Stonewall -- 44 years ago today

Sandow Birk

This past week has been a transformative one for our country. With the Supreme Court decisions about the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 in California, we've made a significant step toward viewing all gay and lesbian people as equals.

We have a long way to go.

We've come a long way already.

In our culture that dwells in the now and the future, we tend to forget about the past and where we've been. Forty-four years ago, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, a number of spontaneous and violent demonstrations erupted between the nascent queer community and the New York City Police Department.

HIV has decimated our community of elders. There are few here now that hold memories of what came before. We shouldn't forget the sacrifices these brave men and women made for us all.

Watch Stonewall Uprising on PBS. See more from American Experience.

For first person accounts of the night explore here, here, here, here, and here.

See more here

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