existed, in danger, scared, risking their safety and jobs and relationships, but they worked so that they would not be shoved back into the dark corners of society to suffer abuses in silence again.
There were 60 or so gay groups in the country at the time of Stonewall. By the first Pride, there were over 1500. And that number has continued to grow.
Just like Q***r people have always existed, Q***r activism did not Start with Stonewall. But the size and length of the rebellion, the unprecedented media coverage of the situation, and the emotions it ignited in people, all contributed to the birth of the Gay Pride movement as we know it today. Not only would we demand our rights as people, but we would be proud of ourselves for who we were.
Stonewall also exposed the lack of Transgender representation in activism at the time.
Today, when our rights are actively being repealed across the country, we must remember the work done by more than just those the news headlines cover. Across the world, across history, Q***r people have existed and fought to be recognized, to be respected.
This fight has been going on much longer than the 60s. Longer even than the 1900s. Laws decriminalizing homos*xuality appear as far back as 1791. Some places never barred it to begin with.
We cannot allow the assault on human rights currently happening to continue, we cannot allow marginalized communities to suffer like this.
We must organize. We must fight back. We must vote, remain vigilant and aware of those that want to return us to the closet, return us to a more inequal world, return themselves to absolute power over anyone they deem 'other'.
There is work to be done at Every level. From your neighbors to your town, to your county, to the state and national policy. There are ways for everyone to fight, everyone to help. Know your representatives. Know when elections are - both national and local. Learn where your social service organizations are, and what they need. Learn where you can volunteer, who you donate to, and meet the people around you who may fear they are all alone.
It may feel nearly impossible to find the Joy in Pride this year, but look to each other, see the work people are doing, and know that the fight is going on, Has been going on, and will continue.
Love yourself, even when others seek to make you feel ashamed.
Love each other, even when others seek to make you fear each other.
Love your life, even when it is difficult and scary, because your life is important. You are important. You deserve to stand in the sun without fear.
