I was back in America for awhile, and while I was there, I saw this scene in a park near Sheridan Square at the heart of Greenwich Village in New York City.
The park contains these white statues of gay couples, male and female, to commemorate “Gay Liberation” which began on this spot in the summer of 1969. 
The statues here look like very respectable adults, sincere protesters seeking redress. Wrong.
In 1969, the people involved were mostly drug-crazed gay teenagers, and brutal sweating cops.
I was around at the time. The NYC Police “Tac Squad,” a special group of hard-ass cops, were on a “clean up” mission in the neighborhood, harassing anyone on the streets they thought might be gay, and arresting them arbitrarily.
One afternoon, I watched kids being dragged off Christopher Street and beaten bloody into police wagons. As I stood there, I heard a hard cop voice behind me snarl: “Don’t turn around or I’ll break your head. Move on.” I moved on.
Things got worse. It was very hot with thick humid air. Night brought no relief. The bars were jammed. The police came back in force with paddy wagons intending to close down the Stonewall Inn, a sleazy Mafia-run gay bar across the park.
The Stonewall was jammed as usual, thick with smoke from tobacco and pot. There were restless crowds of boys outside, twitching to the music, waiting to get in. When the cops started to line up people in the bar and drag them out under arrest, it was just too much.
These boys weren’t gay activists looking for liberation. They were just looking for each other — to get high and get laid — and they were pissed off at the cops for stopping them.
They attacked the police, throwing beer bottles and trash cans at them. Some of the boys formed a chorus line, and advanced on the cops, kicking high and singing. It was total insanity. The cops retreated in astonishment. What else could they do? Shoot them?
This went on for two more nights, the cops looking brutal — and just plain stupid. Finally, embarrassed by the publicity, the mayor called them off. “Hands off the fags” became the new policy in New York, and eventually, everywhere else.
Forty years later, and all that is forgotten. This park has become just another tourist attraction.
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