The Stonewall Riots : Coming Out in the Streets
(Young Adult Book)

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the protest that launched the LGBTQ+ movement.

The Stonewall Riots were a series of violent and chaotic demonstrations that lasted over several days and are today seen as the start of the modern LGBTQ+ movement. They began on June 28, 1969, when the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York City. Many people were involved in and affected by the riots, but what exactly happened early in the morning on June 28? The Stonewall Riots brings the uprising into perspective by tracing American gay history from the late 1800s up to the 1969 demonstration and its aftermath. Even though Greenwich Village was at the time a center for the gay community in New York City, it was still dangerous to be openly gay or lesbian. Police routinely raided gay bars, arresting and beating the people they found there. These incidents usually went unreported, and it wasn't until the Stonewall Riots that the mainstream media began taking interesting in gay history and politics. To fully understand the scope of the riots and their impact, Gayle E. Pitman examines the demonstrations through an array of objects from and people of the period. Many different voices and symbols are discussed, from the inn itself to a police nightstick and a parade bullhorn to a police officer and a number of activists including Marsha P. Johnson, Rita Mae Brown, and Craig Rodwell. The Stonewall Riots tells the early history of gay America and how Stonewall's legacy has led to the LGBTQ+ movement.