"You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." How do you think that would affect him mentally, for the rest of their lives if they saw an act like that being? Linton Media Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. Suzanne Poli We don't know. Geoff Kole What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." 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. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. 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. [2][3] Later in 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4][5][6]. Fifty years ago, a gay bar in New York City called The Stonewall Inn was raided by police, and what followed were days of rebellion where protesters and police clashed. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. Dick Leitsch:You read about Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal and all these actors and stuff, Liberace and all these people running around doing all these things and then you came to New York and you found out, well maybe they're doing them but, you know, us middle-class homosexuals, we're getting busted all the time, every time we have a place to go, it gets raided. 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.". I'm losing everything that I have. Martha Shelley:Before Stonewall, the homophile movement was essentially the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis and all of these other little gay organizations, some of which were just two people and a mimeograph machine. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. A year earlier, young gays, lesbians and transgender people clashed with police near a bar called The Stonewall Inn. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was a bottle club which meant that I guess you went to the door and you bought a membership or something for a buck and then you went in and then you could buy drinks. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". 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. Doing things like that. They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. Not even us. From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. 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. I guess they're deviates. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? Robin Haueter Amber Hall It was right in the center of where we all were. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. 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. And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." 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. People that were involved in it like me referred to it as "The First Run." I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). WGBH Educational Foundation So it was a perfect storm for the police. Charles Harris, Transcriptions Before Stonewall (1984) - full transcript 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. And Vito and I walked the rest of the whole thing with tears running down our face. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". It was an age of experimentation. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And I keep listening and listening and listening, hoping I'm gonna hear sirens any minute and I was very freaked. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. 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. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. It was a horror story. Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." They were not used to a bunch of drag queens doing a Rockettes kick line and sort of like giving them all the finger in a way. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. [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. Do you understand me?". 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 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. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. A medievalist. You were alone. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:If someone was dressed as a woman, you had to have a female police officer go in with her. You know, it's just, everybody was there. But we're going to pay dearly for this. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. 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. John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. 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. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. I had never seen anything like that. 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. You know. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. And when she grabbed that everybody knew she couldn't do it alone so all the other queens, Congo Woman, queens like that started and they were hitting that door. Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. Chris Mara, Production Assistants And the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. John DiGiacomo Susana Fernandes 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. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. 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. Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. Greg Shea, Legal People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. We knew that this was a moment that we didn't want to let slip past, because it was something that we could use to bring more of the groups together. They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. Beginning of our night out started early. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. Things were being thrown against the plywood, we piled things up to try to buttress it. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. The police weren't letting us dance. He said, "Okay, let's go." (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. The men's room was under police surveillance. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. Revealing and, by turns, humorous and horrifying, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotional and political spark of today's gay rights movement - the events that . Where did you buy it? Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. The events. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. All rights reserved. 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. Scott McPartland/Getty Images Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. It was first released in 1984 with its American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the Berlinale, followed by a successful theatrical release in many countries and a national broadcast on PBS. 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. Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." It's like, this is not right. 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. Samual Murkofsky 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. 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 gay community. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. 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. 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. I mean it didn't stop after that. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:At the peak, as many as 500 people per year were arrested for the crime against nature, and between 3- and 5,000 people per year arrested for various solicitation or loitering crimes. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Jeremiah Hawkins 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." David Carter That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. People started throwing pennies. For the first time the next person stood up. 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. Daily News Doric Wilson There are a lot of kids here. They were the storm troopers. Seymour Wishman Historic Films In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. That was scary, very scary. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. John O'Brien:If a gay man is caught by the police and is identified as being involved in what they called lewd, immoral behavior, they would have their person's name, their age and many times their home address listed in the major newspapers. Urban Stages 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. But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. We were winning. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. The newly restored 1984 documentary "Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community," re-released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the seminal Stonewall riots, remains a . William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Ed Koch who was a democratic party leader in the Greenwich Village area, was a specific leader of the local forces seeking to clean up the streets. It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. That night, we printed a box, we had 5,000. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. He pulls all his men inside. Quentin Heilbroner Martha Shelley John O'Brien And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. I never believed in that. 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. Alexis Charizopolis Vanessa Ezersky We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. (c) 2011 Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. 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. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. Hugh Bush Narrator (Archival):Sure enough, the following day, when Jimmy finished playing ball, well, the man was there waiting. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. 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. Janice Flood Michael Dolan, Technical Advisors This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. Yvonne Ritter:I did try to get out of the bar and I thought that there might be a way out through one of the bathrooms. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. kui As kids, we played King Kong. J. Michael Grey Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. It was fun to see fags. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. And we all relaxed. It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. You had no place to try to find an identity. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. That never happened before. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. "We're not going.". Lilli M. Vincenz But the . 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. Never, never, never. It was terrifying. View in iTunes. Synopsis. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor Raymond Castro:We were in the back of the room, and the lights went on, so everybody stopped what they were doing, because now the police started coming in, raiding the bar. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. Just let's see if they can. 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? The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. Katrina Heilbroner They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. Marc Aubin Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. And I had become very radicalized in that time. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. 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. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. John Scagliotti Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. 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. I could never let that happen and never did. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. Judy Laster The Stonewall had reopened. I was a man. The shop had been threatened, we would get hang-up calls, calls where people would curse at us on the phone, we'd had vandalism, windows broken, streams of profanity. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? Alexis Charizopolis And the cops got that. Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. Richard Enman (Archival):Present laws give the adult homosexual only the choice of being, to simplify the matter, heterosexual and legal or homosexual and illegal. and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. Cause I was from the streets. 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.". It was a 100% profit, I mean they were stealing the liquor, then watering it down, and they charging twice as much as they charged one door away at the 55. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. It was done in our little street talk. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. 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." William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. 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. Bettye Lane 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. Maureen Jordan Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. We were all there. 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. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. 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. Ellen Goosenberg At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. Jorge Garcia-Spitz On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, setting off a three-day riot that launched the modern American gay rights movement. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had been in some gay bars either for a story or gay friends would say, "Oh we're going to go in for a drink there, come on in, are you too uptight to go in?" I hope it was. What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. 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. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. In the trucks or around the trucks. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:All throughout the 60s in New York City, the period when the New York World's Fair was attracting visitors from all over America and all over the world. And some people came out, being very dramatic, throwing their arms up in a V, you know, the victory sign. Many of those activists have since died, but Marcus preserved their voices for his book, titled Making Gay History. Daniel Pine 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.
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