Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. Giles Kotcher 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. Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. NBC News Archives And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. This is every year in New York City. Before Stonewall : Throughline : NPR 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. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. Sophie Cabott Black He said, "Okay, let's go." This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. And I had become very radicalized in that time. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 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. 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. And we had no right to such. But we couldn't hold out very long. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. 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. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Danny Garvin:It was a chance to find love. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. That's it. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. 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. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. 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. Before Stonewall | Apple TV But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. Before Stonewall. And in a sense the Stonewall riots said, "Get off our backs, deliver on the promise." Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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. They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. The film brings together voices from over 50 years of the LGBTQ rights movement to explore queer activism before, during and after the Stonewall Riots. Amber Hall 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. Liz Davis 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. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. 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 . Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. And the Stonewall was part of that system. Martha Shelley The award winning film Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. 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. 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. That was our world, that block. Martin Boyce:And then more police came, and it didn't stop. Synopsis. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. 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. 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. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. Not able to do anything. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. A medievalist. Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." Doug Cramer It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. We could easily be hunted, that was a game. They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. Glenn Fukushima Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn has undergone several transformations in the decades since it was the focal point of a three-day riot in 1969. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? It was tremendous freedom. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Mafia house beer? Corbis Things were being thrown against the plywood, we piled things up to try to buttress it. PDF BEFORE STONEWALL press kit - First Run Features "Don't fire. I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. Barney Karpfinger They were getting more ferocious. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." 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. Abstract. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. Jerry Hoose All rights reserved. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Before Stonewall - Wikipedia People cheer while standing in front of The Stonewall Inn as the annual Gay Pride parade passes, Sunday, June 26, 2011 in New York. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. 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. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." 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. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. They would not always just arrest, they would many times use clubs and beat. There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. Susan Liberti I really thought that, you know, we did it. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. 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.". They can be anywhere. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. They could be judges, lawyers. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. Janice Flood Pamela Gaudiano 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? It was done in our little street talk. One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. Queer was very big. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Before Stonewall (1984) Movie Script | Subs like Script Dana Gaiser 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. 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 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.". I hope it was. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. Windows started to break. We went, "Oh my God. I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. 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. MacDonald & Associates Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. 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.". And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. The events. Based on I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. 'Before Stonewall' Tracks the Pre-Movement Era | International Vanessa Ezersky Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. 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? We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:The Stonewall, they didn't have a liquor license and they were raided by the cops regularly and there were pay-offs to the cops, it was awful. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. Original Language: English. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. In the trucks or around the trucks. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. 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. Seymour Wishman 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. The events that took place in June 1969 have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement, but that's only partially true. We heard one, then more and more. Hugh Bush The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. The New York Times / Redux Pictures 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. We love to hear from our listeners! 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. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. 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. 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. That this was normal stuff. Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. 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. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. For the first time the next person stood up. I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. So gay people were being strangled, shot, thrown in the river, blackmailed, fired from jobs. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. First Run Features I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. The medical experimentation in Atascadero included administering, to gay people, a drug that simulated the experience of drowning; in other words, a pharmacological example of waterboarding. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. Dick Leitsch:Well, gay bars were the social centers of gay life. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. 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. A sickness of the mind. You know. Do you understand me?". The police weren't letting us dance. Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. Danny Garvin:It was the perfect time to be in the Village. One never knows when the homosexual is about. Colonial House 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. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! They would bang on the trucks. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago.
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