We were scared. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. And it was fantastic. 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. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? ITN Source Raymond Castro:Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. 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. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. 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. Danny Garvin:We became a people. WGBH Educational Foundation Suzanne Poli Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:The Stonewall, they didn't have a liquor license and they were raided by the cops regularly and there were pay-offs to the cops, it was awful. Narrator (Archival):Sure enough, the following day, when Jimmy finished playing ball, well, the man was there waiting. Where did you buy it? But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. 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. 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. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. Greg Shea, Legal Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! 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. Corbis 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."
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community 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. 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. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Queer was very big. Dana Kirchoff On June 27, 1969, police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. 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. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it.
Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. 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. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. Ellinor Mitchell Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. So I run down there. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. 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. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. I mean it didn't stop after that. It's like, this is not right. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations This time they said, "We're not going." 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? Before Stonewall. Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. 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. The men's room was under police surveillance. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. Martin Boyce:And then more police came, and it didn't stop. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. Never, never, never. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. The police weren't letting us dance. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. 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. Evan Eames 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. Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. And I knew that I was lesbian. 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. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. Vanessa Ezersky Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. 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. Ellen Goosenberg 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. People cheer while standing in front of The Stonewall Inn as the annual Gay Pride parade passes, Sunday, June 26, 2011 in New York. 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. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. Not even us. 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. Mike Wallace (Archival):Dr. Charles Socarides is a New York psychoanalyst at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? 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 once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. Martin Boyce And some people came out, being very dramatic, throwing their arms up in a V, you know, the victory sign. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. Louis Mandelbaum The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. They can be anywhere. John DiGiacomo
Revisiting 'Before Stonewall' Film for the 50th Anniversary | Time 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. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. 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. Raymond Castro:So then I got pushed back in, into the Stonewall by these plain clothes cops and they would not let me out, they didn't let anybody out. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. But the . Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. David Carter 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. Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. 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. View in iTunes. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. We heard one, then more and more. The windows were always cloaked. Jorge Garcia-Spitz Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. Jerry Hoose:The police would come by two or three times a night. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude We don't know. Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International 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. 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. Available via license: Content may be subject to . Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. Susana Fernandes As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march."
Before Stonewall | The New York Public Library Things were just changing. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. Noah Goldman Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Oh, tell me about your anxiety. And this went on for hours. Martha Shelley:When I was growing up in the '50s, I was supposed to get married to some guy, produce, you know, the usual 2.3 children, and I could look at a guy and say, "Well, objectively he's good looking," but I didn't feel anything, just didn't make any sense to me. They would bang on the trucks. Martha Babcock 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. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. You were alone. Producers Library William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. And we all relaxed. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. Doric Wilson 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. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." Linton Media MacDonald & Associates They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. Before Stonewall. 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 . Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. Judy Laster John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. And so we had to create these spaces, mostly in the trucks. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. 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. Hugh Bush Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. One never knows when the homosexual is about. They were to us. Dr. Socarides (Archival):I think the whole idea of saying "the happy homosexual" is to, uh, to create a mythology about the nature of homosexuality. And the police were showing up. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Fred Sargeant:In the '60s, I met Craig Rodwell who was running the Oscar Wilde Bookshop. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. And the cops got that. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. BBC Worldwide Americas We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. But that's only partially true. 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. Clever. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence.
Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic 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. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. Windows started to break. But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. Eventually something was bound to blow. Original Language: English. [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. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. The Underground Lounge John O'Brien I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. 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. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Doug Cramer Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots.
This Restored Documentary Examines What LGBTQ Lives Were Like Before 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. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. John Scagliotti It was a horror story. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku I guess they're deviates. American Airlines A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. Former U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with gay rights activist Frank Kameny after signing a memorandum on federal benefits and non-discrimination in the Oval Office on June 17, 2009. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. And I just didn't understand that. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports.
Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. Alan Lechner We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.".
BEFORE STONEWALL - Alliance of Women Film Journalists There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. For the first time the next person stood up. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community 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.