But that night, rather than submitting to arrest or dispersing, some of the patrons fought back. Police raids on gay bars in the city were common at the time, so nobody was surprised when officers barreled into the Stonewall Inn late on June 28, 1969.
In the late 1960s, the Stonewall Inn-a bar on the ground floor of a modest brick building in Greenwich Village-was a popular gathering place for New York City's LGBTQ community.