​Veterans of Stonewall Era share stories of gay revolution as 50th anniversary of Greenwich Village uprising looms
​NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |JUN 22, 2019 | 6:26 PM
By RIKKI REYNA and LARRY MCSHANE

​Singer-guitarist Sandy Rapp, 72, cheered the progress of the last half-century while offering a call for vigilance going forward. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)
​     We used to be arrested for wearing the wrong clothes in ’68, and now we have recognized lesbian/gay marriage,” she said. “It’s a sea change. It’s exiting! But it’s also terrifying. We have a lunatic Republican Party, so we have to keep marching, keep visible.”

​Anthony Coron, 77, remembered watching the 1970 Manhattan gay rights march celebrating the first anniversary of the uprising and how it changed his life.  (Shawn Inglima/Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)

​Bert Coffman wants the old people to remember, and the young people to learn. (Shawn Inglima/Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)

     Bert Coffman wants the old people to remember, and the young people to learn. The longtime gay rights activist joined fellow members of the Stonewall Inn era at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Greenwich Village, where they simultaneously reminisced about the 50th anniversary of the infamous uprising and looked to the future.
     “I couldn’t have imagined all this 50 years ago,” Coffman said Saturday. “I was 20 back then. I couldn’t actually visualize myself as an elder, and that things would be different now. It’s great. So this is our mission now, to share who were were and what it was like then, and to teach people who want to learn about the authentic mission of the gay rights movement." Members of the Stonewall Rebellion Veterans Association gathered at the church with its rainbow-colored stained glass windows in advance of the June 28 anniversary of the event gave birth to the gay rights movement. A police raid on the Stonewall, a mob-run gay bar, ignited rioting in Greenwich Village that lasted for several days and inspired a new generation of activists.
​      Anthony Coron, 77, remembered watching the 1970 Manhattan gay rights march celebrating the first anniversary of the uprising and how it changed his life.
      “I was standing on the sidewalk with my brother and I turned to him and said, ‘I should probably be out there and not here,’” he recalled. “I stepped off the sidewalk with my lover into the parade. I think my brother already knew I was gay, but that made it clear. There was no question.”

RELATED GALLERY (New York Daily News) 1 / 27 The history of the LGBT rights movement in New York City Coffman and Coron are planning to join in this coming Sunday’s celebration of the anniversary, when two separate marches will honor the folks who took to the streets during the administration of Mayor John Lindsay. “My partner will come in with me from Long Island to march,” said Coron, a retired financial worker. “I like to know that we are going up the very same route with the same people who believe in standing for the same things.”