We were infuriated,” Kim Moody, currently the co-owner of downtown Phoenix art space the Alwun House. Shockwaves from the Stonewall riots were felt around the U.S., including here in Arizona, where members of the Valley’s LGBTQ community of that era were outraged for many reasons, not the least of which because they’d endured persecution by the police for their sexual orientation. The turmoil came after years of police harassment of LGBTQ bars and an anti-gay legal system rife with homophobia. It sparked a spontaneous counterprotest and rioting by drag queens, neighborhood residents, and bystanders which lasted three days.
on June 28, 1969, officers and detectives from the New York Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village.
