In fact it is conventional to date LGBTQ history into “before Stonewall” and “after Stonewall” periods-not just in the United States, but in Europe as well. The story is well known: A routine police raid of a mafia-owned gay bar in New York City sparked three nights of riots and, with them, the global gay rights movement.

Despite what you may hear during this year’s fiftieth anniversary commemorations, Stonewall was not the spark that ignited the gay rights movement.