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. Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. [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]. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. Never, never, never. 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. It's like, this is not right. They were getting more ferocious. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:At a certain point, it felt pretty dangerous to me but I noticed that the cop that seemed in charge, he said you know what, we have to go inside for safety. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. It meant nothing to us. 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. Before Stonewall - Trailer - YouTube We heard one, then more and more. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt It was tremendous freedom. I made friends that first day. Available via license: Content may be subject to . Trevor, Post Production A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. This Restored Documentary Examines What LGBTQ Lives Were Like Before 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. This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. Linton Media ITN Source They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. 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. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:At the peak, as many as 500 people per year were arrested for the crime against nature, and between 3- and 5,000 people per year arrested for various solicitation or loitering crimes. Stonewall Uprising | American Experience | PBS A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. If anybody should find out I was gay and would tell my mother, who was in a wheelchair, it would have broken my heart and she would have thought she did something wrong. "BEFORE STONEWALL" - MetroFocus And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Director . We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. I was a man. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. 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. We were scared. Sophie Cabott Black Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. You had no place to try to find an identity. Quentin Heilbroner Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. Before Stonewall - Wikipedia 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. 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? 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. You know. Other images in this film are 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. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. Geoff Kole And she was quite crazy. Martin Boyce:It was thrilling. Lauren Noyes. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku But the . In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Now, 50 years later, the film is back. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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. Almost anything you could name. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. Homo, homo was big. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. David Huggins John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? That's 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. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. They were the storm troopers. I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. 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. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation 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 . 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. And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. And the Stonewall was part of that system. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. Evan Eames But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. Pamela Gaudiano 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. 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. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. It must have been terrifying for them. Giles Kotcher But the before section, I really wanted people to have a sense of what it felt like to be gay, lesbian, transgender, before Stonewall and before you have this mass civil rights movement that comes after Stonewall. I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. Martin Boyce:You could be beaten, you could have your head smashed in a men's room because you were looking the wrong way. Jerry Hoose 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. Because if you don't have extremes, you don't get any moderation. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. Don't fire until I fire. Greg Shea, Legal And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" 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." 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' Tracks the Pre-Movement Era | International Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. You cut one head off. They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. Ellen Goosenberg Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Gay rights, like the rights of blacks, were constantly under attack and while blacks were protected by constitutional amendments coming out of the Civil War, gays were not protected by law and certainly not the Constitution. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School And as I'm looking around to see what's going on, police cars, different things happening, it's getting bigger by the minute. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Stacker put together a timeline of LGBTQ+ history leading up to Stonewall, beginning with prehistoric events and ending in the late 1960s. 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. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography Martin Boyce:That was our only block. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. The Stonewall had reopened. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Dan Martino If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. Before Stonewall (1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. Glenn Fukushima The men's room was under police surveillance. From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. And they were gay. Yvonne Ritter:And then everybody started to throw pennies like, you know, this is what they were, they were nothing but copper, coppers, that's what they were worth. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. This time they said, "We're not going." I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". The idea was to be there first. Before Stonewall 1984 Unrated 1 h 27 m IMDb RATING 7.5 /10 1.1K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 2:21 1 Video 7 Photos Documentary History The history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement. That never happened before. 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. I never saw so many gay people dancing in my life. Martha Shelley Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We didn't have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war. Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. They could be judges, lawyers. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. 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. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. I hope it was. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Just let's see if they can. We don't know. The cops were barricaded inside. Mafia house beer? And we had no right to such. 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 once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. As president of the Mattachine Society in New York, I tried to negotiate with the police and the mayor. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. kui Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. 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. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Dana Gaiser Judith Kuchar Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. There were gay bars in Midtown, there were gay bars uptown, there were certain kinds of gay bars on the Upper East Side, you know really, really, really buttoned-up straight gay bars.