Stonewall Uprising, a documentary on the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, will air tonight (Monday, April 25th) on WKNO (Channel 10) at 8 p.m.
Sponsored by the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation, the screening will give locals a first-hand look at the pivotal event that launched the modern-day gay rights movement. The documentary features drag queens, street hustlers, journalists, police detectives, and even a former New York mayor talking about the day the LGBT community fought back against police aggression, during a raid at the mafia-run gay bar, Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969.
Back then, homosexual acts were illegal in many parts of the country, and homosexuality was widely considered to be a form of mental illness. Gay men and women from across the country had begun fleeing to New York in search of sanctuary, and many of them found safety at the Stonewall Inn. So when police raided the bar, its patrons banded together to fight back.