before stonewall documentary transcript before stonewall documentary transcript

Transcript A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. They can be anywhere. Judith Kuchar William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. Because one out of three of you will turn queer. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" He pulls all his men inside. 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. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." The men's room was under police surveillance. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Not even us. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. 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. 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. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. 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. And I just didn't understand that. I mean I'm talking like sardines. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. The groundbreaking 1984 film "Before Stonewall" introduced audiences to some of the key players and places that helped spark the Greenwich Village riots. Charles Harris, Transcriptions And so we had to create these spaces, mostly in the trucks. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. All rights reserved. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. 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. ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. I grew up in a very Catholic household and the conflict of issues of redemption, of is it possible that if you are this thing called homosexual, is it possible to be redeemed? And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. 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. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. But that's only partially true. Never, never, never. Raymond Castro 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. Jerry Hoose:The police would come by two or three times a night. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. John O'Brien:In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police, in the peace movement, we ran from the police. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. Lauren Noyes. 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. But we're going to pay dearly for this. 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. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. 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. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. 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? Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. 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. NBC News Archives 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:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Daniel Pine 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. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. Pamela Gaudiano Available on Prime Video, Tubi TV, iTunes. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. First Run Features You needed a license even to be a beautician and that could be either denied or taken away from you. Things were just changing. You know. 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. MacDonald & Associates Cause I was from the streets. The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. Frank Kameny 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. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. 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. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. Getty Images 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." We don't know. I wanted to kill those cops for the anger I had in me. 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. Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. David Huggins Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. 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. hide caption. 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. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? I really thought that, you know, we did it. They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. Where did you buy it? Before Stonewall. But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. 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. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. Martha Shelley:Before Stonewall, the homophile movement was essentially the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis and all of these other little gay organizations, some of which were just two people and a mimeograph machine. 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. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. 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. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Producers Library John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. David Carter Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. 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. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Dana Gaiser They would bang on the trucks. Synopsis. 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. And we all relaxed. 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. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Martin Boyce:The day after the first riot, when it was all over, and I remember sitting, sun was soon to come, and I was sitting on the stoop, and I was exhausted and I looked at that street, it was dark enough to allow the street lamps to pick up the glitter of all the broken glass, and all the debris, and all the different colored cloth, that was in different places. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. Because if they weren't there fast, I was worried that there was something going on that I didn't know about and they weren't gonna come. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. It was tremendous freedom. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco 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. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Giles Kotcher They could be judges, lawyers. Corbis 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. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." 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. And she was quite crazy. 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. We were winning. Doric Wilson:And we were about 100, 120 people and there were people lining the sidewalks ahead of us to watch us go by, gay people, mainly. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. Liz Davis 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. He said, "Okay, let's go." 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. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Available via license: Content may be subject to . Jay Fialkov 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 . 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. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. 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 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?