June 28, 1969: New York City policemen raid the Stonewall Inn at 51 Christopher Street, off Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It starts out as a typical raid of a bar for permitting homosexual activity.
It doesn't end that way. The "paddy wagons" take too long to get there, preventing a mass arrest. This allowed a crowd to gather outside, angry that what would eventually be called "the gay community," which had long had a major presence in "The Village," was being picked on again. Finally, as one newspaper put it, "This time, the fairies fought back."
For years, the pro-police New York media called it "The Stonewall Riot." Eventually, it became better known as "The Stonewall Uprising," and is often considered the birth of the modern gay rights movement. This is a bit unfair to the people who had already been in that movement, so it's better to say that it was the event that moved the movement into the mainstream of American life.
The original Stonewall Inn opened in 1930, at 91 7th Avenue South, as a speakeasy during Prohibition, so it had been regularly raided from the beginning. In 1934, with Prohibition ended, it moved to its more familiar location. A fire ended this establishment in 1964.
In 1966, 3 organized crime figures (The Village had previously been known as an Italian neighborhood, and Mafia activity was rampant there) bought the property, and turned it into a gay bar, thinking they could blackmail closeted wealthy patrons. It probably wouldn't be remembered today if it wasn't raided 3 years later, but it also hosted drug sales, and that was really what got the vice squad sent in.
The owners never reopened the bar after the Uprising. The space was used over the next few years by a deli, a Chinese restaurant, and a shoe store. In 1991, new owners opened a gay bar, and named it "Stonewall." The name had not only survived the original bar, but had surpassed it in importance.
The bar was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000. It closed again in 2006, due to mismanagement. New owners renovated it and reopened it in 2007, and they embrace its historic significance.
On June 28, 1970, the 1st Gay Pride parade marched from the Stonewall site to Sheep Meadow in Central Park. As a result, the parade is annually held on the last Saturday in June, and gay Americans now celebrate June as Pride Month. This was aided by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down all State bans on same-sex marriage, announced on June 26, 2015, right before the anniversary.
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June 28, 1969 was a Saturday. This was the off-season for the NFL, the NBA, the ABA and the NHL. But a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 7-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Despite 2 hits each from Joe Pepitone and Frank Fernandez, the post-Mickey Mantle Yanks couldn't get anything going, and starting pitcher Bill Burbach couldn't get out of the 1st inning.
* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-4 at Shea Stadium, a blip on their march to their 1st World Championship.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 13-8 at Jarry Park in Montreal.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. This was a step toward the O's succeeding the Tigers as American League Champions.
* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Ken McMullen hit a walkoff home run in the 10th inning.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 12-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, their arch-rivals and the 2-time defending National League Champions, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* Somebody forgot to tell the expansion San Diego Padres that you gotta come out of the clubhouse to play the ballgame. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat them 19-0 at San Diego Stadium. The Dodgers scored 10 runs in the top of the 3rd inning, and Don Drysdale pitched a 5-hit shutout. But injuries were taking their toll, and he retired before the season ended, only 33 years old.
* The expansion Seattle Pilots beat the California Angels, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium. Rich Rollins hit a home run. Fred Talbot went 8 innings, allowing 7 hits, and Diego Segui pitched the 9th inning. I guess Fred Talbot smoked them inside.
* And the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.