In the decades before Stonewall, public scare campaigns plus discriminatory policies and laws increasingly targeted the LGTBQ community. Ultimately, the Stonewall Uprising inspired a growing demand for “Gay Liberation” as evidenced by the commemorative marches held one year later in NYC, Chicago, and LA.
Word of their defiance spread and more people joined the protest. Pushing back against an election year escalation of officially sanctioned harassment, customers refused to quietly endure yet another police raid targeting the LGTBQ community. Fifty-two years ago this June, patrons at the Stonewall Inn in New York City took a public stand.