before stonewall documentary transcript

One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. Chris Mara, Production Assistants We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. And that's what it was, it was a war. 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. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. 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. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. Danny Garvin:It was a chance to find love. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. I mean it didn't stop after that. Ellinor Mitchell And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? Franco Sacchi, Additional Animation and Effects John van Hoesen Don't fire until I fire. The men's room was under police surveillance. Trevor, Post Production Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. Urban Stages 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 were scared. [2][3] Later in 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4][5][6]. 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. 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. 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. I had never seen anything like that. 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. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. 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. Colonial House You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". And it was fantastic. Fred Sargeant (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. Liz Davis They were getting more ferocious. We heard one, then more and more. Martin Boyce:That was our only block. NBC News Archives Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. 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. 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. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." They were just holding us almost like in a hostage situation where you don't know what's going to happen next. Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. Bettye Lane Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. 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.". We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. 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. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. 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? The Underground Lounge Robin Haueter 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. It was fun to see fags. Alexis Charizopolis Danny Garvin:He's a faggot, he's a sissy, queer. It was an age of experimentation. Leroy S. Mobley I said, "I can go in with you?" Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. It was a 100% profit, I mean they were stealing the liquor, then watering it down, and they charging twice as much as they charged one door away at the 55. 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. 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. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. 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. We were winning. So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. Revealing and. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. This time they said, "We're not going." Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. 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. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. hide caption. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. So I got into the subway, and on the car was somebody I recognized and he said, "I've never been so scared in my life," and I said, "Well, please let there be more than ten of us, just please let there be more than ten of us. We love to hear from our listeners! 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. If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. 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. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. It was terrifying. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. But as we were going up 6th Avenue, it kept growing. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. I hope it was. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. I made friends that first day. Chris Mara And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. 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. You see these cops, like six or eight cops in drag. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers.