So, lets say we get to August or some summer month, and 4,000,000 people are protesting right out front the white house.
Do they send in the tanks? Do they kill 1,000,000 people? Would republican civilians see empathy for the dead americans who were democrats? Or would it unite the nation like 9/11 did, except this time against the government?
The fight for gay rights STARTED with a riot. Same sex marriage came through the courts, decades later. In a new age. I was there, I was fighting for it. There was no violence when SSM and trans rights were brought about.
Edit: To further my point, what DID move the needle was public support for SSM and trans rights, which happened through EDUCATION, which is INFORMATION. When public support got there, SCOTUS granted the right, and eventually legislatures followed. A lot of organizations did a lot of work educating the public, which is the very work I did in the third state that got SSM. To act like the Stonewall riot directly lead to SSM is absurd.