before stonewall documentary transcriptdavid and kate bagby 2020

She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Barak Goodman Beginning of our night out started early. Lauren Noyes. [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]. Mike Nuget The windows were always cloaked. Michael Dolan, Technical Advisors All rights reserved. We were winning. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. John O'Brien:If a gay man is caught by the police and is identified as being involved in what they called lewd, immoral behavior, they would have their person's name, their age and many times their home address listed in the major newspapers. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. Geoff Kole 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. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. That's what gave oxygen to the fire. 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. And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. 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. Not even us. 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. Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. Barney Karpfinger Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. 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. Katrina Heilbroner It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. 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. The Stonewall had reopened. Abstract. That's it. It was first released in 1984 with its American premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the Berlinale, followed by a successful theatrical release in many countries and a national broadcast on PBS. 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. It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. 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. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. Yvonne Ritter:It's like people who are, you know, black people who are used to being mistreated, and going to the back of the bus and I guess this was sort of our going to the back of the bus. People cheer while standing in front of The Stonewall Inn as the annual Gay Pride parade passes, Sunday, June 26, 2011 in New York. Danny Garvin:It was a chance to find love. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. I never believed in that. We were going to propose something that all groups could participate in and what we ended up producing was what's now known as the gay pride march. hide caption. Other images in this film are ", Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And he went to each man and said it by name. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. Because to be gay represented to me either very, super effeminate men or older men who hung out in the upper movie theatres on 42nd Street or in the subway T-rooms, who'd be masturbating. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. Where did you buy it? A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. Ellen Goosenberg Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. 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. It was done in our little street talk. They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. Jerry Hoose:And I got to the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street, crossed the street and there I had found Nirvana. 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. You know, all of a sudden, I had brothers and sisters, you know, which I didn't have before. Amber Hall This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". Based on And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. People that were involved in it like me referred to it as "The First Run." The men's room was under police surveillance. Nobody. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. "Don't fire. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. It meant nothing to us. Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? We don't know. 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. Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. In an effort to avoid being anachronistic . Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. But we went down to the trucks and there, people would have sex. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. And I had become very radicalized in that time. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. David Carter, Author ofStonewall:Most raids by the New York City Police, because they were paid off by the mob, took place on a weeknight, they took place early in the evening, the place would not be crowded. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. Cop (Archival):Anyone can walk into that men's room, any child can walk in there, and see what you guys were doing. Just let's see if they can. And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. You were alone. 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. Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. Raymond Castro:We were in the back of the room, and the lights went on, so everybody stopped what they were doing, because now the police started coming in, raiding the bar. The police weren't letting us dance. 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. Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Before Stonewall. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. He said, "Okay, let's go." Windows started to break. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:All throughout the 60s in New York City, the period when the New York World's Fair was attracting visitors from all over America and all over the world. MacDonald & Associates Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of But after the uprising, polite requests for change turned into angry demands. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. But everybody knew it wasn't normal stuff and everyone was on edge and that was the worst part of it because you knew they were on edge and you knew that the first shot that was fired meant all the shots would be fired. In the Life I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Judy Laster John O'Brien And that's what it was, it was a war. 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. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. They were the storm troopers. Queer was very big. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. This was in front of the police. They were getting more ferocious. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. And then there were all these priests ranting in church about certain places not to go, so you kind of knew where you could go by what you were told not to do. So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. Paul Bosche Doric Wilson:Somebody that I knew that was older than me, his family had him sent off where they go up and damage the frontal part of the brain. So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". The documentary shows how homosexual people enjoyed and shared with each other. 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? You had no place to try to find an identity. Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. Because one out of three of you will turn queer. Quentin Heilbroner We love to hear from our listeners! Alan Lechner 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. Alexandra Meryash Nikolchev, On-Line Editors And so Howard said, "We've got police press passes upstairs." Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:There were all these articles in likeLife Magazineabout how the Village was liberal and people that were called homosexuals went there. 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. 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? In the trucks or around the trucks. Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. One time, a bunch of us ran into somebody's car and locked the door and they smashed the windows in. We had been threatened bomb threats. Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Seymour Wishman 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. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. And, it was, I knew I would go through hell, I would go through fire for that experience. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. Marc Aubin John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. So it was a perfect storm for the police. I'm losing everything that I have. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. But we're going to pay dearly for this. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. First Run Features Jay Fialkov Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. 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. 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? "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." Original Language: English. Pamela Gaudiano The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. 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. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Before Stonewall. Jerry Hoose:I remember I was in a paddy wagon one time on the way to jail, we were all locked up together on a chain in the paddy wagon and the paddy wagon stopped for a red light or something and one of the queens said "Oh, this is my stop." And it just seemed like, fantastic because the background was this industrial, becoming an industrial ruin, it was a masculine setting, it was a whole world. 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. 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. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. Doric Wilson 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. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. You know. 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. In 1969 it was common for police officers to rough up a gay bar and ask for payoffs. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. Slate:The Homosexuals(1967), CBS Reports. Dr. Socarides (Archival):I think the whole idea of saying "the happy homosexual" is to, uh, to create a mythology about the nature of homosexuality. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. Danny Garvin:We became a people. And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. Long before marriage equality, non-binary gender identity, and the flood of new documentaries commemorating this month's 50th anniversary of the Greenwich Village uprising that begat the gay rights movement, there was Greta Schiller's Before Stonewall.Originally released in 1984as AIDS was slowly killing off many of those bar patrons-turned-revolutionariesthe film, through the use of . Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Dana Gaiser It's like, this is not right. 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. 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. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. That this was normal stuff. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. Martin Boyce We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were.

What Time Does Tsa Open At Tf Green Airport, Easter Youth Sermon, Articles B