From 1930 to 1960, portrayals of LGBTQ people in the media were largely censored. If mentioned by the news media at all, news coverage, such as a 1965 article from the Denver Post, called homosexuals “a serious problem” in society...
Homosexuality in the Media
From 1930 to 1960, portrayals of LGBTQ people in the media were largely censored. If mentioned by the news media at all, news coverage, such as a 1965 article from the Denver Post, called homosexuals “a serious problem” in society...
Mattachine Society
Gay rights activist Harry Hay, along with his associates, held the first meeting of what would become the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles, in 1950. At the time, the small group was semi-satirically called the “Society of Fools”...
Sylvia Rivera: Street Activist
Though her presence at the Stonewall Riots has been questioned, Sylvia Rivera became an influential LGBTQ activist in the early days of the movement. Sylvia was born July 2, 1951...
Storme DeLarverie: “Gay Superhero”
Ever since Stonewall became an important part of LGBTQ history, there has been a persistent and difficult to answer question - who threw the first punch? Some reports indicated that it was a woman who landed a blow on a police officer, thus setting off the riots...
The Lavender Scare
The Lavender Scare, coined by historian David K. Johnson from Senator Everett Dirksen’s use of the term “lavender lad,” was a series of mass firings in the US government, coinciding with the anti-communist purges directed by Joseph McCarthy known as “McCarthyism”...
1960s
Learn more about the 1960s and the historical context that lead to the Stonewall Inn riots in June of 1969. The United States was in a great period of transformation around social norms and civil rights issues...
Christopher Street Liberation Day
One year after the Stonewall riots, on June 28, 1970, thousands of LGBTQ people marched from Greenwich Village to the Sheep Meadow in Central Park as a protest against LGBTQ discrimination and foster pride in the LGBTQ community...