Prior to the Stonewall Riots (AKA the Stonewall Rebellion), it was illegal to be gay in public. Also, if someone was caught wearing fewer than three pieces of clothing that did not correlate with their birth gender, they could be sent to jail.
Police often would raid gay bars. As a result, the Genovese family, who owned Stonewall Inn, paid off the New York Police to keep them out of the bar. However, police raids still occurred, but the owners of the bar were usually given a warning that a raid was going to occur. However, the night that the Stonewall Riots occurred, on June 28, 1969, there was no warning.
The Night of the Riots
As this police raid went on, people were progressively getting angrier about