It's approaching midnight on August 5, 1969 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Inside a movie theater in the Ansley Mall shopping center,

a young woman named Abby Drew settles down in her seat. Abby has come to watch a screening of the movie Lonesome Cowboys, the Western parody directed by the visual artist Andy Warhol.

Due to its Homer erotic content, Lonesome Cowboys is being shown secretly and after hours.

Most of the audience tonight are members of the queer community.

Homosexuality is still considered a criminal offense in much of the United States.

So these people are accustomed to hiding their true identities in public. But

tonight inside this theater is one of the rare occasions they can be themselves.

Excited whispers ripple through the theaters as the lights go down and the whir of the projector starts up.

Abby grabs a fist full of popcorn and eats it hungrily.

Her face illuminated by the blue tinted glow of the cinema screen.

She and the entire audience are transfixed, completely absorbed,

until a piercing whistle shatters the illusion.

The theater's doors fly open and a squadron of police officers storm into the room.

Abby whips her head around and panic, but she is blinded by the beam of a cop's flashlight.

She hears one of her friends cry out,

We are being raided, and her heart starts to pound furiously.

She thinks about running, but it's no use. The police have them cornered.

Along with 70 other audience members, the cops march Abby and her friends outside.

Abby flinches as an officer pushes her hard against the wall. He demands to C. I D.

Abby hands it over scowling with rage. After checking her driver's license, the cop lifts up a camera and

takes Abby's photograph. Abby knows the photograph will likely appear in

...