John DiGiacomo We had been threatened bomb threats. 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. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. 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. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. 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. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. But the . And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:All throughout the 60s in New York City, the period when the New York World's Fair was attracting visitors from all over America and all over the world. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." That's what gave oxygen to the fire. 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. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." 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. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. All rights reserved. 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. 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. A year earlier, young gays, lesbians and transgender people clashed with police near a bar called The Stonewall Inn. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. The events. Paul Bosche They were the storm troopers. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. 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. Revealing and, by turns, humorous and horrifying, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotional and political spark of today's gay rights movement - the events that . I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. That was scary, very scary. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. People could take shots at us. Marjorie Duffield I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. 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. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. 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? 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 . And I knew that I was lesbian. And they were having a meeting at town hall and there were 400 guys who showed up, and I think a couple of women, talking about these riots, 'cause everybody was really energized and upset and angry about it. Doug Cramer I could never let that happen and never did. 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. 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. It must have been terrifying for them. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . I made friends that first day. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. 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. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. You had no place to try to find an identity. 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. Judith Kuchar Mafia house beer? 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. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. We went, "Oh my God. Noah Goldman Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. You knew you could ruin them for life. 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. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. Tom Caruso Eventually something was bound to blow. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." Susan Liberti The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. hide caption. More than a half-century after its release, " The Queen " serves as a powerful time capsule of queer life as it existed before the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. On June 27, 1969, police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. Cause I was from the streets. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. The New York State Liquor Authority refused to issue liquor licenses to many gay bars, and several popular establishments had licenses suspended or revoked for "indecent conduct.". Abstract. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. WPA Film Library, Thanks to I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." Judy Laster Chris Mara, Production Assistants Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors It was terrifying. Martin Boyce The windows were always cloaked. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Ellen Goosenberg Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Jerry Hoose:The police would come by two or three times a night. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Susana Fernandes 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. Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. It was like a reward. Homo, homo was big. The idea was to be there first. 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. It was done in our little street talk. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? Colonial House That was our world, that block. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. 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. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. They were not used to a bunch of drag queens doing a Rockettes kick line and sort of like giving them all the finger in a way. But that's only partially true. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. It meant nothing to us. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Danny Garvin:We were talking about the revolution happening and we were walking up 7th Avenue and I was thinking it was either Black Panthers or the Young Lords were going to start it and we turned the corner from 7th Avenue onto Christopher Street and we saw the paddy wagon pull up there. 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. 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. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. They can be anywhere. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. Synopsis. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. 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.". 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. "We're not going.". They were getting more ferocious. 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? Martin Boyce:The day after the first riot, when it was all over, and I remember sitting, sun was soon to come, and I was sitting on the stoop, and I was exhausted and I looked at that street, it was dark enough to allow the street lamps to pick up the glitter of all the broken glass, and all the debris, and all the different colored cloth, that was in different places. We could easily be hunted, that was a game. And this went on for hours. That never happened before. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. 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?". Jorge Garcia-Spitz And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." 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. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. 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. That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. I was a man. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. Daily News It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. 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. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. 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. Barak Goodman Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. 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. 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. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. 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:We didn't have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war. 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. Historic Films Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. Marc Aubin 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.