Stonewall Forever - A Documentary about the Past, Present and Future of Pride

-We are here. We exist. We have always existed. We're going to fucking continue to exist. [ Cheers and applause ] I'm proud of my experience as a black Afro-Latino transsexual male. [ Cheers and applause ] -We should not be frightened, having to pretend this is any other day. Regardless of age, sexuality, gender, or race, everyone should be standing with us. [ Cheers and applause ] Trans rights are human rights. -Yes. [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause continue ] -And that rally -- th

at was put together in like five hours. When I got to the protest and I saw all those people, like -- I was so -- I was at a loss for words because there was just so much power. There was so much passion. I felt like they had my back. ♪♪ I wouldn't be here, as I am right now, if it wasn't for everyone who fought in the past. ♪♪ I only first heard about Stonewall two years ago -- two years ago, which makes me so angry because I should -- this should be taught. ♪♪ -I don't know when I first heard

about Stonewall, but I think I always kind of heard about it in conjunction with pride. Pride isn't just about the parade that I grew up going to as a younger person. Pride was actually about a riot against the police. ♪♪ -So it was almost 50 years ago, and it's amazing how the LGBT community started fighting back against oppression and transphobia. ♪♪ -Because of my privilege today, it's my job to educate myself on the things that they did to make this possible. You owe it to them to do that, a

nd it's part of what you have to do as a queer person today. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Smells good. We're going to stop at these benches over here. This was my bed. This -- This was my living room. [ Indistinct conversations ] So, this is where I came when I was 13 years old. It was 1962, '63, you know, and when I first hid here, I was so fucking scared. This was Gay Alley. We were all out here, all kids. It would range from, like, 20 to maybe 30, 40, 50 lesbian and gay boys out here, drag queens, transsexuals.

I've definitely felt like I had a family, which I never felt before. The park was -- was safe. The cops didn't come in and bother us that much. Stepping outside the park was a big fucking difference. ♪♪ -♪ Cruel, cruel world ♪ ♪ Thought it used... ♪ -Pre-Stonewall was cops... cops, cops, cops. You always had to be watching your back. -It was just random. It was whoever's face they didn't like. There was this kind of rite of humiliation. They would have to fully humiliate you before they could l

et you go. -Sexual deviancy was the main charge, but they'd tell us it was -- we didn't have the three articles of female clothing on -- bra, panties -- what the fuck was the other third piece and how did they know I didn't have that on? -The accumulation of Stonewall was many years of seeing the police just barge in places. -Technically, they could arrest you for exhibiting homosexual behavior in public, and dancing with a person of the same sex, especially a slow dance, would fit the bill. We

were not a protected class. ♪♪ -It didn't matter how many times they'd beat us up. It didn't matter how many times we'd go to jail. Get out of the hospital, get out of jail, and come right back to the same place again because that was ours. -[ Vocalizing ] -It was really tough being a street queen on 42nd Street, but in the Village, you thought, "Oh, it's okay. We could hang out and not be bothered." I felt comfortable in little sort of dirty, little places. ♪♪ ♪♪ -You'd walk up Christopher Stre

et, and you knew every-fucking-body. It was a lively neighborhood. You know, the -- the West Village was, like... gay, you know? I'm going to use those words because "queer" was a bad word back then. It was "gay." ♪♪ -♪ She wants to know how I feel ♪ ♪♪ -I said, "Oh, wow. This is heaven. There's other people like me." There was a lot of transsexuals in this area. Tourists would come down in their double-decker buses, taking pictures because we were all dressed outrageously. And we walked up and

down Christopher Street, and we weren't afraid because we were in numbers. I started to grow here because I was free. ♪♪ -♪ Tell her that I am gay ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Tell her I wouldn't have it ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Any other way ♪ ♪♪ -My best friend called me and told me, "I found a gay bar, and they can -- they allow you to dance with men!" -♪ People have been talking ♪ -That was the Stonewall. ♪♪ -Stonewall was -- you know, it was always dark in there. You had to [Chuckling] feel your way around sometimes. -The interio

r of the bar was horrific. -♪ "There he goes with a broken heart" ♪ -I mean, they didn't have running water, so no one ordered, if you knew -- no one ordered a drink in a glass, but it was ours. I mean, so who cared what it looked like? -♪ Tell her I wouldn't have it ♪ -And it was always crowded, you know. Always crowded. Like, you'd see queer people outside, but walking into the bars and seeing so many of us -- you know, it was like, yeah, you know -- like, was home. ♪♪ -All places that were fr

