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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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