The Stonewall Inn stood in Greenwich Village as a Mafia-run-sanctuary for people of color, drag performers, underage and unhoused individuals, and generally rebuffed members of the still developing LGBTQIA+ community.
New York in 1969 criminalized homosexuality, performing regular raids on gay establishments and only allowing them liquor licenses in the interest of profit (and because of the hefty bribes that came from establishment owners wanting to be left alone) ( 1, 2). Today Los Angeles hosts the second-largest Pride Parade and Festival celebration in the country, kicking off festivities with parades, concerts, parties, and decorations around the city – but 51 years ago the first-ever LA Pride was organized in tandem with New York, San Francisco, and Chicago to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising a year prior.