equented by gay people were much more diverse. There weren't many bars, and we were all under siege. -♪ No other way ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I just won't have it, baby ♪ -[ Snaps fingers ] ♪♪ [ Indistinct conversations ] -It was a crowded Friday night, but someone behind me mentioned something about a raid. [ Indistinct shouting ] [ Siren wailing ] They already -- they were taking the drag queens out. [ Shouting continues ] -People were dragged from the bar and were shoved into the paddy wagon. -They were pushin

g this queen into a paddy wagon, and I saw her heel come out and hit the cop's shoulder and push him back. He jumped in, and you could hear bone against metal. -Come on! [ Indistinct shouting ] -Then he said, "Alright, you fags, you saw what you wanted. The show's over. Now get the fuck out of here." We went for him. There was enough provocation in every section. The riot was on. [ Shouting intensifies ] -The police were there in massive numbers 'cause that's one of the first times a gay/lesbian

/bisexual/ transgender group had ever fought back. But you can only take so much shit -- do you know what I mean? ♪♪ -The word started coming down into the park that there was this altercation over near Stonewall. We got up here. It was like hundreds of people already. There was trans women. There were lesbians. There were femmes. There were drag queens. There was white. There was black. There was Asian. Everybody was fucking out here. ♪♪ -♪ What you want me to do? ♪ It was a liberation, you kno

w? We felt empowered, like -- [ Chuckles ] You know? This is who we are. We're not going any-fucking-where. -And it just took a momentum of its own. -♪ What you want me to do? ♪ -There was no leaders. Nothing was planned, but everything went... ♪♪ ...amazingly in our favor. -♪ Gotta teach you tonight ♪ -About 3:00, 4:00 in the morning, they finally got streets cleared. We went back to the park, and we talked about it all fucking night. Had no idea that it was going to blow up into, you know...ga

y pride. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Disturbances around the Stonewall lasted for about three or four days. I wish I could say that I had a crystal ball and I thought this was going to be the beginning of social change, but I didn't see much happening. ♪♪ What made the Stonewall uprising really different was that, two weeks later, the Gay Liberation Front sent out a notice that they were organizing. ♪♪ We don't care if straight people accept us. We're going to be who we are, and if you don't like who we are, just ge

t out of our way. ♪♪ We came up with the idea of a pride march. We called it the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. -[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ We envisioned that people would march out of the Village to the daylight of Central Park, where we would have a big party, we would have political speeches, and we would be free. ♪♪ -Because, you see, this march was very...daring because it came in an age of violence -- Kent State, the assassinations in the United States, and so this was not an easy time to

form a gay march. [ Crowd chanting ] [ Rhythmic clapping ] We had to go single file so that we could elongate ourselves and look like this was a march. But what happened was, as we kept going, from the sidelines, from the streets, people would join us. And I didn't notice right away, but it was growing. [ Indistinct conversations ] What began as a question mark downtown ended in an exclamation point. ♪♪ The march made us public, and we all knew it was different now and we were going to live dif

ferently. We started to become a people. -Whether you came in today to come out, whether you came in last night to come out, whether you came in last week to come out, we are out! [ Cheers and applause ] -♪ Waking up to say, "Hip hip hooray" ♪ ♪ I'm glad I'm gay ♪ ♪ Can't repress my happiness ever since I tried your way ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Going to lay right here and greet the sun ♪ ♪ 'Cause gay time loving's just begun ♪ ♪ So, come on, let's tumble in the hay ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Doot doo doo, doot doo doo, oh, doot doo

doo ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Doot doo doo, doot doo doo, oh, doot doo doo ♪ -My expectation and that of many people of color in that moment was that this movement would also understand that there had to be a commitment to issues beyond the ones that were clearly on the table. We are everywhere in terms of we are every permutation of humanity in terms of identities -- you know, from race and class and gender. And what better movement to set as its vision and mission a connectedness with all of the struggles for ju

stice? The work was cut out for us, for sure. [ Indistinct shouting ] -Let her speak. Just a moment. Just a moment. Just a moment. I would like to avoid any trouble. This is a day of unity for us. I want us to be happy. [ Indistinct shouting ] [ Shouting continues ] Y'all better quiet down. -Shut the fuck up! -I've been trying to get up here all day for your gay brothers and your gay sisters in jail that write me every motherfucking week, and you all don't do a goddamn thing for them! I have bee

n beaten! I have had my nose broken! I have been thrown in jail! I have lost my job! I have lost my apartment for gay liberation, and you all treat me this way?! What the fuck's wrong with you all?! [ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah, give it to 'em! -I could not believe -- it was like a nightmare. All these white men and women were booing her. -The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white middle-class white club! And that's what you all belong to!

