The world was watching and would soon follow in those activists’ footsteps. The movement was barely 12 months old and already it had had its first parade. The campaigner Brenda Howard was instrumental in organising the march and later became known as the ‘Mother of Pride’. One year later, the event was marked with the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day where more than 2,000 people marched to Central Park in protest of the community’s mistreatment. June 28, 1969, was the day Gay Pride began. Gay rights now had its movement and, more importantly, a momentum. Gay rights activists fought with the police until 4am, and the struggles and protests continued for the following week. They included the activists Marsha P Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Stormé DeLarverie. Prominent figures in LGBT+ history were present that night. The police inside couldn’t get out and the rough way the officers outside the bar dealt with those gathered outside led to a flashpoint. Back-up was called for to get everyone out of the bar and transferred to police cells but by the time they had arrived, a crowd had gathered on Christopher Street, outside the Stonewall. There were 200 people inside the bar that evening and they all refused to cooperate with the police. This was the night the customers fought back.
This was nothing new: as a popular gay bar in the city, it was often raided and customers arrested as same-sex relationships were banned under laws of the time. June 28, 1969, saw police descend on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village.