Calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in law, employment, housing, child custody and other areas of life, the Gay Liberation Movement commenced with the Stonewall Riots in America on 27 June 1969. On this evening, the Stonewall Inn, a homosexual bar in Greenwich Village, New York, was raided by the police. Rather than passively accepting defeat as they had in the past, the nearly 2,000 homosexuals present at the raid hurled insults and debris at the police force. The riot lasted nearly an hour, and rioting continued on the subsequent night. Thereafter, the Gay Liberation Movement gained momentum in the United States.

The movement was representative of the enormous social variety and vitality of the times; th

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Published 17 August 2004

Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "The Gay Liberation Movement". The Literary Encyclopedia. 17 August 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1384, accessed 9 February 2010.]