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During the 1960s, it was common for the police in New York City to raid gay bars. On June 27th 1969, police showed up at around midnight to the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, and asked the patrons to leave.
They refused and the gay rights movement was born.
Michael Levine was out on a date at the Stonewall Inn that night. Here, Levine remembers the events that would later be known as the Stonewall Riots.
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Piece Description
During the 1960s, it was common for the police in New York City to raid gay bars. On June 27th 1969, police showed up at around midnight to the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, and asked the patrons to leave.
They refused and the gay rights movement was born.
Michael Levine was out on a date at the Stonewall Inn that night. Here, Levine remembers the events that would later be known as the Stonewall Riots.
Broadcast History
NPR's Morning Edition June 25, 2010
Transcript
ML: It was a Friday night... I had a date. And I was at the bar getting drinks for both of us. We had just finished dancing. The music was blaring. It was a combination of beer and cigarettes and cologne.
Suddenly as I'm handing money to the bartender a deafening silence occurred. The lights went up, the music went off and you could hear a pin drop, literally.
My boyfriend rushed in from the dance floor. He walked over and said, "Put the drinks down. Let's leave."
We walked out onto Christopher Street and there are what look like 100 police cars facing the entrance and crowds of people looking at us. The kids coming out of the Stonewall, the onlookers, the police, everyone was just kind of standing there. It was not a riot in the sense of people breaking furniture and police hitting people over the head. It was just an enormous crowd of people.
And then the police started to...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Time now for StoryCorps, the project that's recording people talking
about their lives.
Today -- a man remembers one June night that changed his life...
Michael Levine [Luh-VEEN] was at a popular gay bar in New York City in June 1969 ...
... when it was surrounded by police.
At the time, the vice squad routinely raided and emptied gay bars.
Patrons usually complied with the police -- frightened at being
identified publicly.
But this particular Friday night was different.
Patrons at the Stonewall Inn stood their ground.
They clashed -- during what became known as the Stonewall Riots.
Michael Levine reflected with his friend, Matt Merlin, on what happened that night.
Michael Levine with Matt Merlin at StoryCorps in New York.
Their conversation will be archived at the Library of Congress.
Get the podcast at NPR-Dot-Org.
FUNDER [CPB + The Marc Haas Foundation]
Additional Credits
NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Marc Haas Foundation
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