Maybe you are wondering why the battle? Finally, there was an out, a real “nationwide, out on the streets out” kind of out. For the first time in history, people were freely expressing their sexuality on the streets when heterosexuality was the only acceptable form of sexual expression.
Religion and psychiatry damned homosexuality; hence, the society was biased. Being “out of the closet” at that time meant career suicide, torturous treatments, and relentless public ridicule to “straighten you up.”
Can you imagine a gay person living in fear and anxiety suddenly seeing the streets filled with people like him and his allies demanding an end to all of this discrimination?
In his book, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, historian David Carter wrote about how the event didn’t just change the gay community, but it turned people who witnessed it too. They were fascinated by how far a socially despised minority would fight for their freedom. It is something.
