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. 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." We were thinking about survival. But the . Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. 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. This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. Homo, homo was big. 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. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. And the Stonewall was part of that system. There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. In the trucks or around the trucks. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. 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:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." It was fun to see fags. Bettye Lane From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. First you gotta get past the door. Dick Leitsch:And the blocks were small enough that we could run around the block and come in behind them before they got to the next corner. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." 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. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:The Stonewall, they didn't have a liquor license and they were raided by the cops regularly and there were pay-offs to the cops, it was awful. 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. As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. As kids, we played King Kong. 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. It eats you up inside. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? It was an age of experimentation. Hugh Bush A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Dana Gaiser Martin Boyce:That was our only block. If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. That's what gave oxygen to the fire. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. That's what happened on June 28, but as people were released, the night took an unusual turn when protesters and police clashed. I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. 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. Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. Clever. 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. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. Judy Laster 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?" The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. You know. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. John van Hoesen Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Giles Kotcher by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor I was a man. There were occasions where you did see people get night-sticked, or disappear into a group of police and, you know, everybody knew that was not going to have a good end. It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. 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. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. Because one out of three of you will turn queer. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. One never knows when the homosexual is about. 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. 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. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. Judith Kuchar Dan Bodner Seymour Wishman Sophie Cabott Black Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Danny Garvin:We had thought of women's rights, we had thought of black rights, all kinds of human rights, but we never thought of gay rights, and whenever we got kicked out of a bar before, we never came together. Director . One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. He said, "Okay, let's go." Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn has undergone several transformations in the decades since it was the focal point of a three-day riot in 1969. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. "We're not going.". Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. The windows were always cloaked. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Don't fire until I fire. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. It must have been terrifying for them. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. Dick Leitsch:It was an invasion, I mean you felt outraged and stuff like you know what, God, this is America, what's this country come to? That was our world, that block. And they were having a meeting at town hall and there were 400 guys who showed up, and I think a couple of women, talking about these riots, 'cause everybody was really energized and upset and angry about it. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Also, through this fight, the "LGBT" was born. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Vanessa Ezersky Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. We could easily be hunted, that was a game. We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". Danny Garvin:Something snapped. 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 as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. Danny Garvin:It was a chance to find love. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? I entered the convent at 26, to pursue that question and I was convinced that I would either stay until I got an answer, or if I didn't get an answer just stay. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. 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. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. Cause I was from the streets. Dan Martino I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. There was no going back now, there was no going back, there was no, we had discovered a power that we weren't even aware that we had. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. Mike Nuget And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. The police weren't letting us dance. And that crowd between Howard Johnson's and Mama's Chik-n-Rib was like the basic crowd of the gay community at that time in the Village. Where did you buy it? On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, setting off a three-day riot that launched the modern American gay rights movement. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:All throughout the 60s in New York City, the period when the New York World's Fair was attracting visitors from all over America and all over the world. Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. Never, never, never. Original Language: English. Nobody. 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. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku 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. I was proud. Even non-gay people. They could be judges, lawyers. Well, it was a nightmare for the lesbian or gay man who was arrested and caught up in this juggernaut, but it was also a nightmare for the lesbians or gay men who lived in the closet. They didn't know what they were walking into. People that were involved in it like me referred to it as "The First Run." Almost anything you could name. Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. 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. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. BBC Worldwide Americas Geoff Kole John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. 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. 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? William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. 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. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. Beginning of our night out started early. ITN Source In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. And they wore dark police uniforms and riot helmets and they had billy clubs and they had big plastic shields, like Roman army, and they actually formed a phalanx, and just marched down Christopher Street and kind of pushed us in front of them. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. The Stonewall had reopened. Maureen Jordan Just let's see if they can. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. [7] In 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors I guess they're deviates. And I hadn't had enough sleep, so I was in a somewhat feverish state, and I thought, "We have to do something, we have to do something," and I thought, "We have to have a protest march of our own." I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. 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. It's not my cup of tea. 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. People could take shots at us. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? Because he was homosexual. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. Trevor, Post Production And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York. 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. I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. 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. I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. 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. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. 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. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. David Huggins Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. I hope it was. Not able to do anything. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Leroy S. Mobley The groundbreaking 1984 film "Before Stonewall" introduced audiences to some of the key players and places that helped spark the Greenwich Village riots. Audience Member (Archival):I was wondering if you think that there are any quote "happy homosexuals" for whom homosexuality would be, in a way, their best adjustment in life? A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. The award-winning documentary film, Before Stonewall, which was released theatrically and broadcast on PBS television in 1984, explored the history of the lesbian and gay rights movement in the United States prior to 1969. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had been in some gay bars either for a story or gay friends would say, "Oh we're going to go in for a drink there, come on in, are you too uptight to go in?" 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. Because as the police moved back, we were conscious, all of us, of the area we were controlling and now we were in control of the area because we were surrounded the bar, we were moving in, they were moving back. And I just didn't understand that. Martha Shelley A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". National Archives and Records Administration I really thought that, you know, we did it. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. John DiGiacomo 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap.