Fred Sargeant:Things started off small, but there was an energy that began to flow through the crowd. One of the world's oldest and largest gay pride parades became a victory celebration after New York's historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage. You cut one head off. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." And they started smashing their heads with clubs. 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. Danny Garvin:Something snapped. 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 . 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. I was a homosexual. And we all relaxed. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. It was done in our little street talk. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. John van Hoesen Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:The mob raised its hand and said "Oh, we'll volunteer," you know, "We'll set up some gay bars and serve over-priced, watered-down drinks to you guys." Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . 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. It was a way to vent my anger at being repressed. And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. 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. ITN Source Eric Marcus has spent years interviewing people who were there that night, as well as those who were pushing for gay rights before Stonewall. 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? Queer was very big. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement . And it's interesting to note how many youngsters we've been seeing in these films. Before Stonewall. Nobody. A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. Janice Flood This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips . "Daybreak Express" by D.A. Fred Sargeant:When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. And when you got a word, the word was homosexuality and you looked it up. Gay bars were to gay people what churches were to blacks in the South. It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. 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. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School This was in front of the police. So it was a perfect storm for the police. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. 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. This book, and the related documentary film, use oral histories to present students with a varied view of lesbian and gay experience. Trevor, Post Production I was in the Navy when I was 17 and it was there that I discovered that I was gay. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had been in some gay bars either for a story or gay friends would say, "Oh we're going to go in for a drink there, come on in, are you too uptight to go in?" He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. We had been threatened bomb threats. Suzanne Poli Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. And they were lucky that door was closed, they were very lucky. Daily News Martin Boyce:That was our only block. 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. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. 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. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots. Martin Boyce The shop had been threatened, we would get hang-up calls, calls where people would curse at us on the phone, we'd had vandalism, windows broken, streams of profanity. A medievalist. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. 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. 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. In the trucks or around the trucks. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. And I just didn't understand that. Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. 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. With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Participants of the 1969 Greenwich Village uprising describe the effect that Stonewall had on their lives. But we're going to pay dearly for this. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisings included: Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967 Black Night Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961. Fifty years ago, a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. Danny Garvin:We became a people. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. 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. 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. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. 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. 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. It's the first time I'm fully inside the Stonewall. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Chris Mara, Production Assistants He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. 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. It's a history that people feel a huge sense of ownership over. Synopsis. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. You had no place to try to find an identity. 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. From left: "Before Stonewall" director Greta Schiller, executive producer John Scagliotti and co-director Robert Rosenberg in 1985. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. 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. It was the only time I was in a gladiatorial sport that I stood up in. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. Narrator (Archival):Note how Albert delicately pats his hair, and adjusts his collar. I mean does anyone know what that is? That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. 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. Danny Garvin:People were screaming "pig," "copper." Joe DeCola Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And I keep listening and listening and listening, hoping I'm gonna hear sirens any minute and I was very freaked. The events of that night have been described as the birth of the gay-rights movement. Narrator (Archival):This is a nation of laws. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. Lauren Noyes.