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Stonewall and Criminality

This Discovery Channel documentary discusses the political and social climate preceding the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Queer people were (and in some places are still) arrested, detained, and beaten by law enforcements because of their identity. Random and unsolicited police raids of predominantly queer neighborhoods resulted in a large number of incarcerated queer people. This is an instance of imprisonment used as a tool to isolate people because of who they are and what they believe, rather than what they did. The criminalization of people who deviate from hegemonic norms has persisted and been perpetuated by methods of imprisonment.