50th anniversary of Stonewall Uprising commemorated in Palm Springs

The LGBTQ community in Palm Springs commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots Friday. It’s regarded as the event sparking the LGBTQ rights movement.

“I remember the door opening and three or four policemen coming in and the friend I was talking to dragged me outside,” Richard Pass said.

His memories of the Stonewall Riots are still very vivid and says it came at a time being gay was treacherous.

“If you went to a bar, you had a chance of being arrested, losing your job, being outed to your family,” Pass said.

Today, he volunteers at Stonewall Gardens Assisted Living in Palm Springs, where the uprising’s 50th anniversary was commemorated. The riots were an event regarded as sparking the modern LGBTQ rights movement.

“Our community said enough. The status quo that had existed before was no longer acceptable. We were going to come out and tell our stories,” Palm Springs council member Lisa Middleton.

She spoke at the commemoration and is the first transgender city council member in the state.

“50 years ago, no one would have imagined that we could have marriage. No one would have imagined that an out gay man would be a serious candidate for President of the United States,” Middleton said.

For Pass, while social progress has been made, he says the fight is not over in achieving equality for the LGBTQ community.

“You can’t relax. Things are being chipped away, so it’s no time to relax yet,” he said.