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Brick-and-stucco front of a bar with a red neon sign reading The Stonewall Inn in its window and small rainbow flags on the window rails above.
WonderFact

In the early hours of 28 June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village. Customers and local people fought back, and several nights of protest followed. The uprising became a turning point for the LGBTQ rights movement, and Pride marches around the world mark its anniversary.

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History

The story behind the card

In the 1960s New York police regularly raided gay bars, and serving gay customers could cost a bar its licence. Stonewall was not the first act of resistance: the Mattachine Society had campaigned since 1950 and the lesbian organisation Daughters of Bilitis since 1955, and in 1966 customers at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco had fought back against police harassment. But Stonewall drew far wider attention and moved the movement from quiet persuasion to open protest. Within weeks new groups such as the Gay Liberation Front had formed. On 28 June 1970, the first anniversary, thousands took part in the Christopher Street Liberation Day march, named after the street where the bar stands and now counted among the first Pride marches. In 2016 the site became the Stonewall National Monument.

Türkçe oku
28 Haziran 1969'un ilk saatlerinde polis, New York'un Greenwich Village semtindeki gey barı Stonewall Inn'e baskın yaptı. Bardakiler ve mahalle sakinleri karşı koydu; protestolar birkaç gece sürdü. Ayaklanma LGBTQ hakları hareketinde bir dönüm noktası oldu; yıl dönümü bugün dünyanın dört bir yanında onur yürüyüşleriyle anılıyor.

1960'larda New York polisi gey barlarına sık sık baskın yapıyordu; eşcinsel müşterilere içki satmak bir barın ruhsatını kaybetmesine yol açabiliyordu. Stonewall ilk direniş de değildi: Mattachine Derneği 1950'den, lezbiyen örgütü Daughters of Bilitis 1955'ten beri hak mücadelesi veriyordu; 1966'da San Francisco'daki Compton's Cafeteria'da müşteriler polis tacizine karşı koymuştu. Ama Stonewall çok daha geniş yankı uyandırdı ve hareketi sessiz ikna çabalarından açık protestoya taşıdı. Birkaç hafta içinde Gay Liberation Front (Gey Kurtuluş Cephesi) gibi yeni gruplar kuruldu. İlk yıl dönümünde, 28 Haziran 1970'te binlerce kişi Christopher Street Kurtuluş Günü yürüyüşüne katıldı. Adını barın bulunduğu sokaktan alan bu yürüyüş, ilk onur yürüyüşlerinden biri sayılır. Bar ve çevresi 2016'da Stonewall Ulusal Anıtı ilan edildi.

Sources and further reading

Image details

The Stonewall Inn, Christopher Street, New York, August 2008. The June 1969 uprising began here after a police raid.

Photo: Johannes Jordan, 2008, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Image source · CC BY-SA 3.0

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Background reading: Stonewall riots
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