Essay On The Stonewall Riots

It has been argued that the 1960s was one of the worst times for gay people. During this time period gay people were treated unfairly and did not have equal rights because being gay was considered wrong. As a result, gay people could not enjoy the same freedoms as heterosexual people. A freedoms that inhabited was an unhindered social life since many places did not allow gay people. One of the few places where gay people could hang out was at gay bars. However, people were not completely safe from authority at gay bars because they were often raided by the police. A popular hang out among the gay community was a mafia run gay bar in New York called the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn holds great significance because it was the grounds of an event that changed history forever. On June 28, 1969 the police were conducting a raid on the Stonewall Inn. However, events soon revealed that the raid would not go according to plan and would be different from the standard police raid. The patrons in the bar were tired of the raids occurring and of being mistreated and harassed so they began making a scene and were refusing to cooperate. In a matter of minutes, the situation inside of the bar escalated and moved into the streets where a riots ensued. These riots soon became known as the Stonewall riots and were the first major leap in the …show more content…
The argument that I am proposing surrounding this issue is that the Stonewall riots were a reflection of and a response to the 1960s. The 1960s were a constant struggle for gay people because it was not socially acceptable to be gay and it was considered immoral. Due to this point of view, gay people were alienated from society and had their basic rights stripped away. It was this oppression of a group of people that caused them to come together and respond to society in a way that reflected how society was treating