Cause I was from the streets. Mafia house beer? Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. 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. The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. 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. Vanessa Ezersky 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. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. You throw into that, that the Stonewall was raided the previous Tuesday night. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. 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. A sickness of the mind. They were the storm troopers. In the trucks or around the trucks. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. 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? 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. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors Do you understand me?". And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. I really thought that, you know, we did it. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. Abstract. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Martin Boyce We had been threatened bomb threats. 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 only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. And the cops got that. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. 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 Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. Stonewall Tscript | PDF | Homosexuality | Lgbt Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives 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 I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". 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. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation Seymour Wishman 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. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Frank Kameny Marc Aubin I was a homosexual. You know. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. That's what gave oxygen to the fire. And the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. And we had no right to such. 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. 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. 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. ITN Source [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. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Before Stonewall. Greg Shea, Legal John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. Before Stonewall - Letterboxd America thought we were these homosexual monsters and we were so innocent, and oddly enough, we were so American. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. Glenn Fukushima This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. Scott Kardel, Project Administration They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Louis Mandelbaum You know, it's just, everybody was there. Almost anything you could name. I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. 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. Before Stonewall 1984 Unrated 1 h 27 m IMDb RATING 7.5 /10 1.1K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:21 1 Video 7 Photos Documentary History The history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement. It was terrifying. 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. Lauren Noyes. They were getting more ferocious. The history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. That was our world, that block. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:But there were little, tiny pin holes in the plywood windows, I'll call them the windows but they were plywood, and we could look out from there and every time I went over and looked out through one of those pin holes where he did, we were shocked at how big the crowd had become. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Fred Sargeant I mean they were making some headway. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Documentary | Stonewall Forever Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . Martin Boyce:You could be beaten, you could have your head smashed in a men's room because you were looking the wrong way. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. I was a man. Raymond Castro:I'd go in there and I would look and I would just cringe because, you know, people would start touching me, and "Hello, what are you doing there if you don't want to be touched?" I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. And the police were showing up. I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. Bettye Lane Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Raymond Castro:If that light goes on, you know to stop whatever you're doing, and separate. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. 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. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Martin Boyce:And I remember moving into the open space and grabbing onto two of my friends and we started singing and doing a kick line. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. It was a 100% profit, I mean they were stealing the liquor, then watering it down, and they charging twice as much as they charged one door away at the 55. And she was quite crazy. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. 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. Beginning of our night out started early. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. 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. All the rules were off in the '60s. We were thinking about survival. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. 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. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. 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. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? BEFORE STONEWALL - Alliance of Women Film Journalists A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. 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. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. BBC Worldwide Americas We heard one, then more and more. Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. 1969: The Stonewall Uprising - Library of Congress Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. David Huggins You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries 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. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. 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. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. 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. Before Stonewall - Rotten Tomatoes Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Tom Caruso It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. For those kisses. Doug Cramer Jerry Hoose Danny Garvin David Carter Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. Corbis David Alpert Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. Original Language: English. 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. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Liz Davis Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. American Airlines Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . Alexis Charizopolis Even non-gay people. Marjorie Duffield How do you think that would affect him mentally, for the rest of their lives if they saw an act like that being? 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: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. hide caption. It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. Historic Films So I got into the subway, and on the car was somebody I recognized and he said, "I've never been so scared in my life," and I said, "Well, please let there be more than ten of us, just please let there be more than ten of us. They could be judges, lawyers. 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. He pulls all his men inside. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. First you gotta get past the door. John O'Brien:I was with a group that we actually took a parking meter out of theground, three or four people, and we used it as a battering ram. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Judith Kuchar One never knows when the homosexual is about. A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. I guess they're deviates. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. But we're going to pay dearly for this. Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Yvonne Ritter:I did try to get out of the bar and I thought that there might be a way out through one of the bathrooms. The Activism That Came Before Stonewall And The Movement That - NPR Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Fred Sargeant:We knew that they were serving drinks out of vats and buckets of water and believed that there had been some disease that had been passed. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. J. Michael Grey 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. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Stonewall: A riot that changed millions of lives - BBC News Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." This 1968 Film Put Drag Queens In The Spotlight Before Stonewall - HuffPost Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law.