National History Archive, LGBT Community Center So gay people were being strangled, shot, thrown in the river, blackmailed, fired from jobs. WGBH Educational Foundation Where did you buy it? ITN Source John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. Fred Sargeant:When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more. 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. Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . He said, "Okay, let's go." Clever. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. 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. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Dana Kirchoff John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. Corbis Martin Boyce:Well, in the front part of the bar would be like "A" gays, like regular gays, that didn't go in any kind of drag, didn't use the word "she," that type, but they were gay, a hundred percent gay. Almost anything you could name. Colonial House Then the cops come up and make use of what used to be called the bubble-gum machine, back then a cop car only had one light on the top that spun around. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. There was no going back now, there was no going back, there was no, we had discovered a power that we weren't even aware that we had. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. And they were gay. hide caption. 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. Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. Robin Haueter Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Quentin Heilbroner Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Bettye Lane It was a horror story. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. Linton Media 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. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . 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. 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. I really thought that, you know, we did it. [00:00:55] Oh, my God. 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. It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 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. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. Alan Lechner Because he was homosexual. 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. TV Host (Archival):Are those your own eyelashes? And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. We were thinking about survival. Abstract. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. Danny Garvin Available via license: Content may be subject to . The Stonewall had reopened. So I run down there. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. Suzanne Poli You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. 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. Before Stonewall - Letterboxd Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Sophie Cabott Black It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Dana Gaiser The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." 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. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. People started throwing pennies. 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. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography But that's only partially true. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. 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? Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Jay Fialkov Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? Chris Mara 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. One never knows when the homosexual is about. Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. 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. 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.". 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." Trevor, Post Production TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. Dick Leitsch:And the blocks were small enough that we could run around the block and come in behind them before they got to the next corner. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Frank Kameny Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Revealing and. Evan Eames Before Stonewall. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. Many of those activists have since died, but Marcus preserved their voices for his book, titled Making Gay History. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. 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. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. It was done in our little street talk. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Stonewall Tscript | PDF | Homosexuality | Lgbt Jerry Hoose:The police would come by two or three times a night. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. 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) It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. John O'Brien Susana Fernandes 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. And I just didn't understand that. The Activism That Came Before Stonewall And The Movement That - NPR So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. 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?" The medical experimentation in Atascadero included administering, to gay people, a drug that simulated the experience of drowning; in other words, a pharmacological example of waterboarding. For those kisses. Judith Kuchar That's more an uprising than a riot. Dan Bodner Martha Shelley:I don't know if you remember the Joan Baez song, "It isn't nice to block the doorway, it isn't nice to go to jail, there're nicer ways to do it but the nice ways always fail." The events. Heather Gude, Archival Research In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Barney Karpfinger Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. A sickness of the mind. But we couldn't hold out very long. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". Martin Boyce:That was our only block. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. 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. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. 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. It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. 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. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Before Stonewall (1984) - IMDb Martin Boyce:You could be beaten, you could have your head smashed in a men's room because you were looking the wrong way. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. WPA Film Library, Thanks to He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. We heard one, then more and more. First you gotta get past the door. John DiGiacomo It's not my cup of tea. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. Other images in this film are And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? But the before section, I really wanted people to have a sense of what it felt like to be gay, lesbian, transgender, before Stonewall and before you have this mass civil rights movement that comes after Stonewall. I mean does anyone know what that is? Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. 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. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Hugh Bush We were all there. 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. All I knew about was that I heard that there were people down in Times Square who were gay and that's where I went to. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation 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. A medievalist. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. 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. "We're not going.". Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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. You throw into that, that the Stonewall was raided the previous Tuesday night. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We didn't have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:There were complaints from people who objected to the wrongful behavior of some gays who would have sex on the street. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." 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 . And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. If anybody should find out I was gay and would tell my mother, who was in a wheelchair, it would have broken my heart and she would have thought she did something wrong. Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. Louis Mandelbaum That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. Before Stonewall. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. We were scared. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. In a spontaneous show of support and frustration, the citys gay community rioted for three nights in the streets, an event that is considered the birth of the modern Gay Rights Movement. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. 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. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. He may appear normal, and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill. John O'Brien:I was a poor, young gay person. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. The New York Times / Redux Pictures Not even us. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. If you came to a place like New York, you at least had the opportunity of connecting with people, and finding people who didn't care that you were gay. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Historic Films I never believed in that. Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. And the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. It was an age of experimentation. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. Virginia Apuzzo:What we felt in isolation was a growing sense of outrage and fury particularly because we looked around and saw so many avenues of rebellion. And we all relaxed. Before Stonewall - Trailer - YouTube And so we had to create these spaces, mostly in the trucks. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco It was fun to see fags. 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. There are a lot of kids here. I was a man. But everybody knew it wasn't normal stuff and everyone was on edge and that was the worst part of it because you knew they were on edge and you knew that the first shot that was fired meant all the shots would be fired. 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. This time they said, "We're not going." I said, "I can go in with you?" The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. 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. 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. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. They could be judges, lawyers. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" That night, we printed a box, we had 5,000. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Because if you don't have extremes, you don't get any moderation. 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. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. We don't know. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. 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.