The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. Amber Hall I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Things were being thrown against the plywood, we piled things up to try to buttress it. Queer was very big. 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. 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. Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. We were winning. 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. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. Nobody. 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. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. John O'Brien:There was one street called Christopher Street, where actually I could sit and talk to other gay people beyond just having sex. 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. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. Leroy S. Mobley 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. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. There are a lot of kids here. Because one out of three of you will turn queer. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International 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. Jeremiah Hawkins I mean I'm talking like sardines. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Ed Koch who was a democratic party leader in the Greenwich Village area, was a specific leader of the local forces seeking to clean up the streets. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. Synopsis. [1] To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 2019, the film was restored and re-released by First Run Features in June 2019. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. And when she grabbed that everybody knew she couldn't do it alone so all the other queens, Congo Woman, queens like that started and they were hitting that door. 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. Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. Fifty years ago, a gay bar in New York City called The Stonewall Inn was raided by police, and what followed were days of rebellion where protesters and police clashed. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. 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. Do you understand me?". I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. 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. 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. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. Geoff Kole Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. 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. One never knows when the homosexual is about. Evan Eames 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. It was done in our little street talk. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. Remember everything. We went, "Oh my God. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We had maybe six people and by this time there were several thousand outside. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Just making their lives miserable for once. Jerry Hoose:I mean the riot squad was used to riots. 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. They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. 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. Alan Lechner 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. For the first time the next person stood up. What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE 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?". And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. June 21, 2019 1:29 PM EDT. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. 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. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. John van Hoesen Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:So at that point the police are extremely nervous. Genre: Documentary, History, Drama. People started throwing pennies. 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. The medical experimentation in Atascadero included administering, to gay people, a drug that simulated the experience of drowning; in other words, a pharmacological example of waterboarding. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. 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. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. Barney Karpfinger 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. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". I made friends that first day. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. Narrator (Archival):Sure enough, the following day, when Jimmy finished playing ball, well, the man was there waiting. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story.
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