The change in attitude didn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t mean echoes of the past don’t resurface, even in places seen as progressive. The persecution reflected views in society at large: Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorder, and it was only in 2003 that a Supreme Court ruling declared state sodomy laws to be an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy. During the raids, vice officers would beat the patrons - sometimes the targets were those not wearing sex-appropriate clothing - and arrest them on morals charges. just decades ago, and police routinely raided private gay clubs.
Living an open gay lifestyle was unheard of across most of the U.S. (Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida wipes his eyes during a ceremony before the start of an MLS match between the Orlando City SC and the San Jose Earthqueakes at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, June 18, 2016. “That’s a snapshot of 40 years of progress,” said Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, named for the University of Wyoming gay student who died after he was beaten and tied to a fence by two men in 1998.
BOISE GAY PRIDE SHIRTS 2016 PLUS
On Sunday, police will march in solidarity and will have a robust presence among the crowd of 300,000 plus people. “Once upon a time they hit us with nightsticks, and now they’re our protectors,” said Gil Horowitz, 80, a retired research psychologist in New York who took part in the riots at Stonewall.Īt gay pride parades this weekend, that evolution will be on display in cities like Denver, where the first parade in 1975 was in response to police raids on gay bars and arrests of gay men. (Michael Penn/The Juneau Empire via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT The irony hasn’t been lost on the gay community that used to see police as the oppressor and counts the 1969 Stonewall Inn raid as the start of their movement.
Gay community leaders from Atlanta to Alaska have been turning to an old nemesis, police departments, to ensure safety at bars, clubs and pride parades after Sunday’s attack at an Orlando nightclub. In this Jphoto, the Juneau Police Department’s Kris Sell joins residents attending a noon vigil at Marine Park in Juneau, Alaska, for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings. The irony isn’t lost on the gay community that used to see police as the oppressor and counts the 1969 Stonewall Inn raid as the start of the gay rights movement. Nearly 50 years later, officers armed with assault rifles stand guard outside the historic bar, protecting patrons after a gunman in Florida staged a massacre at a gay nightclub and spread fear of more attacks. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)ĭecades ago, an early morning raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked violent protests among gay patrons who fought back after police burst in and tried to arrest them for daring to drink and dance with members of the same sex. The Manhattan bar became a national symbol of gay rights after a 1969 police raid led to violent street riots. New Yorkers are gathering in Manhattan at the historic bar to grieve the deaths of at least 50 people in early Sunday’s Florida gay nightclub shooting. Police officers stand guard outside the Stonewall Inn, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in New York.