And, I did not like parading around while all of these vacationers were standing there eating ice cream and looking at us like we were critters in a zoo. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. It was as if an artist had arranged it, it was beautiful, it was like mica, it was like the streets we fought on were strewn with diamonds. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. So I got into the subway, and on the car was somebody I recognized and he said, "I've never been so scared in my life," and I said, "Well, please let there be more than ten of us, just please let there be more than ten of us. Vanessa Ezersky Alan Lechner They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. Producers Library But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. The Stonewall had reopened. Danny Garvin:We were talking about the revolution happening and we were walking up 7th Avenue and I was thinking it was either Black Panthers or the Young Lords were going to start it and we turned the corner from 7th Avenue onto Christopher Street and we saw the paddy wagon pull up there. Before Stonewall | The New York Public Library In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. Before Stonewall - Rotten Tomatoes Scott Kardel, Project Administration Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. Martin Boyce:I heard about the trucks, which to me was fascinated me, you know, it had an imagination thing that was like Marseilles, how can it only be a few blocks away? Judy Laster And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. Today, that event is seen as the start of the gay civil rights movement, but gay activists and organizations were standing up to harassment and discrimination years before. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. People started throwing pennies. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. They were the storm troopers. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:That night I'm in my office, I looked down the street, and I could see the Stonewall sign and I started to see some activity in front. Review: 'Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community' It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Doric Wilson:When I was very young, one of the terms for gay people was twilight people, meaning that we never came out until twilight, 'til it got dark. Gay people were never supposed to be threats to police officers. Before Stonewall streaming: where to watch online? - JustWatch I could never let that happen and never did. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:A rather tough lesbian was busted in the bar and when she came out of the bar she was fighting the cops and trying to get away. Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. Fred Sargeant Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. I never believed in that. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:But there were little, tiny pin holes in the plywood windows, I'll call them the windows but they were plywood, and we could look out from there and every time I went over and looked out through one of those pin holes where he did, we were shocked at how big the crowd had become. Doric Wilson:In those days, the idea of walking in daylight, with a sign saying, "I'm a faggot," was horren--, nobody, nobody was ready to do that. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. If you would like to read more on the topic, here's a list: Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and NPR One. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". [00:00:55] Oh, my God. The idea was to be there first. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. If there's one place in the world where you can dance and feel yourself fully as a person and that's threatened with being taken away, those words are fighting words. Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. This time they said, "We're not going." John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. That's more an uprising than a riot. Chris Mara, Production Assistants Before Stonewall 1984 Unrated 1 h 27 m IMDb RATING 7.5 /10 1.1K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:21 1 Video 7 Photos Documentary History The history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement. You were alone. And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Gay rights, like the rights of blacks, were constantly under attack and while blacks were protected by constitutional amendments coming out of the Civil War, gays were not protected by law and certainly not the Constitution. The New York State Liquor Authority refused to issue liquor licenses to many gay bars, and several popular establishments had licenses suspended or revoked for "indecent conduct.". You see, Ralph was a homosexual. 'Before Stonewall' Tracks the Pre-Movement Era | International Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby The award winning film Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s. And they wore dark police uniforms and riot helmets and they had billy clubs and they had big plastic shields, like Roman army, and they actually formed a phalanx, and just marched down Christopher Street and kind of pushed us in front of them. I grew up in a very Catholic household and the conflict of issues of redemption, of is it possible that if you are this thing called homosexual, is it possible to be redeemed? Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Daily News Seymour Wishman William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. You know, it's just, everybody was there. For the first time the next person stood up. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." And then there were all these priests ranting in church about certain places not to go, so you kind of knew where you could go by what you were told not to do. Revisiting 'Before Stonewall' Film for the 50th Anniversary | Time Dana Gaiser Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:Most raids by the New York City Police, because they were paid off by the mob, took place on a weeknight, they took place early in the evening, the place would not be crowded. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. But you live with it, you know, you're used to this, after the third time it happened, or, the third time you heard about it, that's the way the world is. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. Martin Boyce:And I remember moving into the open space and grabbing onto two of my friends and we started singing and doing a kick line. John O'Brien:And deep down I believed because I was gay and couldn't speak out for my rights, was probably one of the reasons that I was so active in the Civil Rights Movement. Jorge Garcia-Spitz Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. Corbis Available via license: Content may be subject to . Martin Boyce:The day after the first riot, when it was all over, and I remember sitting, sun was soon to come, and I was sitting on the stoop, and I was exhausted and I looked at that street, it was dark enough to allow the street lamps to pick up the glitter of all the broken glass, and all the debris, and all the different colored cloth, that was in different places. And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Creating the First Visual History of Queer Life Before Stonewall Making a landmark documentary about LGBTQ Americans before 1969 meant digging through countless archives to find traces of. Lauren Noyes. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. Don't fire until I fire. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Transcript Aired June 9, 2020 Stonewall Uprising The Year That Changed America Film Description When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of. In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's LGBT community. Amber Hall John O'Brien:It was definitely dark, it was definitely smelly and raunchy and dirty and that's the only places that we had to meet each other, was in the very dirty, despicable places. