The most popular LGBTQ+ area of New York is Chelsea, between 14th Street and Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan. The latest success for New Yorkers was the legalisation of gay marriage in June 2011. Following this revolt for gay rights, uprisings spread throughout the world for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. Stonewall Inn, where the uprising originated, has since reopened on 53 Christopher Street. Anti-LGBTQ+ laws along with police raids of gay bars in 1969 led to a series of violent uprisings against the police by the LGBTQ+ community: the Stonewall Riots. Many public establishments were not welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community and there were laws against serving alcohol to gay people. In fact, homosexual practices were considered punishable by law. During this time, there were no rights for these individuals. Shortly after WWII, many gay men, lesbians, transgender people and those of all genders found refuge in the neighbourhoods of Greenwich Village, the Upper West Side, and Harlem.
New York has long been considered the place where the gay rights movement began.
