![first gay pride parade 1970 first gay pride parade 1970](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QmejwRlAhKQ/maxresdefault.jpg)
The police made several arrests and confiscated liquor.
![first gay pride parade 1970 first gay pride parade 1970](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/rose-bowl-parade-1.jpg)
On June 24, 1969, the Public Morals squad of Manhattan’s First Police Division raided the Stonewall Inn. Such oppression led many queer people to mask their true identities in public and encouraged them to flock to private spaces like Stonewall. Bars that disobeyed these laws were frequently raided by police who unjustly harassed, assaulted, and arrested queer customers. New York also outlawed the sale of alcohol to gay people. Laws allowed LGBTQ+ people to be evicted from their homes, fired from jobs, imprisoned, and confined to mental institutions. Places like the Stonewall Inn were safe havens from anti-LGBTQ+ policies enforced across America. A view of Stonewall Inn Historic Site 1999. Puerto Rican and African American gay men, drag queens, and queer youth, many of whom were kicked out of or ran away from their homes, found solidarity at Stonewall. The Inn’s initial clientele were mostly white gay men, but by 1969 it catered to people from all walks of life. The Stonewall Inn opened its doors as a gay bar in 1967 in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan. June is internationally recognized as Pride Month, and this year’s celebrations mark the 50 th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots-the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement. Today’s post comes from Rachel Rosenfeld in the National Archives History Office.