Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We were looking for secret exits and one of the policewomen was able to squirm through the window and they did find a way out. And this went on for hours. For those kisses. Doric Wilson:And we were about 100, 120 people and there were people lining the sidewalks ahead of us to watch us go by, gay people, mainly. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. 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. 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. But we went down to the trucks and there, people would have sex. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! So it was a perfect storm for the police. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. Richard Enman (Archival):Present laws give the adult homosexual only the choice of being, to simplify the matter, heterosexual and legal or homosexual and illegal. I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. 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. WGBH Educational Foundation The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. 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 LGBT community. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation 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. Chris Mara, Production Assistants 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. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. 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. Things were being thrown against the plywood, we piled things up to try to buttress it. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. Just making their lives miserable for once. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. We went, "Oh my God. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. Amber Hall It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. Don't fire until I fire. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. This Restored Documentary Examines What LGBTQ Lives Were Like Before These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. You throw into that, that the Stonewall was raided the previous Tuesday night. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. 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. A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Joe DeCola 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. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. Before Stonewall - Letterboxd 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. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. Many of those activists have since died, but Marcus preserved their voices for his book, titled Making Gay History. John Scagliotti 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. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. There are a lot of kids here. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. Noah Goldman Dan Bodner Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. Judy Laster I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:Most raids by the New York City Police, because they were paid off by the mob, took place on a weeknight, they took place early in the evening, the place would not be crowded. Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby Corbis Dick Leitsch:Well, gay bars were the social centers of gay life. Daily News Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. 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. Martin Boyce:I wasn't labeled gay, just "different." by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor I mean does anyone know what that is? It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. 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. Tom Caruso The police weren't letting us dance. 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. Even non-gay people. Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Doing things like that. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. All rights reserved. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." David Carter Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. Before Stonewall - Wikipedia If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. 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. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." hide caption. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. It was like a reward. National Archives and Records Administration 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. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. They could be judges, lawyers. We had been threatened bomb threats. They were getting more ferocious. Raymond Castro:So finally when they started taking me out, arm in arm up to the paddy wagon, I jumped up and I put one foot on one side, one foot on the other and I sprung back, knocking the two arresting officers, knocking them to the ground. Martha Shelley:Before Stonewall, the homophile movement was essentially the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis and all of these other little gay organizations, some of which were just two people and a mimeograph machine. Before Stonewall. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. ABCNEWS VideoSource John O'Brien It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. 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. 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. Almost anything you could name. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. Do you understand me?". MacDonald & Associates Before Stonewall (1984) - IMDb Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. 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. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". Colonial House Historic Films We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. He pulls all his men inside. Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. 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. 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. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. You know, it's just, everybody was there. and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before 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. 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. This was in front of the police. I mean I'm talking like sardines. Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. Before Stonewall | The New York Public Library All of the rules that I had grown up with, and that I had hated in my guts, other people were fighting against, and saying "No, it doesn't have to be this way.". Frank Kameny That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. 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.
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