The Homophile Movement: The Radical Gay Liberation Movement

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On June 28, 1969, police raided Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar, an incident not at all uncommon for gay and lesbian meeting places at the time; however, when the Stonewall patrons stood their ground, defending themselves and their peers against the police violence that accompanied these raids, a riot broke out that lasted three days. This momentous event is widely regarded as the inciting incident of the radical Gay Liberation Movement and the antecedent of the often, but not always, radical modern LGBTQ Movement; however, these movements actually have roots dating back even earlier, to the Homophile Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Generally characterized as assimilationist and tepid in nature, the Homophile Movement’s revolutionary

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