June 26, 2010 — Patrick Zimmerman

Be Proud: The Moment the Closet Door Finally Opened

“For all of us, there are genuine needs and wishes, deep longings for human warmth, empathic responsiveness, trust, mutual recognition and creative playfulness. These are many of the ingredients that we think of when we speak of love, or the loving feelings we have for the cherished other person.”

Monday, June 28, is the 41st anniversary of the famous Stonewall riot, an event that changed history. Gay people battled their way out of the closet with bricks and uprooted parking meters, and with a defiance so shocking it scared the men of the NYPD. And despite many challenges, they have never gone back in.

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the gay community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities. The riots have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970 marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots with an assembly on Christopher Street and the first Gay Pride March in U.S. History. The March traveled up 51 blocks to Central Park, beginning with a relatively small group that grew into a massive crowd of 15,000 people as it made its way up from Greenwich Village. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.

Stonewall: The Stone Wall Against Oppression

The Stonewall Riots: A Night That Changed the World

After Stonewall: The First Gay March

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