Stonewall Riots: 40 Years Later

[Shana A]

Stonewall Riots: 40 Years Later

By: Dave Singleton | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | June 17, 2009

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/reinventing/articles/stonewall_riots_40_years_later_.html

For gay and lesbian Americans, June 28, 1969, was the day that changed everything.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, law enforcement officials kept track of suspected homosexuals and places that catered to them. Police regularly raided gay bars, seizing alcohol, shutting down establishments and arresting patrons. It wasn't uncommon for gay men and lesbians to be exposed in newspapers, fired from their jobs, jailed or sent to mental institutions.