A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Seymour Wishman The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. 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? The Stonewall had reopened. Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". I had never seen anything like that. This was in front of the police. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. 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. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. It was a horror story. 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 . Available via license: Content may be subject to . MacDonald & Associates I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. David Alpert Before Stonewall (1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications And I just didn't understand that. Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. Ellen Goosenberg 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. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." Before Stonewall - Rotten Tomatoes 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. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. 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. Raymond Castro:If that light goes on, you know to stop whatever you're doing, and separate. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. View in iTunes. Mike Nuget Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. 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. 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? This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. Original Language: English. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. The award-winning documentary film, Before Stonewall, which was released theatrically and broadcast on PBS television in 1984, explored the history of the lesbian and gay rights movement in the United States prior to 1969. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Dana Kirchoff 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. 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. This Restored Documentary Examines What LGBTQ Lives Were Like Before He said, "Okay, let's go." 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. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? Well, it was a nightmare for the lesbian or gay man who was arrested and caught up in this juggernaut, but it was also a nightmare for the lesbians or gay men who lived in the closet. First Run Features Chris Mara, Production Assistants 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. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. They were to us. American Airlines Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. 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. Glenn Fukushima Scott McPartland/Getty Images John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. Janice Flood And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. Marcus spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro about his conversations with leaders of the gay-rights movement, as well as people who were at Stonewall when the riots broke out. Franco Sacchi, Additional Animation and Effects Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. John O'Brien:There was one street called Christopher Street, where actually I could sit and talk to other gay people beyond just having sex. There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. Samual Murkofsky He pulls all his men inside. And the police were showing up. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. The idea was to be there first. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. Not even us. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Maureen Jordan So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before Windows started to break. The men's room was under police surveillance. I made friends that first day. 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. I guess they're deviates. 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. 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. Today, that event is seen as the start of the gay civil rights movement, but gay activists and organizations were standing up to harassment and discrimination years before. And I 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." This 1968 Film Put Drag Queens In The Spotlight Before Stonewall - HuffPost Revisiting 'Before Stonewall' Film for the 50th Anniversary | Time Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. We were scared. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. Alexis Charizopolis 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. 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. Before Stonewall streaming: where to watch online? - JustWatch Stonewall Tscript | PDF | Homosexuality | Lgbt And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." Corbis There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. John O'Brien:And deep down I believed because I was gay and couldn't speak out for my rights, was probably one of the reasons that I was so active in the Civil Rights Movement. They were the storm troopers. 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. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. That's more an uprising than a riot. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. We were thinking about survival. John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. 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. [7] In 1989, it won the Festival's Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Even non-gay people. 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. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisings included: Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967 Black Night Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. Because if they weren't there fast, I was worried that there was something going on that I didn't know about and they weren't gonna come. 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. 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. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude Because one out of three of you will turn queer. 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. ITN Source The groundbreaking 1984 film "Before Stonewall" introduced audiences to some of the key players and places that helped spark the Greenwich Village riots. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. Marjorie Duffield BEFORE STONEWALL - Alliance of Women Film Journalists And Vito and I walked the rest of the whole thing with tears running down our face. I entered the convent at 26, to pursue that question and I was convinced that I would either stay until I got an answer, or if I didn't get an answer just stay. So I run down there. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. 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. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . We were all there. This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. Abstract. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. 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. Before Stonewall - Wikipedia Based on Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. I mean it didn't stop after that. 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. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Before Stonewall. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. Jorge Garcia-Spitz 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. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. 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. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. "We're not going.". Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. 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. It must have been terrifying for them. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. 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. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. The police weren't letting us dance. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. 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. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free dramatic stories from the early 1900's onwards of public and private existence as experienced by LGBT Americans. People could take shots at us. Remember everything. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. 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. Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. 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." Queer was very big. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. David Huggins I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. 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. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Many of those activists have since died, but Marcus preserved their voices for his book, titled Making Gay History. Revisiting the newly restored "Before Stonewall" 35 years after its premiere, Rosenberg said he was once again struck by its "powerful" and "acutely relevant" narrative. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. (c) 2011 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. How do you think that would affect him mentally, for the rest of their lives if they saw an act like that being? That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Now, 50 years later, the film is back. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. 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. 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. Charles Harris, Transcriptions Danny Garvin 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. 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. 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. Judy Laster 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. Doric Wilson It was as if they were identifying a thing. 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. Raymond Castro You needed a license even to be a beautician and that could be either denied or taken away from you. And so there was this drag queen standing on the corner, so they go up and make a sexual offer and they'd get busted. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. It's not my cup of tea. So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. And I had become very radicalized in that time. Martin Boyce ABCNEWS VideoSource Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. Alan Lechner [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. WPA Film Library, Thanks to Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. 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. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. But the . A sickness of the mind. Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku Bettye Lane Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. John DiGiacomo Producers Library John O'Brien A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. Is that conceivable? But you live with it, you know, you're used to this, after the third time it happened, or, the third time you heard about it, that's the way the world is. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. In the Life Greg Shea, Legal The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. In the trucks or around the trucks. It was terrifying. Evan Eames I was a homosexual. Doric Wilson:Somebody that I knew that was older than me, his family had him sent off where they go up and damage the frontal part of the brain. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR Lilli M. Vincenz Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. Martha Shelley Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. 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. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! 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?". And it was fantastic. PDF BEFORE STONEWALL press kit - First Run Features And the Stonewall was part of that system. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. They didn't know what they were walking into. The Activism That Came Before Stonewall And The Movement That - NPR 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. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. They can be anywhere. Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. 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? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. That never happened before. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." [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. Katrina Heilbroner William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience.
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