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When I discovered the theme for National History Day of 2014, rights and

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responsibilities, I wanted to research a personally intriguing topic that fit this theme; I decided to research the Stonewall Riots, an event that represented the struggle for equal human rights by the homosexual community. I wanted to research this topic for because I had been hearing a lot about the homosexual communitys fight to gain their civil rights in the news, and I recalled the Stonewall Riots from an excerpt of a speech of Barack Obamas in which he mentioned the event. I began my research on the topic by finding an overview of the homosexual rights movement online, especially timelines. From there, I expanded my research to more specific events through resources like books, videos, and audio clips. I then expanded my research to pictures and newspaper articles to illustrate my topic. Lastly, I contacted people with extensive knowledge of my topic I could interview; several didnt respond, but I did interview professor Elvia Arriola, a professor of law at the College of Law of the Northern Illinois University, and Doctor Matt Harris, an American history professor at Colorado State University Pueblo. When deciding how to display my topic best, I decided to use a website. By creating a website, I could illustrate my topic effectively to easily include video and audio clips. Also, I could easily display a chronological order of my topic, and I could differentiate easily between subtopics within the areas of my topic. This was advantageous in the fact that it made the story easier to follow, and it was easier to see what led up to the Stonewall Riots and what came because of them. This topic clearly relates to this years theme, rights and responsibilities. The Stonewall Riots made evident how the basic human rights of homosexuals were being

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infringed, and demonstrated how the homosexuals took responsibility to gain their human rights. Previous to the Stonewall Riots and the beginning of the homosexual rights movement, the heterosexual society dictated the lives of homosexuals; the Stonewall Riots catalyzed the movement in which homosexual took responsibility to gain their rights from the heterosexual society. The homosexuals saw that the United States government was not upholding the promise of equal rights for all citizens of the United States; the homosexuals held the government responsible to grant equal rights for all citizens, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The effects of the Stonewall Riots and the subsequent homosexual rights movement on the human rights of homosexuals can still be seen today in the changing laws and the changing mindset of the United States from exclusion of homosexuals towards inclusion of homosexuals. The song I used on my title screen, You Made Me Love You, by Judy Garland was majorly symbolic to the Stonewall Riots. It was said that on the night of the Stonewall Riots, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn were drinking to the death of homosexual icon Judy Garland. !