'Gay Bar' Tracks The Wave Of A Whole Culture — And One Life : NPR

gay bar in 1969

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, took place on June 28, 1969, New York Cy, after police raid the Stonewall Inn, a lol gay club. The raid sparked a rt among bar patrons and neighborhood rints as police hled employe and patrons out of the bar, leadg to six days of protts and vlent clash. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement.

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'GAY BAR' TRACKS THE WAVE OF A WHOLE CULTURE — AND ONE LIFE

* gay bar in 1969 *

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy. Constant Raids at Gay BarsThe 1960s and precedg s were not welg tim for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Amerins. For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry.

However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly. But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U. Police raids forced them to disband 1925, but not before they had published several issu of their newsletter, “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

On June 28, 1969, a gay bar Greenwich Village helped change the urse of L.G.B.T.Q. history. * gay bar in 1969 *

In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did.

When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars. In 1966, they purchased Stonewall Inn (a “straight” bar and rtrant), cheaply renovated , and reopened the next year as a gay bar. It was a nightly home for many naways and homels gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee.

And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi. Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para. ”In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay Gallery The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

In 1969, a police raid sparked an uprisg at NYC’s Stonewall Inn, and the unrground gay bar beme a landmark for the morn LGBTQ Pri movement. * gay bar in 1969 *

At the time, homosexual acts remaed illegal every state except Illois, and bars and rtrants uld get shut down for havg gay employe or servg gay patrons. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. Here, protters monstrate outsi the New York gay bar, Christopher's the early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raid by police wh no warng.

Sylvia Rivera was a Lata-Amerin drag queen who beme one of the most radil gay and transgenr activists of the 1960s and '70s.

As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari). After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY BAR IN 1969

'Gay Bar' Tracks The Wave Of A Whole Culture — And One Life : NPR .

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