Monday, June 29
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Now, 40 years ago, in the heart of New York City at a place called the Stonewall Inn, a group of citizens, including a few who are here today, as I said, defied an unjust policy and awakened a nascent movement.

It was the middle of the night. The police stormed the bar, which was known for being one of the few spots where it was safe to be gay in New York. Now, raids like this were entirely ordinary. Because it was considered obscene and illegal to be gay, no establishments for gays and lesbians could get licenses to operate. The nature of these businesses, combined with the vulnerability of the gay community itself, meant places like Stonewall, and the patrons inside, were often the victims of corruption and blackmail.

Now, ordinarily, the raid would come and the customers would disperse. But on this night, something was different. There are many accounts of what happened, and much has been lost to history, but what we do know is this: People didn’t leave. They stood their ground. And over the course of several nights they declared that they had seen enough injustice in their time. This was an outpouring against not just what they experienced that night, but what they had experienced their whole lives. And as with so many movements, it was also something more: It was at this defining moment that these folks who had been marginalized rose up to challenge not just how the world saw them, but also how they saw themselves.

As we’ve seen so many times in history, once that spirit takes hold there is little that can stand in its way.
• President Obama, teaching us about the Stonewall riots. I learned about Stonewall when I was 14 or 15 and my aunt, who had lived in the neighborhood, quite deliberately took me by the bar and told me the story. She wanted to make sure I knew what had happened, and because she also wanted me to get a glimpse of what my future could be, she made sure we stayed with two women she was friends with, a couple. She never said, is this your life? She just gave me everything I needed to know it was one that would make sense, that had both a past and future. I know there is more we want from Obama, more we need and deserve. If you had told me that one day, when I was old enough to feel like that first history lesson was very long ago but still young enough to know my future with my wife stretches out long ahead of us, someone elected president of this country would teach America about Stonewall, I never would have really thought it was possible. It still barely seems possible now.