The Stonewall Riots



Early in the morning of 28 June 1969, police entered the Stonewall Inn, a bar where queer people met in New York. The stated reason was that the bar was selling alcohol without a licence. Yet police actions against queer bars were also a common form of harassment. People could be arrested, photographed, have their names made public, and be humiliated. Officers checked identities, arrested members of staff, and kept some customers inside because they had no identification or because their clothing did not match the gender expected by police. Those allowed to leave would usually go as quickly as possible. This time, many stayed outside. They were joined by young people from the nearby streets, people from the neighbourhood, and others passing by.

When police tried to leave with those they had arrested, the growing crowd resisted and tried to stop them. The conflict spread into nearby streets, and protests continued over the following nights. What began as a routine police raid became a public refusal to disappear. These events became known as the Stonewall Riots.

The riots were not the beginning of queer resistance. Activists had been organising, protesting, and building communities long before 1969. Their importance came from the way the resistance continued, brought people together, and claimed public space. One year later, marches were organised to remember the events at Stonewall. They became the roots of a yearly Pride tradition that spread around the world and continues today.

Stonewall came to represent a symbolic “end”: the end of a time when queer lives were expected to remain hidden. More than fifty years later, queer visibility has taken new forms, but the question remains: who is seen, how, and on whose terms?

The Stonewall Riots are a historical point of reference for The End – part 2.