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. Jerry Hoose Paul Bosche John van Hoesen Windows started to break. The documentary "Before Stonewall" was very educational and interesting because it shows a retail group that fought for the right to integrate into the society and was where the homosexual revolution occurred. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. Linton Media And then they send them out in the street and of course they did make arrests, because you know, there's all these guys who cruise around looking for drag queens. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? Do you understand me?". And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Martin Boyce:I wasn't labeled gay, just "different." There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. Because to be gay represented to me either very, super effeminate men or older men who hung out in the upper movie theatres on 42nd Street or in the subway T-rooms, who'd be masturbating. The Stonewall had reopened. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. And that crowd between Howard Johnson's and Mama's Chik-n-Rib was like the basic crowd of the gay community at that time in the Village. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . 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. Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. Jay Fialkov Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Don't fire until I fire. Fred Sargeant:We knew that they were serving drinks out of vats and buckets of water and believed that there had been some disease that had been passed. A sickness of the mind. Amber Hall So I run down there. We went, "Oh my God. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. Audience Member (Archival):I was wondering if you think that there are any quote "happy homosexuals" for whom homosexuality would be, in a way, their best adjustment in life? Geoff Kole It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. Director . Danny Garvin:We became a people. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. 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. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? That was our world, that block. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. The events. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. 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. 1969: The Stonewall Uprising - Library of Congress That never happened before. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. For those kisses. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. Martin Boyce:All of a sudden, Miss New Orleans and all people around us started marching step by step and the police started moving back. Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. Things were being thrown against the plywood, we piled things up to try to buttress it. This time they said, "We're not going." Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. We could easily be hunted, that was a game. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. And I had become very radicalized in that time. 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. Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. 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 the rest of your life will be a living hell. There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. 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? Before Stonewall - Wikipedia You know, it's just, everybody was there. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. They would not always just arrest, they would many times use clubs and beat. Yvonne Ritter:It's like people who are, you know, black people who are used to being mistreated, and going to the back of the bus and I guess this was sort of our going to the back of the bus. And I hadn't had enough sleep, so I was in a somewhat feverish state, and I thought, "We have to do something, we have to do something," and I thought, "We have to have a protest march of our own." Over a short period of time, he will be unable to get sexually aroused to the pictures, and hopefully, he will be unable to get sexually aroused inside, in other settings as well. I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. Daniel Pine We don't know. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. And once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." People started throwing pennies. Raymond Castro:So then I got pushed back in, into the Stonewall by these plain clothes cops and they would not let me out, they didn't let anybody out. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. Scott Kardel, Project Administration And this went on for hours. Producers Library Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. But I'm wearing this police thing I'm thinking well if they break through I better take it off really quickly but they're gunna come this way and we're going to be backing up and -- who knows what'll happen. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. There are a lot of kids here. Things were just changing. [1] To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 2019, the film was restored and re-released by First Run Features in June 2019. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Raymond Castro Dick Leitsch:New York State Liquor Authority had a rule that one known homosexual at a licensed premise made the place disorderly, so nobody would set up a place where we could meet because they were afraid that the cops would come in to close it, and that's how the Mafia got into the gay bar business. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. 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. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, and Schiller. I mean I'm talking like sardines. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. Jeremiah Hawkins Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. Documentary | Stonewall Forever Noah Goldman Yvonne Ritter:"In drag," quote unquote, the downside was that you could get arrested, you could definitely get arrested if someone clocked you or someone spooked that you were not really what you appeared to be on the outside. And some people came out, being very dramatic, throwing their arms up in a V, you know, the victory sign. Danny Garvin:We had thought of women's rights, we had thought of black rights, all kinds of human rights, but we never thought of gay rights, and whenever we got kicked out of a bar before, we never came together. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. WGBH Educational Foundation The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Barak Goodman They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. But that's only partially true. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? Before Stonewall | Apple TV Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors Martin Boyce:And then more police came, and it didn't stop. 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. Dick Leitsch:Mattachino in Italy were court jesters; the only people in the whole kingdom who could speak truth to the king because they did it with a smile. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Trevor, Post Production BBC Worldwide Americas And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. They were the storm troopers. by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor It was like a reward. Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. On June 27, 1969, police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. The Underground Lounge All of the rules that I had grown up with, and that I had hated in my guts, other people were fighting against, and saying "No, it doesn't have to be this way.". Martha Shelley Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. Raymond Castro:Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. I just thought you had to get through this, and I thought I could get through it, but you really had to be smart about it. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. You knew you could ruin them for life. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. Revisiting 'Before Stonewall' Film for the 50th Anniversary | Time Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. Maureen Jordan One never knows when the homosexual is about. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. You cut one head off. Jerry Hoose:I remember I was in a paddy wagon one time on the way to jail, we were all locked up together on a chain in the paddy wagon and the paddy wagon stopped for a red light or something and one of the queens said "Oh, this is my stop." More than a half-century after its release, " The Queen " serves as a powerful time capsule of queer life as it existed before the 1969 Stonewall uprising. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." PDF BEFORE STONEWALL press kit - First Run Features Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. And it just seemed like, fantastic because the background was this industrial, becoming an industrial ruin, it was a masculine setting, it was a whole world. "BEFORE STONEWALL" - MetroFocus Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications 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. I never believed in that. American Airlines John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. Martin Boyce Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. For the first time, we weren't letting ourselves be carted off to jails, gay people were actually fighting back just the way people in the peace movement fought back. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:The Stonewall, they didn't have a liquor license and they were raided by the cops regularly and there were pay-offs to the cops, it was awful. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby And they started smashing their heads with clubs. It was an age of experimentation. A medievalist. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." [7] In 1989, it won the Festival's Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Bettye Lane 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. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. 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. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. Is that conceivable? Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We were looking for secret exits and one of the policewomen was able to squirm through the window and they did find a way out. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. Narrated by Rita Mae Brownan acclaimed writer whose 1973 novel Rubyfruit Jungle is a seminal lesbian text, but who is possessed of a painfully grating voiceBefore Stonewall includes vintage news footage that makes it clear that gay men and women lived full, if often difficult, lives long before their personal ambitions (however modest) I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Vanessa Ezersky I guess they're deviates. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. Mike Wallace (Archival):Dr. Charles Socarides is a New York psychoanalyst at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Tom Caruso And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. And we had no right to such. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. Raymond Castro:I'd go in there and I would look and I would just cringe because, you know, people would start touching me, and "Hello, what are you doing there if you don't want to be touched?" Scott McPartland/Getty Images I could never let that happen and never did. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of straight America, in terms of the middle class, was recoiling in horror from what was happening all around them at that time, in that summer and the summer before. We were winning. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. That night, we printed a box, we had 5,000. Joe DeCola Judith Kuchar 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. Before Stonewall 1984 Directed by Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg Synopsis 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. Danny Garvin:With Waverly Street coming in there, West Fourth coming in there, Seventh Avenue coming in there, Christopher Street coming in there, there was no way to contain us. Homo, homo was big. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. As you read, keep in mind that LGBTQ+ is a relatively new term and, while queer people have always existed, the terminology has changed frequently over the years. 400 Plankinton Ave. Compton's Cafeteria Raid, San Francisco, California, 1966 Coopers Do-Nut Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1959 Pepper Hill Club Raid, Baltimore, Maryland in 1955. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it.
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