The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent
demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early
morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich
Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the
first instance in American history when gays and lesbians fought back
against a government-sponsored system that persecuted homosexuals, and
they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay
rights movement in the United States and around the world. The
Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an
assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the most
marginalized people in the gay community: transvestites, effeminate
young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were
routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the
situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited
to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of
Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and
again several nights later. Within six months, two gay activist
organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational
tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for
gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were
founded across the U.S. and the world. Today Gay Pride events are held
annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the
Stonewall riots.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1651:
Khmelnytsky Uprising: The Zaporozhian Cossacks began clashing with
forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of
Berestechko in the Volhynia Region of present-day Ukraine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berestechko>
1880:
Police captured Australian bank robber and bushranger Ned Kelly after
a gun battle in Glenrowan, Victoria.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly>
1914:
Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip>
1922:
The week-long Battle of Dublin began with an assault by the Irish Free
State's National Army on the Four Courts building, which had been
occupied by the Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army, marking the start of
the Irish Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dublin>
1956:
Workers demanding better conditions held massive protests in Poznań,
Poland, but were violently repressed by the following day by 400 tanks
and 10,000 soldiers of Ludowe Wojsko Polskie and Korpus Bezpieczeństwa
Wewnętrznego.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_1956_protests>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
denigrate (v):
1. To criticise so as to besmirch, disparage, or defame.
2. To treat as worthless; belittle
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/denigrate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>