- [Tyler] In 1960s New York,

when police could target and punish LGBTQ+ people

for simply existing,

the Stonewall Inn was a safe haven for the queer community.

In 1969 a resistance against anti-gay police raids

made Stonewall the birthplace

of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Tree Sequoia was there the night it started in 1969

and he's now worked as a bartender at the Stonewall Inn

for over 30 years.

I wanna say cheers, because this is like the biggest honor

to be here with you and to have you even serve me a drink

is an honor.

- [Tree] My pleasure. - So thank you.

This has been, you know, (glasses clink)

a legendary place for me.

- I came in here for the first time

when it was the original Stonewall in the 60s.

We only came to bars to dance.

We just hung out all night long.

We didn't have sex there, we just had hangouts.

You sleep with a guy and he becomes your friend.

And then he introduces you to his friends

and the next thing you know there's eight or nine of you,

10 of you.

- It's a family. - It's a family.

- Yeah, I feel like that was a theme especially back then

of a lot of homeless LGBT people could come into places

like this because it was safe.

- Parents in the old days actually threw their children out

with the clothes they were wearing

when they found out they were gay.

- [Tyler] Police raids at gay bars were common,

but on June 28, 1969 the patrons of Stonewall

decided to fight back.

A riot that led to the start of the modern

LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

- All of a sudden we hear screaming and everything

from the other side.

We saw the cops coming in pushing and shoving,

but we started fighting back.

Hitting the cops, pushing everybody.

As they were arresting people,

putting them in the patty wagon,

everybody was booing and hissing and calling the cops names

and the crowd got bigger 'cuz people

looking out their windows had to come and see.

And the word got around and everybody was coming

from all over.

And they were shaking the cop car.

They pulled a parking meter,

with concrete on the bottom and everything,

and battered the doors over there.

And the lesbians in there were lighting their pillows

and pillow cases and throwing them out the window screaming

"Come on girls, fight back!"

- [Tyler] Gay people ascended into the streets

and openly resisted the harassment

and criminal exploitation of their community;

oppressions which they had long endured in silence.

Rich, poor, drag, butch, gays stood together

and fought the mass act of resistance.

- The three and four days after that

were even more impactful,

getting everyone out in the streets.

Thousands of people came down and really stood out here

and that's really what sparked it.

And what they did afterwards really to effect

how people were treated years later and to this day

is just so impactful.

And it's crazy to know that it all started

right in this building.

- The younger generation have no idea

what we went through to give them what they have.

- Yep.

- Now they have 100% more than I had

when I was a gay guy coming to the village

in the 50s and 60s.

We had nothing.

- A lot of the younger generation had no idea

what happened, they had no idea

that people like Tree even existed.

A lot of people across the country were like

'Stonewall, it sounds familiar,'

but they didn't know.

How are we gonna work to bring that all back?

It is the birthplace of gay rights.

If gay bars are the church, you are in the megachurch.

This is where pride began.

- Right.

- The reason why we have pride parades all over the country

and United States happened at this bar in 1969.

- In fact, to this day, a lot of the old generation,

they don't call it a parade, they still call it a march.

'Cuz we're marching for our rights.

- [President Obama] I'm designating the Stonewall

national monument as the newest addition

to America's national park system.

Stonewall will be our first national monument

to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights.

- I think about every little kid like me in Kansas,

every little person across the country

that had such a difficult time,

and just gonna be like oh my god, our president

is acknowledging us.

Like the leader of the free world is like,

you know we have bullies and people that made fun of us

and whatever, he's saying it's okay to be gay.

I think if you come into Stonewall on any given night

you will see everybody.

You will see the trans community coming here,

you will see people of color coming here,

you will see gay, you'll see lesbian.

It really is the melting pot like New York City

of the world.

And knowing that yes, trans women of color,

who are absolutely the most marginalized

and the group within our community

that's the most endangered right now

that we need to stand up and support

were the ones who led the way for us back in the day.

- [Tyler] Janet Mock is a trans activist and author

who is at the front line of the fight for LGBTQ+ equality,

now almost 50 years after Stonewall.

- For me so much of my work is about paying homage

to my forbearers.

To all of the people who have sacrificed their bodies

their livelihoods, their everything in order for me

and our communities to be able to do the work

and to be seen and heard on the levels

that we're seen and heard.

And so for me when I think about 1969

and I think about the Stonewall rebellion,

I think about Marsha P. Johnson,

I think about Sylvia Rivera,

and I think about Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

Largely young people, poor people, LGBTQ+ people

who were out there and put their bodies on the line

in order to say that we will no longer be contained,

we would no longer have our sexualities

and our genders policed,

we would no longer have you telling us what we should do

and how we should live and who we should love.

They were like fuck this.

- Right! (laughs)

- Yeah, we're gonna turn this all the way up,

we're gonna get some Molotov cocktails, some bricks,

and we're gonna throw back.

They had so much less resources than we have had access

to resources, yet they still went out

and really changed the world.

I always say that activism is not

this one performative space, right,

the picket line, the protest.

It is in the everyday acts of when you hear something

going on, you hear problematic language,

that you check it.

That you use your privilege and your access

and the spaces that you've been given,

have been granted to you, to make sure

that people think differently

and that you don't let this stuff go by

because your people are all people, right?

And that though you may be different,

though you have different experiences,

it is your job to use the education that you've taken on

to hopefully resist every single day.

- This was founded on resistance,

this was founded on standing up.

This is what Stonewall represents,

smashback stands up against resistance.

So you have an opportunity once in a lifetime

to really make a difference.

And we need everybody now and not just about gay rights

but about all the others, whether it's you know

our trans friends, whether you get people of color,

whether it's immigrants, whatever it is

those issues matter now so this is ...

You have your Stonewall 1969 moment right now

to stand up and come out and march and fight back.

- We have to stick together, we have to help each other,

we have to fight for each other.

Do something and you'll feel better for it

because you're helping.

They've gotta be proud.

They've gotta walk around and say I am what I am:

I'm a homosexual, I'm gay, I'm a lesbian, I'm gay,

if you don't like it screw you.

(bouncy guitar music)

- [Tyler] We can't forget what happened at Stonewall

and the people who stood up for what was right

when they needed to most.

Every day there are people that need us to stand up for them

and it's the Marsha P. Johnsons, the Sylvia Riveras,

and the Tree Sequoias that make me feel like

we can do it too.

Thank you so much for watching this video.

I am so honored to be at a place like this

because without something happening here in 1969,

I don't know if I would have been able to do something

with you guys here on YouTube.

I had such a great time talking to Stacey and Tree,

I feel like I learned so much about Stonewall

and the movement and their perspectives.

If you wanna learn more about Stonewall

and everything involved,

everything will be in the description.

This week's t-shirt is benefiting the Human Rights Campaign

if you want to get one of them the information is below,

but it's only available for a limited amount of time

so be sure to get it quick.

That's all I have for you guys today,

I will see you guys soon.

Okay, love you!