Equality as a Movement It was Friday, June 27, 1969. New York crime syndicates are extorting large sums of money for protection from gay bars. Anyone who can, or will not, pay is "persuaded" or shut down after a visit from the NYCPD's Public Morals Section, which enforces a mob stranglehold on the city's gay bars. Public Morals Section investigators have no reason to believe that tonight's raid on the gay Stonewall Inn will be anything but brief and professional. Two bartenders, three drag queens and a lesbian are arrested. Customers can leave one by one. A crowd of these patrons quickly gathers outside the Stonewall Inn. Shouts of defiance and applause begin to rise from the growing (lesbian) crowd. Soon, the crowd becomes an angry mob. Outnumbered, with nowhere to go, the police seek shelter inside the Stonewall, closing the heavy wooden door against the crowd. Outside, an uprooted parking meter is used as an improvised battering ram, the door swings open. Someone pours lighter fluid through a broken window: a match is thrown and the bar is in flames as police reinforcements begin to arrive. On Sunday morning the revolt petered out. Small, intermittent incidents occur over the next four nights, but the pent-up anger and fury of the gay community has been exhausted and replaced by an emotion never felt before, pride. Within a month, the first meeting of the Gay Liberation Front was held in New York (Lesbian). Every year after the uprising, now called simply "Stonewall," Americans, gay and straight, gather in nearly every city across the country. They gather in remembrance of Stonewall, previous fights for equality, and just for... half of the document... FROM LegalDefense. October 28, 2000. .Lavin, Cheryl. “The brutal murder made him a symbol.” Chicago Tribune. May 28, 1993:A-14.Lesbian and gay liberation through the years. Home page. June 26, 1997. The Pride Trust.October 12, 2000. .Irvine, Martha. “Gay awareness film sparks debate.” August 31, 1999. AssociatedPress. September 1, 1999..News. United States Supreme Court. May 20, 1996. ACLU. 12 October 2000..Union/marriage. Home page. 1996. GayLawNews. October 12, 2000.. Scott's Home Page. December 10, 1999. Matthew Shepard. October 12, 2000..Scott 13O'Brien, Jay. "Henderson pleads guilty." University of Wyoming Branding Iron.April 6, 1999: N-1.Whitaker, Tad. “McKinney Avoids Death.” University of Wyoming Branding Iron.November 4, 1999: N-7,8.