do rainbow flags hang over the bar.
They’re year-round décor, part of
the furniture with the pool table

and the barstools with concave
centers that have held untold
numbers of butts over the decades.

What stories those stools—
and backsides—could tell, even if
they weren’t there in 1969,

when the bar’s name
became synonymous with
long overdue resistance.

Where the sign hangs, framed,
in the foyer, perhaps the one
once nailed to the door:

This is a raided premises
Police Department
City of New York

The rainbow flags hang, though
no one there needs reminding,
as badges of freedom,

of people’s right to exist, again,
in this moment, having to,
again, insist on such a thing

on this day in June when
resistance again flares its
gorgeous mane, full of pride

in this modest little bar
in Greenwich Village
called the Stonewall Inn.

•••

On June 28, 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall Inn bar on the pretext that it was selling alcohol without a liquor license. It was the third raid in a row on a Greenwich Village gay bar—the second on the Stonewall in a week—and this time, outraged patrons didn’t disperse but gathered on the street and actively resisted police. The ensuing unrest lasted five days and inspired activism around the country. It was a galvanizing and symbolic event in the struggle for LGBTQ rights. On the first anniversary of the uprising, inaugural gay pride parades were held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. They have continued annually around the world ever since.

The Stonewall Inn bar is now a national monument.