Stonewall gay bar raid

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The police would often tip off the bar staff as to raid they would come knocking, but not that night. Segal was 18 years old at the time and had just moved to New York from Philadelphia. So when the cops came in, the only thing they were interested in doing was extorting money from the older guys and pushing the stereotypical people around.

People like me were of no use to them. So I was one of the first to be carded and let out of the bar. The Stonewall was also a safe haven for transgender people, drag queens and other people who broke gender norms. While the police harassed and tried to arrest people gay inside the bar, Segal was among the crowd gathering on the street.

Segal says police soon realized they were in a situation where they were surrounded by the very stonewall they had been intimidating.

What are the Stonewall riots? How a gay bar raid started an uprising and LGBTQ2 Pride

The crowd fought back that night and for three more nights. Segal and one of his friends, Marty Donovan, wrote on the walls of the buildings lining Christopher Street, where the Stonewall Inn was located in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood, encouraging people to return night after night. It was a united front — a collection of various activist groups that formed as a result of what happened at the Stonewall.

We took back our streets. It was known as Christopher Street Liberation Day. But over time, other cities held their own marches and rallies. Eventually, it became what we now know as Pride. Images from the uprising and the early days of the Gay Liberation Front are rare. But photographer Diana Davies was one of the few who did document this era.

Garland died of an accidental drug overdose on June 22, Her funeral drew thousands of mourners to the streets of New York five days later — just hours before the police would show up at the Stonewall. There were race riots. Our riot is the only one that was sparked by a songstress? Anyone who repeats this should be ashamed of themselves.