STONEWALL 50

NYPD Commissioner Apologizes for Officers’ Actions During Stonewall Riots

“The actions and the laws were discriminatory and oppressive, and for that, I apologize,” the commissioner said to cheers.

New York City Police Department Commissioner James P. O’Neill apologized on Thursday for the actions of officers during the seminal Stonewall Riots in 1969. “What happened should not have happened,” O’Neill said. “The actions taken by the N.Y.P.D. were wrong, plain and simple.” The commissioner made the comments during a safety briefing related to Pride Month, an annual celebration of L.G.B.T.Q. culture. The riots, which happened 50 years ago this month, broke out after a clash outside a Greenwich Village club called the Stonewall Inn. They are widely considered as a turning point for the modern gay-rights movement. “I think it would be irresponsible to go through World Pride month and not to speak of the events at the Stonewall Inn in June of 1969,” O’Neill said to cheers. “The actions and the laws were discriminatory and oppressive, and for that, I apologize... We have, and we do, embrace all New Yorkers.”