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What is the history of gay pride?

By Kathy Belge, About.com

Question: What is the history of gay pride?
Answer: Back in the 1950s and 1960s the only place that it was safe for gays and lesbians to gather were gay bars. In the 1960s the police would often raid these bars and arrest the patrons. Back then there were laws on the books that said it was illegal to wear more than two pieces of clothing of the opposite sex. Police would arrest men for wearing dresses and women for wearing pants.

One day in June of 1969, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York decided they were not going to put up with the police raiding their bars any longer. When the police came, the bar patrons fought back. That event has gone down in history as the Stonewall Riots.

Learn more about Stonewall and the birth of the modern gay rights movement.

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Why do Gays have a Gay Pride Day anyway?

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