One of the most important milestones in LGBTQ+ history, the Stonewall Riots were a series of protests between police and queer activists following a raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York city. These events sparked a gay rights movement not just in America, but right across the world.
Want to know more about what happened at Stonewall? These facts and statistics about the riots will help you understand the pivotal events on June 28, 1969 – including how they lit the flame for the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.K.
The Stonewall Riots: Facts and Statistics
The raid on Stonewall was the third raid on Greenwich Village gay bars in a short period of time.
The Stonewall Inn was a much-loved spot for the LGBTQ+ community thanks to its two dance floors – a rare feature back then.
Many members of the Mafia operated gay-friendly clubs in New York, seeing them as profitable places where city officials could be bribed to turn a blind eye. The Genovese crime family were the ones who owned the Stonewall Inn.
Protests and demonstrations outside the Inn grew, shrank, then grew again over the next five days following the raid.
While police raids were all too common, there was no tip-off for the raid on Stonewall, with officers entering the bar without warning at 1:20 am on the 28th of June.
Surprised by the backlash from the queer community, police called for back-up and barricaded themselves inside the bar while 400 people rioted outside.
Trans women like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera played a leading role in the protests. They were also central to the activism that followed, working tirelessly to create safe spaces for transgender youth.
8. On the first night of the protests, officers arrested 13 people. Many were charged with violating the law at the time, which banned individuals from wearing fewer than three “gender appropriate” items of clothing.
9. The Stonewall Riots led to New York’s first gay rights march on June 28th the following year.
10. Many of the UK activists involved in the riots and subsequent US queer rights movement returned to Britain to form their own chapter of the Gay Liberation Front. The group met for the first time in October 1970 .
11. A few days into the protests, a magazine published two articles using homophobic slurs to describe what was happening outside Stonewall. This caused even more protestors to join the demonstrations.
12. After the riots, the Stonewall Inn didn’t reopen as a gay bar until the 1990s .
13. While this wasn’t the first time gay activists fought back – nor the first protests by LGBTQ+ people in the US – what happened at Stonewall is considered the first time that lesbians , gay men and transgender folk united to fight for a common cause.
14. In 1988, 20 years after the initial riots, the Stonewall charity was created in the U.K. to fight discrimination brought about by Section 28. This landmark law prevented schools from talking openly about same-sex relationships and had devastating effects on queer communities up and down the country.
15. President Barack Obama designated the site of the Stonewall uprising a national monument in 2016.
16. Today, the Stonewall Inn is operating as a gay bar and club once more. As well as getting something to drink, people can stop by a visitor centre with an exhibition that tells the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement – including the incredible story of Stonewall.
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Tilly Brogan
Tilly is a queer Freelance Copywriter based in Manchester. She balances her time between working with LGBTQ+ organisations and women’s rights charities - and people watching in various Manchester cafes. She is also a proud lesbian. You can read more of her work here.
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