In fact, the law of the time expressly forbade men to dress up or act as women and vice-versa-the reason why the police cracked down severely on gay clubs and members of the transvestite and the transgender communities especially around the time of elections. What this also shows is the fact that the Stonewall protest wasn’t an isolated, one-off incident. Relevantly enough, the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots saw the first-ever Pride march in New York City. What’s important to note is that all these protests happened in response to the increasing police brutality against members of the drag/transgender community all across the US (ironical, considering the fact that many of today’s corporate-funded Pride marches are organised with police protection).
But, experts and scholars cite and point to some other similar but equally significant incidents and uprisings that happened in the years prior to Stonewall-for instance, the one at Cooper Donuts in Los Angeles (1959), the protests at Compton Cafeteria in San Francisco (1966) and the LGBT demonstration at Black Cat Tavern also in Los Angeles (1967). The Stonewall Riots on the night of June 28, 1969, are often thought to be the starting point of the gay rights movement in the US.
