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It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. All rights reserved. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. A year earlier, young gays, lesbians and transgender people clashed with police near a bar called The Stonewall Inn. Available via license: Content may be subject to . It was a horror story. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt This is every year in New York City. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. 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. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Narrated by Rita Mae Brownan acclaimed writer whose 1973 novel Rubyfruit Jungle is a seminal lesbian text, but who is possessed of a painfully grating voiceBefore Stonewall includes vintage news footage that makes it clear that gay men and women lived full, if often difficult, lives long before their personal ambitions (however modest) The Stonewall had reopened. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. Martin Boyce:I wasn't labeled gay, just "different." Doug Cramer 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.". Danny Garvin:We became a people. It eats you up inside. 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. Glenn Fukushima I never believed in that. ITN Source John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. BBC Worldwide Americas Noah Goldman 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? Producers Library So it was a perfect storm for the police. Martha Shelley J. Michael Grey Martin Boyce:You could be beaten, you could have your head smashed in a men's room because you were looking the wrong way. Suzanne Poli 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. Dan Bodner and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. The men's room was under police surveillance. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. Charles Harris, Transcriptions Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. If you would like to read more on the topic, here's a list: Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and NPR One. 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. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. Before Stonewall. And it was fantastic. 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. And the cops got that. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." We had been threatened bomb threats. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. Fred Sargeant:In the '60s, I met Craig Rodwell who was running the Oscar Wilde Bookshop. And the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. I just thought you had to get through this, and I thought I could get through it, but you really had to be smart about it. Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. I said, "I can go in with you?" Janice Flood Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. 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. We were all there. They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center Susan Liberti Fred Sargeant The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. Doing things like that. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. I mean does anyone know what that is? People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. Is that conceivable? And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. And I had become very radicalized in that time. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. 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. Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy 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." [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. 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." Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? The events. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of straight America, in terms of the middle class, was recoiling in horror from what was happening all around them at that time, in that summer and the summer before. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." 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 tremendous freedom. And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Frank Kameny, co-founder of the Mattachine Society, and Shirley Willer, president of the Daughters of Bilitis, spoke to Marcus about being gay before the Stonewall riots happened and what motivated people who were involved in the movement. Scott McPartland/Getty Images 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. 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. Because he was homosexual. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. One never knows when the homosexual is about. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. They would not always just arrest, they would many times use clubs and beat. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. Just making their lives miserable for once. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. People started throwing pennies. Daniel Pine The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. Greg Shea, Legal Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. I mean I'm talking like sardines. And that's what it was, it was a war. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. Mafia house beer? It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". People that were involved in it like me referred to it as "The First Run." People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. Beginning of our night out started early. 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. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. For the first time the next person stood up. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. John DiGiacomo 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. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. John van Hoesen Today, that event is seen as the start of the gay civil rights movement, but gay activists and organizations were standing up to harassment and discrimination years before. 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. Jeremiah Hawkins It was right in the center of where we all were. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. It was an age of experimentation. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. Ellinor Mitchell 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 . 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. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:That night I'm in my office, I looked down the street, and I could see the Stonewall sign and I started to see some activity in front. John O'Brien:If a gay man is caught by the police and is identified as being involved in what they called lewd, immoral behavior, they would have their person's name, their age and many times their home address listed in the major newspapers. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. Fifty years ago, a gay bar in New York City called The Stonewall Inn was raided by police, and what followed were days of rebellion where protesters and police clashed. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. 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. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. 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. It was terrifying. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. Judith Kuchar Clever. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. Sophie Cabott Black 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. That's it. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. 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. Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. 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. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. Dana Gaiser Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. 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. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. So if any one of you, have let yourself become involved with an adult homosexual, or with another boy, and you're doing this on a regular basis, you better stop quick. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. 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 most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. Synopsis. 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. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Seymour Wishman It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. Before Stonewall (1984) - full transcript 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. Fred Sargeant:When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more. [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]. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. Dana Kirchoff That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. Queer was very big. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. Dick Leitsch:It was an invasion, I mean you felt outraged and stuff like you know what, God, this is America, what's this country come to? Martha Shelley:When I was growing up in the '50s, I was supposed to get married to some guy, produce, you know, the usual 2.3 children, and I could look at a guy and say, "Well, objectively he's good looking," but I didn't feel anything, just didn't make any sense to me. And they were gay. A medievalist. 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 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. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. 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. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. Michael Dolan, Technical Advisors 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. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" 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. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. Marjorie Duffield Vanessa Ezersky He may appear normal, and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill. John O'Brien:I was a poor, young gay person. Not able to do anything. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. 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. Mike Wallace (Archival):Dr. Charles Socarides is a New York psychoanalyst at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. Ellen Goosenberg We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. The windows were always cloaked. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. I was a homosexual. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. 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. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. That this was normal stuff. hide caption. A sickness of the mind. Revealing and. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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 knew that I was lesbian. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. And the Stonewall was part of that system. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. Liz Davis 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. Corbis They really were objecting to how they were being treated. We heard one, then more and more. 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. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. 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. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. 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. 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?". Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free dramatic stories from the early 1900's onwards of public and private existence as experienced by LGBT Americans. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. It must have been terrifying for them. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with.