Stonewall Rally Marks 50 Years of Gay Rights at WorldPride NYC

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which are seen by many in the LGBT community as the genesis of the modern gay rights movement. An initial riot sparked by a June 28, 1969, police raid against LGBT patrons at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village stretched into days of protests and calls for safe spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patrons. The confrontation led to the formation of early advocacy groups, and the first gay pride parades were held a year later near the Stonewall Inn, as well as in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. Even with the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, a majority of people in the U.S. live in states where they can be fired and denied housing and service, based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.