Revolution now! -Yes! -Yes! [ Indistinct shouting ] -Sylvia and Marsha -- they led the fight for transgender rights 'cause, in the earlier days, the lesbians and gays -- they never included transgender people. And when we say "equality," equality has to be for everybody. ♪♪ -I could not believe that all of us who were at those protests were ignored. We really didn't exist. We were a nuisance, an embarrassment. ♪♪ ♪♪ Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Ray Rivera planted the seeds that took so long to

grow and take root. They were there in the frontlines, [Voice breaking] and it was just so incredible that there were people who stood back -- like, embarrassed. "We are not one of you." ♪♪ -I was almost always in a state of dissonance, working in the LGBT movement. Even as I worked for lesbian and gay rights, that there was not a general understanding that... our struggle needed to be much broader. You -- You rolled up your sleeve, and you're like, "How the hell do we get these people to unders

tand that you've got to see these connections?" [ Voice breaking ] My experience as a woman, my experience as a lesbian, my experience as a black person become equally important in terms of how we do this work to dismantle the whole house, to bring it all down. ♪♪ -The commitment to seeing the linkages of liberation as one -- it would not be one for a very, very long time. I don't think I ever had a timeline. But the work that's being done now is like, "Yes!" [ Chuckles ] It's like, you know, yo

u -- you won't even see the shit coming. -[ Chanting ] End intersex surgery! End intersex surgery! -Mic check?! -Mic check! -We're intersex and here to say... -We are intersex, we're here to say... -...you can't make us go away! -...you can't make us go away! -We cannot allow future generations to live with this indignity! We have a duty to fight, and we have a duty to win! -[ Chanting ] End intersex surgery! End intersex surgery! -We did the action today. People showed up. -Mm-hmm. -People show

ed out. -[ Chanting ] We won't be erased! -Part of it is they can't envision us living with a non-binary body in a binary world, and you know what? That's on all of us to change. If we didn't fight back, then what are we going to say in the future? How are we going to write our stories? How are people going to read our stories? ♪♪ -I think it's so important to preserve queer history that includes trans people and intersex people and gender non-conforming people, because I think, for me, as a you

ng person, being able to see those images of, like, "Oh, these people look like me" -- I can see myself in history. I can see myself as part of a longer legacy. ♪♪ -I feel like I'm still fighting for everything that they were fighting for back then because, sadly, yes, things have improved, but it's not like we are there yet. -60% of the trans community doesn't have unemployment. We don't have access to housing. We don't have documents to live in this country. There is a lot of hate crimes. I wa

nt my community to feel safe, and that's the reason why I do this type of work. -I hope that people who need platforms and need to tell their story are given exactly that. [ Higher voice ] Hi. My name is Chella Man, and this is my voice one day on T. [ Lower voice ] And this is my voice three weeks on T. [ Lower voice ] It's 12 weeks on T. [ Lower voice ] It's 26 weeks on T. [ Lower voice ] One year on T. Just there's so many different ways you can approach... your identity nowadays, and I feel

like that is also contributing to why there's another queer movement on the horizon. -I believe that queer and trans people -- we're a manifestation of the future. I would love to see a future where all of the restrictive social structures that we see so clearly and have words for -- words like "white supremacy," "patriarchy," "colonialism," "sexism" -- where those things have been obliterated. -People that are going to come in the future are going to need our words and need our experiences, jus

t like we needed those words and experiences and truths from those who came before us. ♪♪ -I am fighting to hold on to the gains that we've made. The vision of the Gay Liberation Front -- that people have the right to civil rights, to healthcare, to not be attacked. -We're fighting now for acceptance in schools. In Las Vegas, we just won a battle to let transgender people go to school as trans. -I'm still passionate about homelessness in our community. Yeah, I'm so fucking passionate about that.

-I am for all the young voices who are against guns and for education, for housing. -This battle has become global, and I'm in awe of -- people today have kept the battle up. -While we're here, we do all that we can to make our mark, that we were here and that we matter so that someone in the future can know that they matter, too. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