he New York City drag balls of the 1920s and the “pansy crazy” of the ‘30s were followed by a devastating crackdown on “disorderly” homosexuals and gender-nonconforming people.
Two decades before the 1969 Stonewall uprising, there was a nascent but growing “homophile movement,” which included early gay rights groups Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis.
A routine police raid on an unlicensed West Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, turned into the spark that fueled the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement.
Who threw the first brick? Was there even a brick? The Stonewall uprising is shrouded in mystery and myth, but one thing is certain: It empowered and emboldened the gay community.