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Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. 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. John O'Brien:I was with a group that we actually took a parking meter out of theground, three or four people, and we used it as a battering ram. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. 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. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Director . How do you think that would affect him mentally, for the rest of their lives if they saw an act like that being? 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. Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." Danny Garvin:We became a people. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. That's it. Jerry Hoose Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. You knew you could ruin them for life. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. If you came to a place like New York, you at least had the opportunity of connecting with people, and finding people who didn't care that you were gay. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Greg Shea, Legal So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." ITN Source Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. This was a highly unusual raid, going in there in the middle of the night with a full crowd, the Mafia hasn't been alerted, the Sixth Precinct hasn't been alerted. But everybody knew it wasn't normal stuff and everyone was on edge and that was the worst part of it because you knew they were on edge and you knew that the first shot that was fired meant all the shots would be fired. Before Stonewall | The New York Public Library 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. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. 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. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. But you live with it, you know, you're used to this, after the third time it happened, or, the third time you heard about it, that's the way the world is. Katrina Heilbroner Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. And the Stonewall was part of that system. 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. Marc Aubin Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Tom Caruso by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. 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. WPA Film Library, Thanks to Just making their lives miserable for once. 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. Sophie Cabott Black Lilli M. Vincenz Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. There were gay bars in Midtown, there were gay bars uptown, there were certain kinds of gay bars on the Upper East Side, you know really, really, really buttoned-up straight gay bars. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. Martha Babcock Noah Goldman 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. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives 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. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. That was scary, very scary. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. Danny Garvin:It was the perfect time to be in the Village. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. For those kisses. They were to us. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community John O'Brien Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Linton Media 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. 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. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. 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. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. And we had no right to such. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. Marcus spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro about his conversations with leaders of the gay-rights movement, as well as people who were at Stonewall when the riots broke out. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. 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. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. 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. For the first time, we weren't letting ourselves be carted off to jails, gay people were actually fighting back just the way people in the peace movement fought back. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. archives.nypl.org -- Before Stonewall production files Queer was very big. Martin Boyce:And then more police came, and it didn't stop. Doric Wilson:When I was very young, one of the terms for gay people was twilight people, meaning that we never came out until twilight, 'til it got dark. [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Samual Murkofsky Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly 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.". And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. David Carter Even non-gay people. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. Janice Flood [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. And I just didn't understand that. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku 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. Homo, homo was big. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. You had no place to try to find an identity. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography 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. Maureen Jordan 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. 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. WGBH Educational Foundation That's more an uprising than a riot. Martin Boyce:I heard about the trucks, which to me was fascinated me, you know, it had an imagination thing that was like Marseilles, how can it only be a few blocks away? The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. The men's room was under police surveillance. John DiGiacomo Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. And we all relaxed. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. Martin Boyce We went, "Oh my God. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:But there were little, tiny pin holes in the plywood windows, I'll call them the windows but they were plywood, and we could look out from there and every time I went over and looked out through one of those pin holes where he did, we were shocked at how big the crowd had become. Beginning of our night out started early. 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. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. And that's what it was, it was a war. America thought we were these homosexual monsters and we were so innocent, and oddly enough, we were so American. 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.". Dan Martino And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." Ellen Goosenberg 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. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:There were complaints from people who objected to the wrongful behavior of some gays who would have sex on the street. 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 was right in the center of where we all were. The windows were always cloaked. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. Daniel Pine But we couldn't hold out very long. Historic Films That never happened before. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. Quentin Heilbroner And it was fantastic. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." He said, "Okay, let's go." Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. Urban Stages 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. John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." 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 as if they were identifying a thing. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. 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. We were thinking about survival. Raymond Castro And I knew that I was lesbian. Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. Never, never, never. But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago. 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. 1969: The Stonewall Uprising - Library of Congress