LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This past June marked 52 years since the Stonewall riots.
The events that took place between that period are considered to be a birthmark of the modern gay rights movement.
It was a hot and humid summer day in New York City where the movement began.
RELATED: Full Pride Month coverage
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police storm and raid the popular gay bar, which opened a year earlier.
Leading up to the Stonewall riots, police would frequently raid the bustling bar.
What made this day so different, people fought back and some onlookers joined them too.
Some say many bar patrons barricaded the police inside.
It was the first of five nights of what would be known as the Stonewall riots.
One of the most prominent figures in sparking that fire was Marsha P. Johnson, who many say was the 'vanguard' of the push back against the police.
As police set Stonewall on fire, they ignited an even bigger flame.
The gay rights movement spread like wildfire across the U.S. and gay, lesbian, and trans people all had the coverage to speak their truth and demand equal rights.
It would take four years after the Stonewall riots for the Board of the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its of mental illness.
In July of 1981, one article changed the world forever.
The New York Times published an article on skin cancer found in 41 gay men in New York and California.
RELATED: Why Pride Month is celebrated in the month of June
The CDC initially called it "GRID" also known as "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency Disorder."
When symptoms were found outside the gay community the name was changed to AIDS.
In the years to follow the world would see increasing violence against the LGBTQ community.
On June 26, 2015, the United States finally began living out the ideals upon which it was founded for liberty and justice for all.
On this day, with a 5-4 vote in Obergefell versus Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled that all 50 states may not deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
A sign of relief rippled across the country, this was a landmark ruling that generations before us fought for.
