That's it. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. Paul Bosche Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. It must have been terrifying for them. It is usually after the day at the beach that the real crime occurs. I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. 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. Danny Garvin:It was the perfect time to be in the Village. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. And the people coming out weren't going along with it so easily. The most infamous of those institutions was Atascadero, in California. 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. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. A Q-Ball Productions film for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:But there were little, tiny pin holes in the plywood windows, I'll call them the windows but they were plywood, and we could look out from there and every time I went over and looked out through one of those pin holes where he did, we were shocked at how big the crowd had become. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground. Noah Goldman 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? I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." Dick Leitsch:And I remember it being a clear evening with a big black sky and the biggest white moon I ever saw. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. Where did you buy it? William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Ed Koch who was a democratic party leader in the Greenwich Village area, was a specific leader of the local forces seeking to clean up the streets. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. 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. For those kisses. 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. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Getty Images In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Jerry Hoose:Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. Bettye Lane It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. Do you understand me?". John O'Brien ITN Source 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. National Archives and Records Administration Danny Garvin:We became a people. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. So I run down there. We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. Because he was homosexual. And we had no right to such. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. I just thought you had to get through this, and I thought I could get through it, but you really had to be smart about it. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. This was a highly unusual raid, going in there in the middle of the night with a full crowd, the Mafia hasn't been alerted, the Sixth Precinct hasn't been alerted. 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. Clever. Eric Marcus, Writer:The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. She was awarded the first ever Emmy Award for Research for her groundbreaking work on Before Stonewall. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. Jerry Hoose It eats you up inside not being comfortable with yourself. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. The idea was to be there first. Robin Haueter And I knew that I was lesbian. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films So in every gay pride parade every year, Stonewall lives. They can be anywhere. They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. Barney Karpfinger That wasn't ours, it was borrowed. Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. I guess they're deviates. First Run Features And in a sense the Stonewall riots said, "Get off our backs, deliver on the promise." 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. A person marching in a gay rights parade along New York's Fifth Avenue on July 7th, 1979. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". I made friends that first day. The men's room was under police surveillance. And it was fantastic. What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. "You could have got us in a lot of trouble, you could have got us closed up." And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. In addition to interviews with activists and scholars, the film includes the reflections of renowned writer Allen Ginsberg. So I attempted suicide by cutting my wrists. TV Host (Archival):And Sonia is that your own hair? 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. 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. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We only had about six people altogether from the police department knowing that you had a precinct right nearby that would send assistance. And she was quite crazy. Atascadero was known in gay circles as the Dachau for queers, and appropriately so. Corbis Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. Oh, tell me about your anxiety. People could take shots at us. This was in front of the police. Here are my ID cards, you knew they were phonies. Raymond Castro:If that light goes on, you know to stop whatever you're doing, and separate. People started throwing pennies. You had no place to try to find an identity. Charles Harris, Transcriptions It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. One never knows when the homosexual is about. Trevor, Post Production There are a lot of kids here. 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. The Underground Lounge It was as bad as any situation that I had met in during the army, had just as much to worry about. Eventually something was bound to blow. by David Carter, Associate Producer and Advisor A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a. You know, it's just, everybody was there. The windows were always cloaked. 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. Obama signed the memorandum to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 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. Barak Goodman With this outpouring of courage and unity the gay liberation movement had begun. Windows started to break. Quentin Heilbroner I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Producers Library Before Stonewall (1984) - full transcript 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. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. And I raised my hand at one point and said, "Let's have a protest march." Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. [00:00:58] Well, this I mean, this is a part of my own history in this weird, inchoate sense. Martin Boyce:Well, in the front part of the bar would be like "A" gays, like regular gays, that didn't go in any kind of drag, didn't use the word "she," that type, but they were gay, a hundred percent gay. Mafia house beer? All rights reserved. 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. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. 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. John O'Brien:They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds. Newly restored for the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Before Stonewall pries open the . Vanessa Ezersky They frequent their own clubs, and bars and coffee houses, where they can escape the disapproving eye of the society that they call straight. People talk about being in and out now, there was no out, there was just in. 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 there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. Fred Sargeant:Someone at this point had apparently gone down to the cigar stand on the corner and got lighter fluid. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:They started busting cans of tear gas. Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. American Airlines Director . A New York Police officer grabs a man by the hair as another officer clubs a man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York. A gay rights march in New York in favor of the 1968 Civil Rights Act being amended to include gay rights. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. Beginning of our night out started early. All kinds of designers, boxers, big museum people. Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? Do you want them to lose all chance of a normal, happy, married life? The Stonewall had reopened. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. Chris Mara Alfredo del Rio, Archival Still and Motion Images Courtesy of Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:At a certain point, it felt pretty dangerous to me but I noticed that the cop that seemed in charge, he said you know what, we have to go inside for safety. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. W hen police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969 50 years ago this month the harassment was routine for the time.