--- title: The Stonewall Movie and How TIME Covered What Happened description: A movie about the 1969 riots will be released Sept. 25. Here's what TIME said about the real events it's based on. canonical: https://time.com/4042859/stonewall-inn-history-time/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-25T13:30:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:34.517Z article:section: History og:title: The Stonewall Movie and How TIME Covered What Happened og:description: A movie about the 1969 riots will be released Sept. 25 og:url: https://time.com/4042859/stonewall-inn-history-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt320d30a4f0764a4d/6988649ea988ca684c6b46f2/stonewall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Stonewall Inn nightclub raid. Crowd attempts to impede polic og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Stonewall Movie and How TIME Covered What Happened twitter:description: A movie about the 1969 riots will be released Sept. 25 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt320d30a4f0764a4d/6988649ea988ca684c6b46f2/stonewall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How TIME Covered the Stonewall Riots  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 1:30 PM CUT  Stonewall Inn nightclub raid, June 28, 1969 Stonewall Inn nightclub raid, June 28, 1969New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 25, 2015 1:30 PM CUT The [controversial](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/movies/roland-emmerichs-stonewall-finds-controversy.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") new movie _Stonewall_, out Friday, is named for the clash between New York City police and patrons of the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969—the event that’s commonly seen as the spark that ignited the modern gay rights movement in the United States. “For those living through the summer of 1969, its epochal moments seemed to be Chappaquiddick, the moon landing, Woodstock. But in terms of American social history, the most important event of those steamy months a quarter-century ago may have been a largely unreported street clash, in the early-morning hours of June 28, between police and the homosexual clientele of an unlicensed New York City bar, the Stonewall Inn,” TIME’s William A. Henry [remarked](http://time.com/vault/issue/1994-06-27/page/51/ "undefined") upon the 25th anniversary of the clash. “The brief uprising inspired a gay civil rights movement that until then had few public adherents and scant hope of success.” At the time, however, the clash was treated largely as a local news item reported only [in New York City](http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/06/29/89004281.html?pageNumber=33 "undefined"). TIME, for one, never covered the initial conflagration. It wasn’t until 1979, in an article about the great progress that movement had made, that TIME [first mentioned](http://time.com/vault/issue/1979-04-23/page/82/ "undefined") the name of the bar where it began. Another decade went by before the [next mention](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-07-10/page/58/ "undefined"). Perhaps not surprisingly, the words “Stonewall Inn” began to appear more frequently in the mainstream press as the movement shifted into the mainstream too. It was around the mid-1980s that the phrase became [far more commonly used](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Stonewall+Inn&year%5Fstart=1960&year%5Fend=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct%5Furl=t1%3B%2CStonewall%20Inn%3B%2Cc0 "undefined"). By 2003, when TIME included Stonewall on a [list](http://time.com/vault/issue/2003-03-31/page/129/ "undefined") of the “80 Days That Changed the World,” the moment’s influence—and that of the diverse crowd that helped make it happen—was no longer a matter of debate: --- > “” --- **_See the rest of the 80 days list, here in the TIME Vault:_** [80 Days That Changed the World](http://time.com/vault/issue/2003-03-31/page/129/ "undefined") ### See the Celebration at Stonewall Inn After Gay Marriage Ruling  People gather outside of the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar recently granted historic landmark status, on June 26, 2015 in the West Village neighborhood in New York City. Yana Paskova—Getty Images  Women kiss each other as people celebrate outside the Stonewall Inn in the West Village neighborhood of New York June 26, 2015. Eduardo Munoz—Reuters  Carlotta Gurl, a gay rights activist from Vancouver, Canada, chats outside of the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar recently granted historic landmark status, on June 26, 2015 in the West Village neighborhood in New York City. Yana Paskova—Getty Images  Carlotta Gurl (in wedding dress, left,) a gay rights activist from Vancouver, Canada, celebrates outside of the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar recently granted historic landmark status, on June 26, 2015 in the West Village neighborhood in New York City. Yana Paskova—Getty Images  People celebrate inside the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar recently granted historic landmark status, on June 26, 2015 in the West Village neighborhood in New York City. Yana Paskova—Getty Images  A man plays music as people celebrate inside the Stonewall Inn in the West Village neighborhood of New York, June 26, 2015. Eduardo Munoz—Reuters  Empress XXIX Madison Mansfield celebrates inside the Stonewall Inn in the West Village neighborhood of New York June 26, 2015. Eduardo Munoz—Reuters  New Yorkers begin to arrive at the historic Stonewall Inn June 26, 2015 in the West Village after hearing of the ruling from the Supreme Court that stated gay marriage as constitutional. Zach D Roberts—Corbis ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4042859/stonewall-inn-history-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4042859/stonewall-inn-history-time/"},"headline":"How TIME Covered the Stonewall Riots","datePublished":"2015-09-25T13:30:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:34.517Z","description":"A movie about the 1969 riots will be released Sept. 25","url":"https://time.com/4042859/stonewall-inn-history-time/","keywords":["movies","LGBT"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt320d30a4f0764a4d/6988649ea988ca684c6b46f2/stonewall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt320d30a4f0764a4d/6988649ea988ca684c6b46f2/stonewall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stonewall Inn nightclub raid. 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