It wasn’t a bar —it was a BOTTLE CLUB cuz the regulations were way, way lower than that for a bar. Like you don’t have to have an emergency exit, you don’t have to have running water, even. LOTS of other things.
Their primary income was selling drinks but a VERY close second was BLACKMAIL —some wealthy patrons in the closet didn’t want their “hobby” becoming public.
The place was MOBBED UP. It was a MAFIA operation.
Most of the fellas getting blackmailed quietly PAID, but finally someone got pissed off and started a huge fight —THAT was the cause of the riot.
They only made up this civil rights stuff later.
I must admit their cover worked GREAT.
I remembered another part of it (the best article, a very long one, was from The American Spectator about 5 years ago):
Because they didn’t have running water, the washing of glasses in this mafia outfit was, eh...not quite on the up and up. As in they basically just dipped cups and glasses in a basin of water, or something.
Gross, huh..?
I guess some of those gents weren’t the healthiest and there was a sudden outbreak of something like Hepatitus at Stonewall —a bunch of patrons got pretty pissed.
But the original spark for the “Stonewall Riot” was a big dude getting pissed about the mobbed-up Stonewall management trying to blackmail him for his gay hobby.
It had NOTHING to do with some dramatic “Rosa Parks moment” where they could no longer stand the discrimination.
IT’S HISTORY THAT IS **MADE UP**.