Many found shelter and companionship behind its brick-arched entryway.

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And they then used that parking meter to… as a battering ram to break down the door and they did in fact open the door. . It was beautiful. It made me feel wonderful. Remembering Stonewall “I remember one cop coming at me and hitting me with a nightstick to the back of my legs. And when that red light went on it meant the police would be arriving in around ten minutes. The local precinct had just received a new commanding officer, who kicked off his tenure by initiating a series of raids on gay bars. You’d knock and the little door would open and ”What do you want?” ”A Mary sent me.” ”Good, come on in girls.” You know. She was a strong son of a gun.

And then we had to get back into the Stonewall.My name is Howard Smith. The part of the penal code which applied to drag queens was Section 240.35, section 4: ”Being masked or in any manner disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration; loiters, remains, or congregates in a public place with other persons so masked . We’re free at last.” It felt really good.

I mean, this was a kind of power that you have and you never gave it a second thought.The drag queens took a lot of oppression and we had to . And what was the funny part, the place would be so dimly lit — but as soon as the cops were gonna come in to collect their percentage or whatever they were coming in for, from it being a nice, dimly-lit dump, the place was lit up like Luna Park.You felt, well, two guys — and that’s very often all we sent in would be two men — could handle two hundred people.

I stood there with chills. I don’t think up to that point I had ever seen cops that scared.Remember these were pros but everybody is frightened. The so-called riots that unfolded over six nights has been called a turning point in the movement for LGBTQ rights.First, we bring you an excerpt from a documentary produced in 1989 by StoryCorps founder, Dave Isay, called For many of the people involved, this was the first time they had ever been interviewed about their experiences at Stonewall.Next, we’ll hear Michael Levine in conversation with his friend Matthew Merlin about Michael’s involvement in Stonewall and what it meant to him years after the fact. We want to know more about you! … and the uprising that followed became a turning point in the movement for LGBTQ rights.It’s the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. Then there’d be one or two on the west side, they’d get closed down. That was. Police coming from every direction. People without identification or dressed in drag would often be arrested.The next night, tensions between police and LGBTQ residents of Greenwich Village residents erupted again. . It was a situation that we didn’t know how we were going to be able to control.I remember someone throwing a Molotov cocktail. Hitting women as well as men with their nightsticks.

But there was regular weekend harassment, which would consist of the police coming in regularly to get their payoffs. I broke loose and I went after him. We want to make sure you’re alright.” That means they knew all along. And we would always dream that one day it would come to an end. 2000 easy and they were yelling, ”Kill the cops. Gay men running down the street with blood all over their face. As always, you can see what music we used in the episode… on our website, along with original artwork created for this season.For the StoryCorps podcast, I’m Jasmyn Morris. Nothing… that’s when you could tell that nothing could stop us at that time or at any time in the future.A selection from Remembering Stonewall produced by StoryCorps founder, Dave Isay in 1989.Dave dedicated that documentary to his dad, Richard Isay, a well-known psychiatrist and gay rights activist. He goes, ”What are you doing here?” And I go, ”I’m just watching the parade.” But see, he was queer. .” At that time we lived at the Arista Hotel.

They knew. It was like I was wearing a sign on my back.

Whether it was a high heel or not, I don’t know. That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast. we were at a point where I guess nothing would have stopped us. My name is Red Mahoney.

The next thing you know, the taxi cab was being turned over, other cars were being turned over. I was angry. It started with a place called the Stonewall Inn. We wear our hair in curls. Come outside and we’ll show you.” And the woman would be dragged away. They’d throw her up against a wall and they’d say, ”So, you think you’re a man, let’s see what you got in your pants.” And they would put their hand down her pants. We never discussed it. In a lot of ways, I think it was exactly what Stonewall was all about, is this coming out. My girlfriend was behind him – she was a strong son of a gun – and I wanted him to feel the same pain I felt. It was no, we don’t have to hide, we don’t have to be subjected to police raids. Gay bars had been raided by police for decades. I was the same me.

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