“For all of us who were worried that the conservative backlash in this country would bring about unnamed terrible things, the future is now.”

The words appeared on the front page of a gay newspaper, heralding an article about bar patrons being gunned down where they stood. They were not written this week, but 36 years ago, describing a spasm of violence that fewer and fewer people now recall.

They were written by the reporter Andy Humm as he told readers of The New York City News on Nov. 28, 1980, what most of them already knew: that a former transit police officer had rampaged through Greenwich Village, killing two men and wounding six.

“West Street Massacre,” the headline read.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, a 38-year-old former transit police officer named Ronald K. Crumpley opened fire outside a deli at Washington and Charles Streets, cutting down Richard Huff, 30, and Rene Matute, 23.

The gunman then made his way to West Street, between 10th and Christopher Streets, a blockfront shared by the Ramrod, a popular leather bar, and Sneakers, a gay dive.