First gay pride parade in the country
Her lifelong advocacy ended when she died in 2005 - during New York City’s Pride Week. Her advocacy for the community started then, but it continued for more than three decades. She was friends with many of the individuals who were inside the bar that night the Stonewall Riots began.
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Until June 28, 1969, when those fairies, drag queens, queers, trans people, and gender-nonconforming folks said “Enough is enough.” The three-day standoff that ensued, infamously known as the Stonewall Riots, launched the modern-day LGBT rights movement.īorn in the Bronx, Howard had a heart for activism, and was involved with antiwar and feminist movements in earlier years, Nelson tells The Advocate. Many times, the raiding officers got rough, making police brutality a common occurrence at Stonewall and other LGBT-focused watering holes around the country. They would raid the bar, arrest the queers, and fine the establishment. The police knew that gays went to Stonewall. When it comes to crime syndicates, queer money is as good as straight money, it turns out. Back then, it was run by the Mafia, and was one of the only places that would allow these so-called degenerates inside the doors.
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Then, as now, Stonewall was a bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. But there was one place where everyone could gather - all the fairies, drag queens, queers, trans people, and gender-nonconformers - The Stonewall Inn. Most bars wouldn’t allow queers into their establishment, fearing police raids and fines. It was illegal for LGBT people to get together and have a drink or dance with same-sex partners.