June is the month of Pride. Many people are talking about Pride starting as a riot, but it is deeper than a slogan and beyond three days of protest. It was a response to systemic and institutional discrimination.
Queer bars were often the target of police raids and police extortion. State laws, particularly those connected with liquor licenses, created the conditions for this. There were also laws that policed clothing, as if clothing has a gender, but these laws required people to wear at least three pieces of clothing of their sex (and male and female were the only options). ...