They also led to a golden age in gay bar hopping and nightclub cavorting that lasted roughly until 2000, when numerous establishments closed down for reasons having as much to do with gentrification as homophobia. The events of 1969 likely marked the point at which gay rights became a national debate. (This year, finally, the police apologized.)
It opened in 1967, a year after laws forbidding night life establishments from knowingly “serving alcohol to homosexuals” were overturned.Īlthough it was Mafia-owned, the constant police raids were not targeted at bringing down the Genovese Crime Family. The Stonewall Inn is probably the world’s most famous gay bar.