But one hot June night, when cops pounded on the door of the Stonewall, almost nothing went as planned. Police raids on gay bars happened regularly in this era. The Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-run, filthy, overpriced bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, was one of them. Most doctors considered homosexuality a mental illness. People went to jail, lost jobs, and were disowned by their families for being gay. It meant living a closeted life or surviving on the fringes of society. In 1969 being gay in the United States was a criminal offense.
