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They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries.[note 1][2] Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots. Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia.[3][4] It catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear o

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested there's no time to debate the end of the military's discrimination against gays against a backdrop of economic crisis, duo-war, and unemployment. That's bunk, yet he's right in one respect - we could save a lot of time by repealing DADT now.

"Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council debated Prop. 8 lawyer David Boies this morning on "Face the Nation." Boies didn't let Perkins get away with spewing falsehoods and lies. After Perkins spewed the usual right-wing anti-gay rhetoric, Boies let him have it:"

I think voting on rights is ridiculous to begin with, but when I think of the people who fought for this discrimination - organizations like NOM who are not even IN Maine... it makes my blood boil! What right does the majority have to tell another adult citizens who they can marry.

Gay marriage isn't just the right thing to do on civil rights grounds. Suddenly, it's good politics, too. Michelle Goldberg on the new Democratic wedge issue.

I would love to increase the number of teachers by 20%. I would love to, and to be fair to the Labour government have done a lot on that. But to just say that everything's perfect and we need to spend every pound that we're spending now is just being an ostrich.

The IRS has just issued an important private letter ruling recognizing community property laws for registered domestic partners.

Bring in the clowns! Sometimes the Party of the Big Tent is like the circus act where a plethora of clowns rides in on impossibly small fire engine and slapstick their way to guffaws.