On 28 June 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay nightclub in the heart of Greenwich Village, sparked a week-long rebellion, known today as the Stonewall Riots. For the first time in American history, lesbians and gays fought back against police harassment, hurling bricks, bottles, and rocks at the startled NYPD officers.
Gay Liberation Front was formed by thirty-seven women and men who broke ranks with the conservative homophile establishment, which urged a candlelight march in response to the riots. A militant GLF march demanded immediate end to homosexual persecution. The newly formed group was dedicated to the social ideals of the sixties: peace, equality, and economic justice. Between 1969 and 1971 GLF emerged as a powerful force, expanding to more than 80 independent chapters across the US and beyond.
copyright © 1995 by N. A. Diaman
