In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. Cause we could feel a sense of love for each other that we couldn't show out on the street, because you couldn't show any affection out on the street. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. Glenn Fukushima Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. All rights reserved. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Stonewall Forever Explore the monument Watch the documentary Download the AR app About & FAQ Privacy Policy People could take shots at us. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Beginning of our night out started early. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. 1984 documentary film by Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg, "Berlinale 2016: Panorama Celebrates Teddy Award's 30th Anniversary and Announces First Titles in Programme", "Guest Post: What I Learned From Revisiting My 1984 Documentary 'Before Stonewall', "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks", "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "Before Stonewall - Independent Historical Film", Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Restored), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Before_Stonewall&oldid=1134540821, Documentary films about United States history, Historiography of LGBT in the United States, United States National Film Registry films, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 05:30. And so we had to create these spaces, mostly in the trucks. Cause I was from the streets. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." Tom Caruso 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. They were the storm troopers. 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. In the trucks or around the trucks. Colonial House 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. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. 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. We were all there. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. The film combined personal interviews, snapshots and home movies, together with historical footage. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. David Alpert I could never let that happen and never did. ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. Robin Haueter This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. 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. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". National History Archive, LGBT Community Center The men's room was under police surveillance. Vanessa Ezersky I really thought that, you know, we did it. Sophie Cabott Black 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.". John O'Brien:And deep down I believed because I was gay and couldn't speak out for my rights, was probably one of the reasons that I was so active in the Civil Rights Movement. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. It's not my cup of tea. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. J. Michael Grey Susan Liberti National Archives and Records Administration 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 as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. Revealing and, by turns, humorous and horrifying, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotional and political spark of today's gay rights movement - the events that . Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. It's like, this is not right. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. 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. So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. Mike Nuget Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. Giles Kotcher Pamela Gaudiano John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. It was like a reward. I mean they were making some headway. 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. 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) You needed a license even to be a beautician and that could be either denied or taken away from you. Geoff Kole Katrina Heilbroner 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. We had been threatened bomb threats. It was right in the center of where we all were. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:If someone was dressed as a woman, you had to have a female police officer go in with her. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. Danny Garvin 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. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. People started throwing pennies. John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. The Underground Lounge 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. 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. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Dick Leitsch:Well, gay bars were the social centers of gay life. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. Nobody. 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. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. 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. Jerry Hoose You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. 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. He said, "Okay, let's go." Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. Jerry Hoose:I remember I was in a paddy wagon one time on the way to jail, we were all locked up together on a chain in the paddy wagon and the paddy wagon stopped for a red light or something and one of the queens said "Oh, this is my stop." Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors 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. But we went down to the trucks and there, people would have sex. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. We were winning. They can be anywhere. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. It was done in our little street talk. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. The idea was to be there first. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisings included: Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967 Black Night Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961. And that's what it was, it was a war. 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. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. 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. Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. Producers Library What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. It was tremendous freedom. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. American Airlines 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. They were to us. The groundbreaking 1984 film "Before Stonewall" introduced audiences to some of the key players and places that helped spark the Greenwich Village riots. First Run Features Jeremiah Hawkins 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. Alexis Charizopolis And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. 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. 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. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. ITN Source 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. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." Ellinor Mitchell And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's LGBT community. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. 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. I never believed in that. William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. Dana Gaiser Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Clever. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. And it was fantastic. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? 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. 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. The documentary "Before Stonewall" was very educational and interesting because it shows a retail group that fought for the right to integrate into the society and was where the homosexual revolution occurred. When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. 400 Plankinton Ave. Compton's Cafeteria Raid, San Francisco, California, 1966 Coopers Do-Nut Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1959 Pepper Hill Club Raid, Baltimore, Maryland in 1955. Quentin Heilbroner Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku Like, "Joe, if you fire your gun without me saying your name and the words 'fire,' you will be walking a beat on Staten Island all alone on a lonely beach for the rest of your police career. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. 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. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. 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. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. Linton Media The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. W hen police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969 50 years ago this month the harassment was routine for the time. They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. Raymond Castro:So finally when they started taking me out, arm in arm up to the paddy wagon, I jumped up and I put one foot on one side, one foot on the other and I sprung back, knocking the two arresting officers, knocking them to the ground. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. 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." 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. I was a homosexual. Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. I was proud. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." Alan Lechner Even non-gay people. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. You know, it's just, everybody was there. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. We were thinking about survival. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Bettye Lane On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Judith Kuchar I guess they're deviates. If there's one place in the world where you can dance and feel yourself fully as a person and that's threatened with being taken away, those words are fighting words. John O'Brien:All of a sudden, the police faced something they had never seen before. 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. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. Synopsis. Jay Fialkov "Don't fire. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. Raymond Castro:If that light goes on, you know to stop whatever you're doing, and separate. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. Original Language: English. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. Doric Wilson Paul Bosche I hope it was. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. Fred Sargeant:When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more. John O'Brien Marjorie Duffield Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. And so there was this drag queen standing on the corner, so they go up and make a sexual offer and they'd get busted. And the cops got that. Chris Mara, Production Assistants Barney Karpfinger It was fun to see fags. Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? 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. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. I had never seen anything like that. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. 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.". Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid.