Friend of Dorothy

Code for “gay” that traces its roots back to the night before the StonewallArguably the single most important landmark in the worldwide struggle for gay rights, Stonewall refers to a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village. It was there that, for the first time on record, homosexual patrons fought back against raids by policemen, who were making arrests for engaging in then-illegal homosexual acts. Today, gay pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to commemorate the Stonewall riots. Riots of 1969, when closeted gay men flocked to Judy Garland’s funeral and were politically inspired and empowered by getting a sense, perhaps for the first time, of their strength in numbers.

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