This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. 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. Before Stonewall | Apple TV And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". In the Life Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. 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. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." As kids, we played King Kong. 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. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. He pulls all his men inside. Before Stonewall (1984) - IMDb But the . Dana Gaiser Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. Frank Simon's documentary follows the drag contestants of 1967's Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, capturing plenty of on- and offstage drama along the way. Danny Garvin:We became a people. Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. But I'm wearing this police thing I'm thinking well if they break through I better take it off really quickly but they're gunna come this way and we're going to be backing up and -- who knows what'll happen. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. Just let's see if they can. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. 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. Getty Images That was scary, very scary. Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. 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. Before Stonewall. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. 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. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. 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 if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. It was fun to see fags. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. Based on 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 is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Alexis Charizopolis Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". We don't know. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. Producers Library Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. Dan Martino It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. 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. 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. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. Quentin Heilbroner It must have been terrifying for them. 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? 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. Why 'Before Stonewall' Was Such a Hard Movie to Make - The Atlantic Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. We love to hear from our listeners! 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. Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. BBC Worldwide Americas Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. 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. And once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. The windows were always cloaked. And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. J. Michael Grey People could take shots at us. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. 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) I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. [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]. 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. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku 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. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. I guess they're deviates. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors Where did you buy it? That's it. Janice Flood I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. Frank Kameny And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. 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. Ellen Goosenberg Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community Lauren Noyes. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. kui 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. 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. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. Danny Garvin 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. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. 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. It was done in our little street talk.

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