Doric Wilson: There was joy because the cops weren't winning. I found the interviews with the participants to be genuine and the situation that led to the uprising intolerable. We could easily be hunted, that was a game. Fred Sargeant: When it was clear that things were definitely over for the evening, we decided we needed to do something more. Read a July 6, 1969 excerpt from The New York Daily News. John O'Brien: We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. American Airlines David Carter Eric Marcus, Writer: The Mattachine Society was the first gay rights organization, and they literally met in a space with the blinds drawn. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Martha Shelley: In those days, what they would do, these psychiatrists, is they would try to talk you into being heterosexual. The lights came on, it's like stop dancing. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. Queer was very big. A medievalist. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. All of the rules that I had grown up with, and that I had hated in my guts, other people were fighting against, and saying "No, it doesn't have to be this way.". But we couldn't hold out very long. Homo, homo was big. and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Virginia Apuzzo: What we felt in isolation was a growing sense of outrage and fury particularly because we looked around and saw so many avenues of rebellion. Virginia Apuzzo: It's very American to say, "This is not right." You know, we wanted to be part of the mainstream society. In the sexual area, in psychology, psychiatry. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" This is every year in New York City. In the trucks or around the trucks. Danny Garvin: And the cops just charged them. Thus a movement was born and steps toward equality were (and still are being) taken. And the Stonewall was part of that system. You know, it's just, everybody was there. Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. Narrator (Archival): Richard Enman, president of the Mattachine Society of Florida, whose goal is to legalize homosexuality between consenting adults, was a reluctant participant in tonight's program. Because he was homosexual. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD: Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. You had no place to try to find an identity. They were not used to a bunch of drag queens doing a Rockettes kick line and sort of like giving them all the finger in a way. 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? Linton Media Watch Chapter 1 of Stonewall Uprising. Alan Lechner Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! I hope it was. Doric Wilson: That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. Jerry Hoose: I mean the riot squad was used to riots. Raymond Castro: Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter, The Village Voice: The New York Times I guess printed a story, but it wasn't a major story. I famously used the word "fag" in the lead sentence I said "the forces of faggotry." There was at least one gay bar that was run just as a hustler bar for straight gay married men. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. Jerry Hoose: And we were going fast.