It was terrifying. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We only had about six people altogether from the police department knowing that you had a precinct right nearby that would send assistance. Producers Library Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. That's more an uprising than a riot. We knew that this was a moment that we didn't want to let slip past, because it was something that we could use to bring more of the groups together. Nobody. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. Barney Karpfinger Quentin Heilbroner It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. 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 there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. 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:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. Remember everything. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy I mean it didn't stop after that. 'Before Stonewall' Tracks the Pre-Movement Era | International Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. 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. But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. 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. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. 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. You needed a license even to be a beautician and that could be either denied or taken away from you. Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Martin Boyce:Well, in the front part of the bar would be like "A" gays, like regular gays, that didn't go in any kind of drag, didn't use the word "she," that type, but they were gay, a hundred percent gay. We had been threatened bomb threats. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. This 1968 Film Put Drag Queens In The Spotlight Before Stonewall - HuffPost Homo, homo was big. Susan Liberti Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. And the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. Brief Summary Of The Documentary 'Before Stonewall' | Bartleby Pamela Gaudiano 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. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. "BEFORE STONEWALL" - MetroFocus 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 the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Louis Mandelbaum Seymour Wishman I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." We were scared. 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. Not able to do anything. Doug Cramer So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. This is every year in New York City. Trevor, Post Production 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. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. But we couldn't hold out very long. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. 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. Mafia house beer? John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. 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. Historic Films Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . Mike Nuget 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:And he went to each man and said it by name. [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. Revisiting 'Before Stonewall' Film for the 50th Anniversary | Time Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? 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. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Susana Fernandes Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution 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? But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. 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. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. [2][3] Later in 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4][5][6]. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." Where did you buy it? 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. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. And this went on for hours. I grew up in a very Catholic household and the conflict of issues of redemption, of is it possible that if you are this thing called homosexual, is it possible to be redeemed? The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. Marjorie Duffield And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. 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. Danny Garvin 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. Bettye Lane 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. 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 gay community. Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. We went, "Oh my God. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. 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. Colonial House Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary "Before I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". 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. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. 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. John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Maureen Jordan 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. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Based on We were winning. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. I was proud. ITN Source 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. 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. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. 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. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Eventually something was bound to blow. There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. 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 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. Before Stonewall (1984) Movie Script | Subs like Script It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. It's like, this is not right. Just making their lives miserable for once. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? 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. Dana Kirchoff Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Jay Fialkov Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. You were alone. 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.". J. Michael Grey And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Vanessa Ezersky Raymond Castro John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. 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 . The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. The Underground Lounge Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. Lauren Noyes. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. It's not my cup of tea. 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. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation They were getting more ferocious. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? I never believed in that. 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. Katrina Heilbroner Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? 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. Stonewall: A riot that changed millions of lives - BBC News Before Stonewall - Letterboxd Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. 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. hide caption. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. Scott Kardel, Project Administration Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors 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. 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. And they were gay. 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?". Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications Ellen Goosenberg It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. And the Stonewall was part of that system. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. Queer was very big. For those kisses. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. Paul Bosche Jeremiah Hawkins And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. 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. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. Because he was homosexual. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had been in some gay bars either for a story or gay friends would say, "Oh we're going to go in for a drink there, come on in, are you too uptight to go in?" 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. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. You knew you could ruin them for life. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. Richard Enman (Archival):Well, let me say, first of all, what type of laws we are not after, because there has been much to-do that the Society was in favor of the legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and the adoption of children, and such as that, and that is not at all factual at all. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. John O'Brien The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? Narrator (Archival):Sure enough, the following day, when Jimmy finished playing ball, well, the man was there waiting. There were occasions where you did see people get night-sticked, or disappear into a group of police and, you know, everybody knew that was not going to have a good end. But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago. Because if you don't have extremes, you don't get any moderation. 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:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. But that's only partially true. Raymond Castro:Society expected you to, you know, grow up, get married, have kids, which is what a lot of people did to satisfy their parents. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. 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." The police weren't letting us dance. I really thought that, you know, we did it. 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.". For the first time the next person stood up. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. Beginning of our night out started early. People could take shots at us. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. They were the storm troopers. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. 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.