In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. Lauren Noyes. 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. View in iTunes. It was a horror story. 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. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. Dana Gaiser Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. 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. 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. Marjorie Duffield Martha Shelley It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. 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. Martha Shelley:In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. 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. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. 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. This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.".
Before Stonewall - Letterboxd And we had no right to such.
Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries Review: 'Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community' Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of a sudden, in the background I heard some police cars. Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. Charles Harris, Transcriptions It was a real good sound to know that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? TV Host (Archival):Ladies and gentlemen, the reason for using first names only forthese very, very charming contestants is that right now each one of them is breaking the law. Fred Sargeant Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. First Run Features And they started smashing their heads with clubs. Over a short period of time, he will be unable to get sexually aroused to the pictures, and hopefully, he will be unable to get sexually aroused inside, in other settings as well. David Alpert Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. They were the storm troopers. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:Those of us that were the street kids we didn't think much about the past or the future. 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. Almost anything you could name. kui 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. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? Based on I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. 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: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. 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. That's what gave oxygen to the fire. This was in front of the police. Before Stonewall - Trailer BuskFilms 12.6K subscribers Subscribe 14K views 10 years ago Watch the full film here (UK & IRE only): http://buskfilms.com/films/before-sto. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. For those kisses. And I think it's both the alienation, also the oppression that people suffered. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. My last name being Garvin, I'd be called Danny Gay-vin. They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. 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. Urban Stages From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. 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. 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 had been threatened bomb threats. This, to a homosexual, is no choice at all. People started throwing pennies. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. 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. I never believed in that. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors We heard one, then more and more. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. 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. 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 the police escalated their crackdown on bars because of the reelection campaign. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." 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 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? In a spontaneous show of support and frustration, the citys gay community rioted for three nights in the streets, an event that is considered the birth of the modern Gay Rights Movement. But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. ITN Source Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. Martin Boyce:Mind you socks didn't count, so it was underwear, and undershirt, now the next thing was going to ruin the outfit. He may appear normal, and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill. John O'Brien:I was a poor, young gay person. The scenes were photographed with telescopic lenses. We were winning. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. All I knew about was that I heard that there were people down in Times Square who were gay and that's where I went to. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films.
Before Stonewall (1984) Movie Script | Subs like Script Revealing and. It was terrifying. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. Susan Liberti And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Available via license: Content may be subject to . Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. 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 events. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. And I just didn't understand that. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. "We're not going.". John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. Fred Sargeant:The press did refer to it in very pejorative terms, as a night that the drag queens fought back. 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. The overwhelming number of medical authorities said that homosexuality was a mental defect, maybe even a form of psychopathy. Daily News Greg Shea, Legal Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations 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. All rights reserved. I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." It was an age of experimentation. Where did you buy it? He said, "Okay, let's go." And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. 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. 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." Producers Library This time they said, "We're not going." Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". But we couldn't hold out very long. Don't fire until I fire. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. Martin Boyce:All of a sudden, Miss New Orleans and all people around us started marching step by step and the police started moving back. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. 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. Detective John Sorenson, Dade County Morals & Juvenile Squad (Archival):There may be some in this auditorium. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. Never, never, never. Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. Mike Nuget I had never seen anything like that. It's not my cup of tea.
Before Stonewall - Wikipedia Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. 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. But we're going to pay dearly for this. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. On this episode, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall. 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. They'd think I'm a cop even though I had a big Jew-fro haircut and a big handlebar mustache at the time. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. The Stonewall had reopened. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center 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? And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community I mean you got a major incident going on down there and I didn't see any TV cameras at all. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. 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.