Body of the final

“The homosexual is an inveterate seducer of the youth of both sexes, and…is not content with being degenerate himself; he must have degenerate companions, and is ever seeking younger vistims…(Coronet, 1950)” (Carter, 14) A “Puritan heritage” lent itself to the law in the US in a way that excluded homosexuality, especially during a period of “freedom” i.e. the 1960s. The Puritan ideals led to the assumption that homosexuals were child molesters and McCarthyism painted them as dangerous communists. While there may not have been any laws that outright spoke against homosexuals there were ones that easily could be used against them.

It was common for police to raid queer spaces and the people to disperse. Because a lot of queer youth either ran away from or were kicked out of their home when the police raided Stonewall on June 28th 1969 the sentiment was that they didn’t have a lot to lose. They decided to riot. It grew to several thousand people spanning over neighboring streets for six days. Within two years nearly every major city in the country had a LGBT rights group. After the Stonewall Uprising the Stonewall Inn became an important gathering place and is seen as the beginning and most important single event of the modern LGBT movement.

Section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (known as the “Antiquities Act”) gives the president the authority to declare sites as historic landmarks. Stonewall Inn (including Christopher Park and the streets where the events of June 28-July 3, 1969, occurred) was established as a National Monument this last June, 2016 by President Obama.