We were winning. Trevor, Post Production 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. You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. Eventually something was bound to blow. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors 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, I did not like parading around while all of these vacationers were standing there eating ice cream and looking at us like we were critters in a zoo. I could never let that happen and never did. 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. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. 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. We love to hear from our listeners! David Carter 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. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. 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. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. 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 eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. Liz Davis Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy Never, never, never. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, and Schiller. 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. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. Original Language: English. 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? Jeremiah Hawkins Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. 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. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. 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. 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. Jerry Hoose 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. 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. As kids, we played King Kong. John van Hoesen I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". This is every year in New York City. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. Barak Goodman Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. 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. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. 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. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? Martin Boyce:That was our only block. In the trucks or around the trucks. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. David Alpert For those kisses. Do you understand me?". John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. 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. Glenn Fukushima Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. Daniel Pine The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. 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. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. 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:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. All rights reserved. Noah Goldman They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. Giles Kotcher The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. I was a homosexual. Chris Mara, Production Assistants David Huggins I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. That this was normal stuff. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. 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. WPA Film Library, Thanks to Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! 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. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. Not able to do anything. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. J. Michael Grey Mafia house beer? We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." Franco Sacchi, Additional Animation and Effects I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. 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. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. 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. The cops were barricaded inside. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. It was a 100% profit, I mean they were stealing the liquor, then watering it down, and they charging twice as much as they charged one door away at the 55. View in iTunes. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" They would bang on the trucks. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. The shop had been threatened, we would get hang-up calls, calls where people would curse at us on the phone, we'd had vandalism, windows broken, streams of profanity. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. 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. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. It was done in our little street talk. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. First you gotta get past the door. 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. But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. 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. 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.". Louis Mandelbaum Raymond Castro:Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. 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. Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. But we couldn't hold out very long. Before Stonewall. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. 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. Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. Lauren Noyes. Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. Danny Garvin:Something snapped. It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. Bettye Lane 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. Doing things like that. Transcript Aired June 9, 2020 Stonewall Uprising The Year That Changed America Film Description When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. Cause I was from the streets. Samual Murkofsky Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. America thought we were these homosexual monsters and we were so innocent, and oddly enough, we were so American. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? 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. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Doric Wilson And it was fantastic. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Amber Hall Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. And I knew that I was lesbian. Quentin Heilbroner Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives 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. Mike Nuget Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. Things were just changing. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Dan Bodner I mean they were making some headway. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. The events. This was in front of the police. 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. 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. 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. Raymond Castro Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life.