before stonewall documentary transcriptwhat happened to mark reilly strong island
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. Stonewall Uprising Program Transcript Slate: In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. [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. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. A year earlier, young gays, lesbians and transgender people clashed with police near a bar called The Stonewall Inn. And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. It was fun to see fags. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. 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 . 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. 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. They can be anywhere. Martin Boyce:You could be beaten, you could have your head smashed in a men's room because you were looking the wrong way. 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. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. Before Stonewall pries open the closet door, setting free dramatic stories from the early 1900's onwards of public and private existence as experienced by LGBT Americans. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. 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. Quentin Heilbroner They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. The New York State Liquor Authority refused to issue liquor licenses to many gay bars, and several popular establishments had licenses suspended or revoked for "indecent conduct.". It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. Alexis Charizopolis Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. If you would like to read more on the topic, here's a list: Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and NPR One. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. 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 then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. 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. Even non-gay people. So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. American Airlines Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." I had never seen anything like that. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." John Scagliotti Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. And she was quite crazy. And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." But we couldn't hold out very long. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. They were not used to a bunch of drag queens doing a Rockettes kick line and sort of like giving them all the finger in a way. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. People cheer while standing in front of The Stonewall Inn as the annual Gay Pride parade passes, Sunday, June 26, 2011 in New York. 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. So it was a perfect storm for the police. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:TheNew York TimesI guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. 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. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Ellen Goosenberg Geoff Kole And we all relaxed. David Carter Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. Liz Davis 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. Dan Bodner Nobody. 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. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Don't fire until I fire. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco Jerry Hoose You throw into that, that the Stonewall was raided the previous Tuesday night. Doric Wilson:When I was very young, one of the terms for gay people was twilight people, meaning that we never came out until twilight, 'til it got dark. Tweet at us @throughlineNPR, send us an email, or leave us a voicemail at (872) 588-8805. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. 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. Mike Wallace (Archival):Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. I was a man. Stonewall Forever is a documentary from NYC's LGBT Community Center directed by Ro Haber. 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?" Danny Garvin:It was the perfect time to be in the Village. That never happened before. The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? Susana Fernandes 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. WGBH Educational Foundation And the rest of your life will be a living hell. I hope it was. Homo, homo was big. Narrated by Rita Mae Brownan acclaimed writer whose 1973 novel Rubyfruit Jungle is a seminal lesbian text, but who is possessed of a painfully grating voiceBefore Stonewall includes vintage news footage that makes it clear that gay men and women lived full, if often difficult, lives long before their personal ambitions (however modest) 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. 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. Linton Media Doric Wilson There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. For the first time, we weren't letting ourselves be carted off to jails, gay people were actually fighting back just the way people in the peace movement fought back. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, and Schiller. The Stonewall had reopened. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. 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. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? I met this guy and I broke down crying in his arms. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. The idea was to be there first. Seymour Wishman 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. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. The groundbreaking 1984 film "Before Stonewall" introduced audiences to some of the key players and places that helped spark the Greenwich Village riots. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. 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." First you gotta get past the door. Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. Raymond Castro 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.". Scott Kardel, Project Administration Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. 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. All the rules were off in the '60s. Frank Kameny [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]. Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. 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. William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. 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. 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. Getty Images That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. The police weren't letting us dance. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. 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. 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. If you came to a place like New York, you at least had the opportunity of connecting with people, and finding people who didn't care that you were gay. 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? Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation 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. We knew that this was a moment that we didn't want to let slip past, because it was something that we could use to bring more of the groups together. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. Andrea Weiss is a documentary filmmaker and author with a Ph.D. in American History. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. hide caption. And all of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. Directors Greta Schiller Robert Rosenberg (co-director) Stars Rita Mae Brown Maua Adele Ajanaku The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world. Beginning of our night out started early.
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