On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn raid in New York, which ignited multiple days of protests and garnered the attention of the media across the country, Michael McConnell reflects on the fight for gay rights that was happening in Minnesota at that time. F.R.E.E. — "Fight Repression of Erotic Expression" — was formed in Minneapolis weeks before the now-famous riots.

Michael McConnell was a member of F.R.E.E. and made history when he and Jack Baker were the first gay couple in the country to apply for a marriage license in Hennepin County in 1970. The couple, both 28 at the time, were blocked from getting a license which prompted a lawsuit that was ultimately rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.