Stonewall Uprising

In the early hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. Raids like this were routine — in that era, places where gay people gathered could be shut down at any time, their patrons detained, registered, exposed. That night, the crowd being pushed out did not disperse as usual. They resisted, and confrontations continued over several nights. Among those present were drag performers, transgender people, and homeless queer youth — the most marginalized people in the community, the ones with least left to lose.

Stonewall was not history’s first act of resistance, but it became the turning point. One year later, in June 1970, commemorative marches were held in New York and other cities, founding the pride parade and Pride Month traditions that continue today; in the years that followed, LGBTQ+ organizations multiplied rapidly. Figures closely associated with Stonewall, such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, later became icons of the movement. In Chinese the event is shiqiang shijian (石墙事件) — “the Stonewall incident.”

Register note: neutral historical term, at home in formal and educational writing. “Riots,” “rebellion,” and “uprising” all circulate; “uprising” has gained ground as the framing that centers the participants rather than the disorder.

Common misreading: telling Stonewall as the story of one hero who “threw the first brick.” Accounts of who did what first genuinely conflict; what is certain is that it was collective resistance. For the fuller arc, see the history timeline.