I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. Katrina Heilbroner It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. 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. Dan Bodner Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. It was tremendous freedom. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Urban Stages He said, "Okay, let's go." Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. That's more an uprising than a riot. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. It was terrifying. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. Historic Films Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. 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 Archives and Records Administration Other images in this film are
Before Stonewall (1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." We were going to propose something that all groups could participate in and what we ended up producing was what's now known as the gay pride march. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. 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. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Transcript Enlarge this image 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. And I knew that I was lesbian. Creating the First Visual History of Queer Life Before Stonewall Making a landmark documentary about LGBTQ Americans before 1969 meant digging through countless archives to find traces of. 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. John Scagliotti Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. Fred Sargeant:In the '60s, I met Craig Rodwell who was running the Oscar Wilde Bookshop. And in a sense the Stonewall riots said, "Get off our backs, deliver on the promise." A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:A rather tough lesbian was busted in the bar and when she came out of the bar she was fighting the cops and trying to get away. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened.
Stonewall Tscript | PDF | Homosexuality | Lgbt I had never seen anything like that. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. A medievalist.
Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS Before Stonewall. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. David Alpert They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry."
Before Stonewall - Rotten Tomatoes Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly "Don't fire. Lilli M. Vincenz Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival.
Documentary | Stonewall Forever 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. Daily News The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. Franco Sacchi, Additional Animation and Effects The police weren't letting us dance. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches.
Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR Mike Nuget Jerry Hoose 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. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. Raymond Castro:We were in the back of the room, and the lights went on, so everybody stopped what they were doing, because now the police started coming in, raiding the bar. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Do you understand me?". That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Suzanne Poli Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. Martin Boyce:I wasn't labeled gay, just "different." But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. Fred Sargeant:When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more.
BEFORE STONEWALL - Alliance of Women Film Journalists The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. 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. 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. And once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. It was like a reward. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. A sickness of the mind. They were to us. WPA Film Library, Thanks to First you gotta get past the door. I hope it was. Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. We love to hear from our listeners! Dana Kirchoff 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. That was our world, that block. Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. I really thought that, you know, we did it. Chris Mara And, I did not like parading around while all of these vacationers were standing there eating ice cream and looking at us like we were critters in a zoo. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. "We're not going.". Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs.
Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries We were winning. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. 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. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. 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. Clever. Raymond Castro:If that light goes on, you know to stop whatever you're doing, and separate. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. Charles Harris, Transcriptions Scott Kardel, Project Administration Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. Even non-gay people. 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. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. hide caption. It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. 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. And we had no right to such. Jay Fialkov The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. Jeremiah Hawkins They can be anywhere. They were the storm troopers. You know. J. Michael Grey Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. 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. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. Lauren Noyes. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. I mean I'm talking like sardines. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. Long before marriage equality, non-binary gender identity, and the flood of new documentaries commemorating this month's 50th anniversary of the Greenwich Village uprising that begat the gay rights movement, there was Greta Schiller's Before Stonewall.Originally released in 1984as AIDS was slowly killing off many of those bar patrons-turned-revolutionariesthe film, through the use of . The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. That's it. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Just making their lives miserable for once. Doric Wilson The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." Giles Kotcher John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. 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 . Glenn Fukushima The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. Synopsis. 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. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". They didn't know what they were walking into. 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. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. Martin Boyce And the cops got that. Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. Ellinor Mitchell And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. Judith Kuchar Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. I mean they were making some headway. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. Dan Martino 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. The idea was to be there first. Frank Kameny The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage.
Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village.
Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense.
Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby It was a horror story. Daniel Pine Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." Dick Leitsch:You read about Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal and all these actors and stuff, Liberace and all these people running around doing all these things and then you came to New York and you found out, well maybe they're doing them but, you know, us middle-class homosexuals, we're getting busted all the time, every time we have a place to go, it gets raided. I was a homosexual. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. 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. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. And Vito and I walked the rest of the whole thing with tears running down our face. 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.