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS Ellinor Mitchell Dick Leitsch:It was an invasion, I mean you felt outraged and stuff like you know what, God, this is America, what's this country come to? National History Archive, LGBT Community Center People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. I was a homosexual. I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. Other images in this film are Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. This was a highly unusual raid, going in there in the middle of the night with a full crowd, the Mafia hasn't been alerted, the Sixth Precinct hasn't been alerted. Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. Abstract. This 19-year-old serviceman left his girlfriend on the beach to go to a men's room in a park nearby where he knew that he could find a homosexual contact. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Frank Simon's documentary follows the drag contestants of 1967's Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, capturing plenty of on- and offstage drama along the way. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. TV Host (Archival):Ladies and gentlemen, the reason for using first names only forthese very, very charming contestants is that right now each one of them is breaking the law. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School ITN Source John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. "Don't fire. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. A medievalist. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. John O'Brien Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Raymond Castro:Society expected you to, you know, grow up, get married, have kids, which is what a lot of people did to satisfy their parents. The film brings together voices from over 50 years of the LGBTQ rights movement to explore queer activism before, during and after the Stonewall Riots. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. There's a little door that slides open with this power-hungry nut behind that, you see this much of your eyes, and he sees that much of your face, and then he decides whether you're going to get in. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. The events that took place in June 1969 have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement, but that's only partially true. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:So you're outside, and you see like two people walking toward these trucks and you think, "Oh I think I'll go in there," you go in there, there's like a lot of people in there and it's all dark. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku We had been threatened bomb threats. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. Mike Nuget And they were having a meeting at town hall and there were 400 guys who showed up, and I think a couple of women, talking about these riots, 'cause everybody was really energized and upset and angry about it. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. One never knows when the homosexual is about. Leroy S. Mobley This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. It was done in our little street talk. Before Stonewall - Letterboxd There are a lot of kids here. I was a man. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, activists rode their motorcycles during the city's 1989 gay-pride parade. Getty Images They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. Like, "Joe, if you fire your gun without me saying your name and the words 'fire,' you will be walking a beat on Staten Island all alone on a lonely beach for the rest of your police career. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. Marjorie Duffield The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. Before Stonewall (1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. Greg Shea, Legal Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Raymond Castro:So finally when they started taking me out, arm in arm up to the paddy wagon, I jumped up and I put one foot on one side, one foot on the other and I sprung back, knocking the two arresting officers, knocking them to the ground. But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. I had never seen anything like that. Just making their lives miserable for once. And I knew that I was lesbian. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. Sophie Cabott Black Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. You know. Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. Jerry Hoose Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. A sickness of the mind. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. Before Stonewall - Trailer BuskFilms 12.6K subscribers Subscribe 14K views 10 years ago Watch the full film here (UK & IRE only): http://buskfilms.com/films/before-sto. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Geoff Kole So I run down there. First Run Features Transcript of Re-Release: The Stonewall | Happy Scribe They are taught that no man is born homosexual and many psychiatrists now believe that homosexuality begins to form in the first three years of life. Eventually something was bound to blow. A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Because he was homosexual. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" The police weren't letting us dance. Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. Frank Kameny, co-founder of the Mattachine Society, and Shirley Willer, president of the Daughters of Bilitis, spoke to Marcus about being gay before the Stonewall riots happened and what motivated people who were involved in the movement. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. John O'Brien:I was with a group that we actually took a parking meter out of theground, three or four people, and we used it as a battering ram. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Joe DeCola This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. Glenn Fukushima Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:At a certain point, it felt pretty dangerous to me but I noticed that the cop that seemed in charge, he said you know what, we have to go inside for safety. WGBH Educational Foundation They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." W hen police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969 50 years ago this month the harassment was routine for the time. It was terrifying. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. They could be judges, lawyers. Yvonne Ritter:And then everybody started to throw pennies like, you know, this is what they were, they were nothing but copper, coppers, that's what they were worth. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. And the police were showing up. Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." Richard Enman (Archival):Well, let me say, first of all, what type of laws we are not after, because there has been much to-do that the Society was in favor of the legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and the adoption of children, and such as that, and that is not at all factual at all. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. He pulls all his men inside. Transcript Enlarge this image To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, activists rode their motorcycles during the city's 1989 gay-pride parade. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Paul Bosche Dan Martino The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Pamela Gaudiano Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:The mob raised its hand and said "Oh, we'll volunteer," you know, "We'll set up some gay bars and serve over-priced, watered-down drinks to you guys." But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. And I just didn't understand that. There were gay bars in Midtown, there were gay bars uptown, there were certain kinds of gay bars on the Upper East Side, you know really, really, really buttoned-up straight gay bars. Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. Even non-gay people. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. I'm losing everything that I have. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. MacDonald & Associates This 1968 Film Put Drag Queens In The Spotlight Before Stonewall - HuffPost Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude Tom Caruso My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. National Archives and Records Administration Marc Aubin They can be anywhere. One of the world's oldest and largest gay pride parades became a victory celebration after New York's historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Documentary | Stonewall Forever