Stonewall Riots

The Stonewall riots were a pivotal turning point for the LGBT community, and is the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. Stonewall not only shined a light on the injustices facing the gay community, but it unified the movement on a national scale. Before the riots and before the police raids, the various groups that existed gained little traction on a and failed to make much headway individually. Members of the LGBT community were largely oppressed: unable to live freely or openly and facing both persecution and hate crimes, people who just wanted to live peacefully began not to ask, but demand equality, equal treatment, and liberation.

Decades before Stonewall, the first homosexual rights group in the United States was Henry Gerber's

It was here where an organized effort was beginning to take form. Protests before the homophile movement, and Stonewall specifically, accomplished very little. The Homophile movement didn't make any significant achievements until the 1950's. With the founding of groups such as the Mattachine Society, One, and The Daughters of Bilitis, gay rights groups dubbed themselves "homophile organizations" to de-emphasize their sexuality, and sought acceptance by the general community; rather than take direct political action. The homophile movement gave these groups a shared identity and allowed them to better formally organize (The Homophile Movement). This shared identity was crucial in enabling gay men and lesbians to band

Groups such as GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign came into creation, amongst others, and the 1970's saw drastic political and outspoken action by the gay community. People began to have pride in who they are, rather than be afraid, and feel as if something genuinely was wrong with them. The 70's also saw people coming out publicly for largely the first time and the much-demanded removal of homosexuality as a mental illness (demedicalization). Nevertheless, employment discrimination, arrests, conservatism, and an overall lack of attention were still major problems (History of Gay Rights Movement in the U.S). A few years after Stonewall, the movement shifted from a focus on gay liberation to gay activism and reformative politics- seeking recognition and acceptance within American society rather than opposing everything that was already there. A common theme, withal, were the militant and angry protests, which continued for decades. The seventies also saw the rise of lesbian feminism. Most gay men could not understand sexism and sexist discrimination, and therefore lesbian women formed their own lesbian rights groups with the goals of creating and protecting lesbian culture and equality, as well as challenging the invisibility of lesbianism; the movement formed a self-sufficient lesbian community, crisis lines and community