DON'T ASK, I'M TELLING: Homo nest closing, this Queen Bee is stinging sad

On July 6, 1969, the New York Daily News reported "Homo nest raided, Queen Bees are stinging mad." That was the headline after the historic June 28, 1969, raid of the Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn. At that moment in time, the world was changed and the path to equality for LGBT people was begun.

Last week, however, a great bit of sad news hit the LGBT news media and its powerful blogging community. The historic Stonewall Inn at 53 Christopher Street is closing, but its history cannot be forgotten.

In the early morning hours of that hot June day, the world would be changed. For one of the first times in American history, LGBT people would stand up against institutionalized government and police oppression; they would assert their rights and their humanity.

The Stonewall Inn of the 1960s was a seedy place, run by the New York mob, but it was one of the only safe places where LGBT people could, even for just a short time, live equally and forget about the extreme daily oppression and discrimination so common in those times and completely unknown to younger LGBT people of today.

History dealt a wild card for the Stonewall's patrons that night. Raids at gay bars and illegal entrapments of gay men were a common occurrence in the 1960s and many times gay bar patrons would be arrested for indecency charges, sometimes for something as simple as holding hands. The bar was a safe place, as long as the police were nowhere around. On June 28, the police would make a horrible mistake and their gay victims would say, "No more."

It was the "purse-sling heard 'round the world." The first opposition to the oppression that night was committed by none other than one of the Stonewall's many drag queen patrons (cross-dressing could also lead to arrest). As the cop tried to arrest her, the drag queen hit him with her purse and all hell broke loose.

The original "Stonewall Riots," initiated by that brave drag queen, lasted through the night and into daybreak. At one point in the Riots, the gay patrons got so upset that the police barricaded themselves inside the bar for protection. As news spread of the resistance, marches and protests in the Village would be organized. The "Stonewall Riots" lasted for weeks and the "Spirit of Stonewall" has since led the LGBT community in its efforts to gain full equality in America and in the world.

June 28, 1969 is internationally marked as "Christopher Street Day" and as the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Millions of gay and straight people around the world celebrate June as "Pride Month" and marches to commemorate Stonewall are organized in thousands of cities each year. In New York City, hundreds of thousands of gay and straight people take part in an annual march down Christopher Street.

In recent years, the Stonewall Inn has faced huge financial problems. The owners blame the community. In a New York Observer article, one of the bar's co-owners Bob Gurecki said, "We're famous all over the world, but no one in New York cares. The younger community doesn't even know what it is. The older community doesn't go out or care."

Some in the community blame the owners for financial mismanagement. A man who goes only by "Tree" (the bartender I met when I visited the Stonewall in June) and who has worked at the Stonewall since the mid-1960s says the owners do not know how to run a gay bar.

The LGBT community and the historical community should not let the Stonewall disappear. Like other historic places and occurrences such as the Woolworth's Building in Greensboro, the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the "I Have a Dream Speech" on the National Mall, the Stonewall Inn marks the beginning of a historic, world-changing moment and movement. It must not be allowed to fade into oblivion.

Our large, national LGBT organizations and New York's LGBT organizations should step up to save the Stonewall and turn it into a museum or community center. The Stonewall's historic value is simply too great for it to die.

The Stonewall Inn and the spirit of equality and justice it inspired must live for future generations.

You can read more of Matt's writing at his blog, www.matthillnc.com.