2:32 PM

Forty-three years ago today, the police raided New York City’s Stonewall Inn, as they had in many other gay bars on many other nights. But on June 28, 1969, the patrons fought back. An all-out riot ensued as the gay men refused to produce their identification and the lesbians were tired of being touched inappropriately while being frisked. Most of all, they were altogether through with being made to feel unwelcome in the one place outside of their homes that they could be themselves. The gathering crowd overtook the police and violence ensued, but what came from these events was the beginning of the collective fight of our community. Instead of doing the quiet work that had been existing in secret during the ’50s and ’60s, the Stonewall Riot inspired the outness and activism that has grown to what is a powerful existence today.