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By: HISTORY.com Editors

1969

The Stonewall Riots begin in NYC’s Greenwich Village

HISTORY.com Editors

NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images

Published: October 18, 2010Last Updated: May 28, 2025

Sometime after midnight on June 28, 1969, in what is now regarded by many as history’s first major protest on behalf of equal rights for LGBTQ people, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn—a popular gay club located on New York City's Christopher Street—turns violent as patrons and local sympathizers begin rioting against the authorities.

More to History: Stonewall

Before The Stonewall Inn Riots, one triumph in a West Village bar fought sexual orientation discrimination with a "Sip In".

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Although the police were legally justified in raiding the club, which was serving liquor without a license, New York’s gay community had grown weary of the police department targeting gay clubs, many of which had already been closed.

Soon, the crowd began throwing bottles at the police. The protest spilled over into the neighboring streets, and order was not restored until the deployment of New York’s riot police sometime after 4 a.m.

The Stonewall Riots were followed by several days of demonstrations in New York and was the impetus for the formation of the Gay Liberation Front as well as other gay, lesbian and bisexual civil rights organizations. The next year, in 1970, New York's first official gay pride parade set off from Stonewall and marched up 6th Avenue. June was later designated LGBTQ Pride Month to commemorate the uprising.

In 2019, the New York Police Department formally apologized for its role in the Stonewall Riots, and for the discriminatory laws that targeted gay people.

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Citation Information

Article Title: The Stonewall Riots begin in NYC’s Greenwich Village
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/june-28/the-stonewall-riot

Date Accessed: October 29, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: May 28, 2025
Original Published Date: October 18, 2010