![]() Approximately 20 patrons were detained in plastic handcuffs while six were arrested. On June 28 th, 40 years to the day after the Stonewall raids, Fort Worth police and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) inspectors entered the newly-opened Rainbow Lounge without a warrant. Yet while contemporary depictions of the 1969 Police raids on the Stonewall Inn are often as an event of the distant past, as recently as 2009 saw mass raids on gay bars in the United States. For most of the 20th century, going to gay bars meant that “you may be placing yourself in a position that you’re not just going to a bar but you’re going to jail that night.” This police repression played a key role in the radicalization of middle-class gays and lesbians in the latter half of the 20 th century. ![]() This is noteworthy because until recently police were often agents of violence at gay clubs. Police actions in the aftermath of the terrorist massacre at Orlando’s Pulse were heroic.
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