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. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. And so we had to create these spaces, mostly in the trucks. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. 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. They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. 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. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. We don't know. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." 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. 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 gay community. Available via license: Content may be subject to . Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. Greg Shea, Legal 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." Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. Daily News That was our world, that block. Before Stonewall. Seymour Wishman Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. But the . Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. They didn't know what they were walking into. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. That's more an uprising than a riot. I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. And I knew that I was lesbian. Homo, homo was big. Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? I mean it didn't stop after that. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Alexis Charizopolis I said, "I can go in with you?" And the police were showing up. Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. John DiGiacomo TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? Gay bars were always on side streets out of the way in neighborhoods that nobody would go into. They could be judges, lawyers. Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. Dana Kirchoff In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. MacDonald & Associates That was scary, very scary. Jerry Hoose It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. 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. 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. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And by the time the police would come back towards Stonewall, that crowd had gone all the around Washington Place come all the way back around and were back pushing in on them from the other direction and the police would wonder, "These are the same people or different people?". Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. And we all relaxed. 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. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. 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 here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. 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. Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. 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. Before Stonewall - Trailer BuskFilms 12.6K subscribers Subscribe 14K views 10 years ago Watch the full film here (UK & IRE only): http://buskfilms.com/films/before-sto. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. Dick Leitsch:Mattachino in Italy were court jesters; the only people in the whole kingdom who could speak truth to the king because they did it with a smile. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". People that were involved in it like me referred to it as "The First Run." 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. Historic Films 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. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude Scott Kardel, Project Administration William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt 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. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. It was fun to see fags. 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 when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. A medievalist. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. hide caption. 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. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. Not able to do anything. 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 I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Doric Wilson:In those days, the idea of walking in daylight, with a sign saying, "I'm a faggot," was horren--, nobody, nobody was ready to do that. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. Gay people were never supposed to be threats to police officers. 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. TV Host (Archival):Are those your own eyelashes? I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. And that's what it was, it was a war. I had never seen anything like that. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. 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. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 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. Martha Babcock Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. Lilli M. Vincenz "Daybreak Express" by D.A. David Huggins But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. 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. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . [7] In 1989, it won the Festival's Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Noah Goldman Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. [00:00:55] Oh, my God. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was a bottle club which meant that I guess you went to the door and you bought a membership or something for a buck and then you went in and then you could buy drinks. 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. Doric Wilson:When I was very young, one of the terms for gay people was twilight people, meaning that we never came out until twilight, 'til it got dark. Clever. You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. 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. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Even non-gay people. Alan Lechner Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. Raymond Castro:I'd go in there and I would look and I would just cringe because, you know, people would start touching me, and "Hello, what are you doing there if you don't want to be touched?" And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. 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. Danny Garvin:We became a people. Because if you don't have extremes, you don't get any moderation. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? You see, Ralph was a homosexual. The windows were always cloaked. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. We were scared. 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? We were all there. We love to hear from our listeners! Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Amber Hall Former U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with gay rights activist Frank Kameny after signing a memorandum on federal benefits and non-discrimination in the Oval Office on June 17, 2009. The newly restored 1984 documentary "Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community," re-released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the seminal Stonewall riots, remains a . Pamela Gaudiano And I just didn't understand that. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. I made friends that first day. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors And it was fantastic. 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. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. I mean they were making some headway. For those kisses. 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." Samual Murkofsky Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of straight America, in terms of the middle class, was recoiling in horror from what was happening all around them at that time, in that summer and the summer before. The events. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. Lauren Noyes. Many of those activists have since died, but Marcus preserved their voices for his book, titled Making Gay History. That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. 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. It was like a reward. 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. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. Doing things like that. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. There are a lot of kids here. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. 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.