1

"4 Policemen Hurt In Village Raid." New York Times (June 29, 1969): pg. 33. http:// hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/search (accessed April 12, 2011)

2

Forburgh, Lacey. "Thousands of Homosexuals Hold a Protest Rally In Central Park."New York Times (June 29, 1970): pg. 1. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/search

3

Jennings, Kevin. Becoming visible: a reader in gay & lesbian history for high school & college students. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1994.

4

Chan, Sewell. "Images From the Stonewall Uprising's Final Night." New York Times, June 1, 2009. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/images-from-the-stonewall-uprisings-final-night/ (accessed April 12, 2011)

5

"Police Again rout 'Village' Youths." New York Times (June 30, 1969) pg. 22. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/ (accessed April 14, 2011)

3

The Stonewall Inn, located at 53 Christopher Street, was one of the largest gay institutions of the 1960's. Its customers were mostly homosexuals but they also served lesbians and "straight" customers. 

3

During the 1960's gays were frequently harassed, beaten, and arrested by the police. The usual justification for this was a warrant to search for illegal liquor. 

3

It was illegal at this time to dress in "drag" and when police raided bars, such as the Stonewall Inn, they would even check the patrons for their sex. 

3

On top of harassment from the government gays also had to deal with homophobia from the people around them. To put it simple gays were ostracized from society. 

3

One of the only ways for gays to escape from the discrimination was to go to gay bars like the Stonewall Inn.

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Eventually in 1969 the Stonewall peaked in popularity, and as resulted, was raided frequently by the police. One such raid took place on June 28, 1969.

3

The raid that led to the Stonewall Riots occurred at 1:20 in the morning on June, 28. It was a routine raid by four plainclothes men accompanied by Detective Charles Smythe and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine. 

1

The men barred the room and proceeded to load cars with illegal liquor. They then asked the 200 patrons of the bar for id's to be let out. 

1 

As more and more people were cleared to leave, they began to gather in the streets outside of the Stonewall Inn. This surprised police as usually these raids would end up in the patrons leaving quite quickly. 

1, 3

As crowd grew larger they started to become roudier. One woman resisted arrest and was hit on the head by a police baton. Eventually people started to shout chants such as, "Gay Power!"

3

Over the next fifteen minutes the crowd nearly douled in size as bystanders began to join in. Most of these people were homosexuals who had simply seen the last straw.

3

Eventually the crowd grew up to 200 people and when the police started hitting women who were resisting arrest the crowd instantly became a mob. They began to riot and throw anything they could find at the police.

1, 3

When the crowd became violent police tried to control, however this just angered the crowd even more. The police were attacked. Some men threw rocks and cans, one even threw a parking meter! What the police recieved was the anger of a community who had been abused for much too long.

3

As the crowd grew angrier they lit garabage on fire and stuck it through the cracked windows of the Stonewall Inn. The situation escalated and the Tactical Police Force (TPF) was sent in to assist the police officers. By 4 am the crowd had dispersed, and the Stonewall Inn was completely destroyed. 

1, 4, 5

The riots, however, were far from over and the next night a crowd appeared on Christopher Street again. This time it had reached numbers of up to a thousand. Most of them were homosexuals who had heard about the riots of the night before. They continued to riot until the police sent in a riot-control squad and dispersed the crowd.

3

Over the next week demonstarations ranging in sizes were held all over New York, and for the first time, the homosexual community was standing up for itself.

3

After the Stonewall Riots, two main gay rights groups were formed. The Gay Liberation Front and The Gay Activists Alliance, both of whom were fairly succesful at promoting their cause. Many of participants of the riots became members and leaders of these two groups.

3, 2

Thanks to the Stonewall Riots, gays were not afraid to let their voices be heard. It changed the homosexual community forever and gave birth to the modern gay rights movement. Each year Gay Pride marches are held to commemorate the event and to celebrate the affect the riots had on American society. 

Although it is clear that the Stonewall Riots were a success in the eyes of the LGBT community, did the violence simply go too far? That is the controversy of the event and it is something that is still debated today. Some believe that the people involved in the riot were protecting eatch other from the harrasment of the police and has just had enough. Others believe that they were over reacting and acted like savages. Whatever you believe you cannot deny the affect that the even had on us all, especially those who are part of the LGBT community.