You see, Ralph was a homosexual. People could take shots at us. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. 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?" Before Stonewall (1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb 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. I never believed in that. Remember everything. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. It was done in our little street talk. Because as the police moved back, we were conscious, all of us, of the area we were controlling and now we were in control of the area because we were surrounded the bar, we were moving in, they were moving back. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Narrator (Archival):Richard Enman, president of the Mattachine Society of Florida, whose goal is to legalize homosexuality between consenting adults, was a reluctant participant in tonight's program. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. I guess they're deviates. 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 heard one, then more and more. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. Based on We could easily be hunted, that was a game. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. 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. Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. 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. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. And that's what it was, it was a war. 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. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. And we had no right to such. Evan Eames I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." You were alone. And the Stonewall was part of that system. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. That night, we printed a box, we had 5,000. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. 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. Windows started to break. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. It was right in the center of where we all were. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. Danny Garvin:We became a people. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Lauren Noyes. Before Stonewall | The New York Public Library 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. 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. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center Before Stonewall | Apple TV Glenn Fukushima Cause we could feel a sense of love for each other that we couldn't show out on the street, because you couldn't show any affection out on the street. Director . Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. Trevor, Post Production 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. John O'Brien All the rules were off in the '60s. Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before Katrina Heilbroner David Alpert Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. I mean does anyone know what that is? Giles Kotcher The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. 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. 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. When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. They would bang on the trucks. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. hide caption. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. Martin Boyce It won the Best Film Award at the Houston International Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at Filmex, First Place at the National Educational Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at the Global Village Documentary Festival. 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. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. You cut one head off. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. NBC News Archives Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. That this was normal stuff. Noah Goldman 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. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. 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. Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Scott Kardel, Project Administration John van Hoesen Paul Bosche And she was quite crazy. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 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. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Lilli M. Vincenz Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . Chris Mara 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. 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. Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. Almost anything you could name. It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Cause I was from the streets. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Gay people who were sentenced to medical institutions because they were found to be sexual psychopaths, were subjected sometimes to sterilization, occasionally to castration, sometimes to medical procedures, such as lobotomies, which were felt by some doctors to cure homosexuality and other sexual diseases. 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. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. They were the storm troopers. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. Greg Shea, Legal That was scary, very scary. William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. Martha Shelley:If you were in a small town somewhere, everybody knew you and everybody knew what you did and you couldn't have a relationship with a member of your own sex, period. Vanessa Ezersky But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. They can be anywhere. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. Colonial House 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. 1969: The Stonewall Uprising - Library of Congress John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. 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. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. In the Life Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Corbis We were thinking about survival. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. 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. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. This was in front of the police. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And by the time the police would come back towards Stonewall, that crowd had gone all the around Washington Place come all the way back around and were back pushing in on them from the other direction and the police would wonder, "These are the same people or different people?". This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. 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? Not able to do anything. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. 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. 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. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. 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. Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. WGBH Educational Foundation But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." And gay people were standing around outside and the mood on the street was, "They think that they could disperse us last night and keep us from doing what we want to do, being on the street saying I'm gay and I'm proud? We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. 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. Jay Fialkov Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We only had about six people altogether from the police department knowing that you had a precinct right nearby that would send assistance. We don't know. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. 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. I'm losing everything that I have. Jorge Garcia-Spitz And I just didn't understand 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 cops were barricaded inside. Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. Dan Bodner 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. A year earlier, young gays, lesbians and transgender people clashed with police near a bar called The Stonewall Inn. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. Jerry Hoose This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. 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. For the first time the next person stood up. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisings included: Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967 Black Night Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. National Archives and Records Administration 1984 documentary film by Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg, "Berlinale 2016: Panorama Celebrates Teddy Award's 30th Anniversary and Announces First Titles in Programme", "Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary 'Before Stonewall', "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks", "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "Before Stonewall - Independent Historical Film", Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Restored), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Before_Stonewall&oldid=1134540821, Documentary films about United States history, Historiography of LGBT in the United States, United States National Film Registry films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 05:30. And Vito and I walked the rest of the whole thing with tears running down our face. 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. PDF BEFORE STONEWALL press kit - First Run Features Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? They were to us. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. Judith Kuchar 'Before Stonewall' Tracks the Pre-Movement Era | International He pulls all his men inside. 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. ITN Source 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. There were occasions where you did see people get night-sticked, or disappear into a group of police and, you know, everybody knew that was not going to have a good end. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. Beginning of our night out started early. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Jeremiah Hawkins Before Stonewall - Trailer - YouTube Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. 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. Mafia house beer? Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. It was tremendous freedom. Raymond Castro Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. 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. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. 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 . Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. Original Language: English. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. 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. 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. Susana Fernandes But the . 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. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. 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. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. 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." I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. I made friends that first day. Pamela Gaudiano 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. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." Geoff Kole Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. It was an age of experimentation. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. "BEFORE STONEWALL" - MetroFocus Chris Mara, Production Assistants This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. First Run Features 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. 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. But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. Martin Boyce:And then more police came, and it didn't stop. Do you understand me?". The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School Daily News I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. Because if you don't have extremes, you don't get any moderation. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. A sickness of the mind. For those kisses. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. 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. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". TV Host (Archival):Are those your own eyelashes? Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. 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. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. I said, "I can go in with you?" 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. WPA Film Library, Thanks to I mean I'm talking like sardines. BEFORE STONEWALL - Alliance of Women Film Journalists
★★★★★ 4.5/5
★★★★★ 4.9/5
★★★★★ 4.8/5