people, drag queens, and others. The charge was selling liquor without a license. This was a common event, for there were frequent raids of gay bars in that city. Patrons usually accommodated the officials. This evening, however, was different. Feeling they had had enough of this treatment, people fought back by flinging bottles and rocks at police on this night and on successive nights (Clausen 87-99).It was no coincidence that the revolt began in a bar, for bars have been significant to gay culture long before Stonewall. Bars were places where people could meet others like themselves. They were also targets of longstanding state harassment. In New York City, for example, a law dating back to 1923 was used to arrest and fine any man who invited another man home for sex on grounds of “degenerate disorderly conduct.” Behavior considered “campy,” same-sex dancing, touching, and kissing were also classified as “degenerate.” In the 1930s the Liquor Control Law was passed in New York City giving the State Liquor Authority the power to close bars it deemed “disorderly.” “Homosexual” was often placed in the category and subsequently gay and lesbian bars were constantly threatened with closure and in many instances actually shut down. Though small pockets of resistance on the part of bars and bar patrons was in evidence, the Stonewall Riots marked a turning point in the struggle for equality (Clausen 100-103).The first gay and lesbian group coming from the new wave of gay liberation to take a national focus was the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). It was founded in November 1973 as a professionally staffed organization which blended the old homophile and newer reformist gay and lesbian liberationist strategies. As originally stated, NGLTF’s purpose is : “...to re-educate society, including its homosexual members, to esteem gay men and women at thei...
