before stonewall documentary transcript

This 1968 Film Put Drag Queens In The Spotlight Before Stonewall - HuffPost 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. 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. Based on Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. 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. The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. Vanessa Ezersky And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? Former U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with gay rights activist Frank Kameny after signing a memorandum on federal benefits and non-discrimination in the Oval Office on June 17, 2009. Fred Sargeant:The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. Frank Simon's documentary follows the drag contestants of 1967's Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, capturing plenty of on- and offstage drama along the way. They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. John Scagliotti The windows were always cloaked. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. 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. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. Samual Murkofsky 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. It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. Producers Library Marc Aubin And it's that hairpin trigger thing that makes the riot happen. We were all there. We don't know. I guess they're deviates. For the first time the next person stood up. Raymond Castro This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Transcript Enlarge this image 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. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Quentin Heilbroner 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. 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. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. I have pondered this as "Before Stonewall," my first feature documentary, is back in cinemas after 35 years. TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. And today we're talking about Stonewall, which were both pretty anxious about so anxious. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. 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. 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. Urban Stages We heard one, then more and more. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. Scott Kardel, Project Administration Once it started, once that genie was out of the bottle, it was never going to go back in. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? 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 I hadn't had enough sleep, so I was in a somewhat feverish state, and I thought, "We have to do something, we have to do something," and I thought, "We have to have a protest march of our own." Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Newly Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. 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 an age of experimentation. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. That's what gave oxygen to the fire. Her most recent film, Bones of Contention, premiered in the 2016 Berlin International And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. Paul Bosche Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. Fred Sargeant But we couldn't hold out very long. 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. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt kui Raymond Castro:You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protesters and it was a good sound. And Vito and I walked the rest of the whole thing with tears running down our face. 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. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." I am not alone, there are other people that feel exactly the same way.". But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago. But we went down to the trucks and there, people would have sex. For those kisses. Before Stonewall (1984) Movie Script | Subs like Script Greenwich Village's Stonewall Inn has undergone several transformations in the decades since it was the focal point of a three-day riot in 1969. It must have been terrifying for them. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. First Run Features But it was a refuge, it was a temporary refuge from the street. Homo, homo was big. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. And some people came out, being very dramatic, throwing their arms up in a V, you know, the victory sign. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. On June 27, 1969, police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. All the rules were off in the '60s. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. Martin Boyce Dick Leitsch:You read about Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal and all these actors and stuff, Liberace and all these people running around doing all these things and then you came to New York and you found out, well maybe they're doing them but, you know, us middle-class homosexuals, we're getting busted all the time, every time we have a place to go, it gets raided. They didn't know what they were walking into. And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. 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. Martha Shelley They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. 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. You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. More than a half-century after its release, " The Queen " serves as a powerful time capsule of queer life as it existed before the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . That was our world, that block. Raymond Castro:So then I got pushed back in, into the Stonewall by these plain clothes cops and they would not let me out, they didn't let anybody out. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. There are a lot of kids here. It was terrifying. There was no going back now, there was no going back, there was no, we had discovered a power that we weren't even aware that we had. 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. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:What was so good about the Stonewall was that you could dance slow there. Things were just changing. All of this stuff was just erupting like a -- as far as they were considered, like a gigantic boil on the butt of America. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. Transcript Aired June 9, 2020 Stonewall Uprising The Year That Changed America Film Description When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of. Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. The New York Times / Redux Pictures Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. Hear more of the conversation and historical interviews at the audio link. Lilli M. Vincenz People standing on cars, standing on garbage cans, screaming, yelling. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. Before Stonewall, the activists wanted to fit into society and not rock the boat. And I knew that I was lesbian. (158) 7.5 1 h 26 min 1985 13+. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. Before Stonewall (1984) - IMDb 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. Transcript of Re-Release: The Stonewall | Happy Scribe Just making their lives miserable for once. 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? Watch Before Stonewall | Prime Video - amazon.com Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Barak Goodman 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. David Huggins 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. Doug Cramer Activists had been working for change long before Stonewall. Alexis Charizopolis Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Interviewer (Archival):Are you a homosexual? To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. WPA Film Library, Thanks to [00:00:55] Oh, my God. I actually thought, as all of them did, that we were going to be killed. Ed Koch, mayorof New York City from1978 to 1989, discussesgay civil rights in New York in the 1960s. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. And the harder she fought, the more the cops were beating her up and the madder the crowd got. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:Saturday night there it was. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. Do you understand me?". Dana Gaiser Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. That's it. Before Stonewall | Apple TV Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. And the cops got that. 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. We had no speakers planned for the rally in Central Park, where we had hoped to get to. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Robin Haueter Before Stonewall - Wikipedia Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation They were to us. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. I could never let that happen and never did. Documentary | Stonewall Forever Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries . 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. Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? 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. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. 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. Your choice, you can come in with us or you can stay out here with the crowd and report your stuff from out here.