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. Don't fire until I fire. 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. (c) 2011 Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. When we got dressed for that night, we had cocktails and we put the makeup on. TV Host (Archival):Are those your own eyelashes? And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. Where did you buy it? This 19-year-old serviceman left his girlfriend on the beach to go to a men's room in a park nearby where he knew that he could find a homosexual contact. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Amber Hall If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. David Alpert and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. Susana Fernandes 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. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. I guess they're deviates. And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. All the rules were off in the '60s. 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. Liz Davis Martha Shelley:When I was growing up in the '50s, I was supposed to get married to some guy, produce, you know, the usual 2.3 children, and I could look at a guy and say, "Well, objectively he's good looking," but I didn't feel anything, just didn't make any sense to me. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. 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. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. You know, it's just, everybody was there. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. 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. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. 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. 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. And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. In a spontaneous show of support and frustration, the citys gay community rioted for three nights in the streets, an event that is considered the birth of the modern Gay Rights Movement. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt Lauren Noyes. It was right in the center of where we all were. Because he was homosexual. As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . They were to us. As kids, we played King Kong. It meant nothing to us. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). It's not my cup of tea. ABCNEWS VideoSource Urban Stages The cops were barricaded inside. William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. And it was fantastic. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. 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. Based on Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. 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. 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. And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. Jerry Hoose:The police would come by two or three times a night. The events. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. It was fun to see fags. kui Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. We were winning. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. 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. Giles Kotcher Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation Then the cops come up and make use of what used to be called the bubble-gum machine, back then a cop car only had one light on the top that spun around. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Is that conceivable? One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. Bettye Lane Marc Aubin Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. Geoff Kole Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. 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. 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) Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. 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. 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. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. We love to hear from our listeners! 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. Clever. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. It was done in our little street talk. 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. This is every year in New York City. And I knew that I was lesbian. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. Alexis Charizopolis People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. Chris Mara, Production Assistants Martha Shelley First Run Features You see, Ralph was a homosexual. That's more an uprising than a riot. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. Marjorie Duffield Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. 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 term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. Martha Babcock Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors 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. 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. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. 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. Abstract. Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. 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 . This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. 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. You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. 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. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. Quentin Heilbroner 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. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Seymour Wishman My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. Mike Nuget And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. But we couldn't hold out very long. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. 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. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. For those kisses. John O'Brien:It was definitely dark, it was definitely smelly and raunchy and dirty and that's the only places that we had to meet each other, was in the very dirty, despicable places. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. All rights reserved. Jerry Hoose Alan Lechner There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. [00:00:55] Oh, my God. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? 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. Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. BBC Worldwide Americas And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. Trevor, Post Production [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. Fred Sargeant Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. Just making their lives miserable for once. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Gay rights, like the rights of blacks, were constantly under attack and while blacks were protected by constitutional amendments coming out of the Civil War, gays were not protected by law and certainly not the Constitution. 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. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Tom Caruso I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". And that's what it was, it was a war. Ellen Goosenberg 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 the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. You know. 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. There are a lot of kids here. 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.". This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. 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. 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. Even non-gay people. Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . Getty Images And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." One never knows when the homosexual is about. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. Danny Garvin:It was a chance to find love. 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.". The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up?
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