I don't mind straight people, as long as they act gay in public.

That old joke's humor is rooted in a sentiment that defined the struggle in the United States for gay and lesbian civil rights before the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Tavern in Manhattan that is widely but erroneously identified as the start of the lesbian/gay movement. The idea continues to define much of the political activism on behalf of people who are not heterosexual: If we show them that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are just like everyone else, they will stop discriminating against us.

In the past decade, this go-along-to-get-along philosophy has been at odds with the more confrontational tactics of activists energized by the scapegoating of gay men in the wake of the emergence of HIV and AIDS. Before the in-your-face demonstrations by legions of gay men and lesbians in the AIDS activist organization ACTUP, and before the aggressiveness of such 1990s organizations as Queer Nation and the Lesbian Avengers, the assimilationists were the radicals.

Starting in the late 1940s, they took tentative steps out of the secret associations -- almost exclusively in large urban areas -- that had characterized homosexual socializing. Their quiet coming out paved the way for a landmark picket in 1965 in which lesbians and gay men marched in front of the White House and State Department to insist that the federal government eliminate its ban on employing acknowledged homosexuals. That in turn led to the Stonewall uprising and to an energetic movement in the 1970s that resurged in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Before Stonewall (1985; directed by Robert Rosenberg, John Scagliotti and Greta Schiller) chronicles the emergence of a gay and lesbian movement from the end of World War II to the end of the 1960s. Participants in early activism chart that history in interviews that are supplemented by archival photographs and films. Narration by Rita Mae Brown, author of the influential lesbian novel Rubyfruit Jungle, establishes the framework for a history that provides an interesting overview from the lesbian and gay movement's germinal moments to its flowering in an age defined also by the civil rights, anti-war and feminist movements.

Because Before Stonewall covers about 25 years in only 87 minutes, no subject is covered at length or in depth. But the documentary's introduction is engaging and illuminating. It could serve as reminder for some and as encouragement for others to learn more.

In the decades covered by Before Stonewall, lesbians and gay men worked their way from facing widespread, harsh official oppression to facing triumph in their struggle against that brutality. But to many interviewed in the documentary, the gains seemed tenuous. One woman reflects on how far the movement had come. "I think it's a miracle, but part of my mind doesn't believe it. I still expect the sh*t to hit the fan."


THE BEGINNING

World War II was good for gay visibility. Young men and women left hometowns in which they feared that their same-sex desires made them unique, even freakish. In the military and in the factories that supported the war effort, these people met other gay men and lesbians. Buoyed by the realization that they didn't have to be alone, many of these people moved after the war to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and other urban areas where gay neighborhoods developed.

For several years following the war, many homosexuals found a freedom unlike any they'd experienced before. The mood in these predominantly gay neighborhoods was relaxed, even festive. One man in Before Stonewall describes having been part of a group of men who performed in gay bars. They called themselves the "Lee Girls," although the origin of the name is unclear. "I can't remember whether it was for Lorelei Lee or Robert E. Lee, or maybe both."

But the emergence of an early gay community sparked a backlash in the 1950s and early 1960s. Police in cities throughout the United States raided bars known to cater to lesbians and gay men, or at least suspected of catering to them. The names of people arrested were published in newspapers, destroying careers and families and leading many of the people branded as perverts to kill themselves. In the face of this oppression and resulting tragedy, many gay men and lesbians drew strength from their humor. One woman in the documentary remembers that she and her friends changed the lyrics to a familiar song so that it was about how "the vice squad is breaking up that gang of mine."

The post-war civil rights movement that developed to fight oppression of Americans of African ancestry drew many gay men and lesbians, who were in turn energized to fight also for their own freedoms. They applied the lessons they learned in the larger civil rights movement to their own protests in 1965 against the U.S. prohibition on openly gay men or lesbians in government jobs. At those pickets, the men wore suits and ties; the women wore dresses. In part this was because they knew they couldn't argue that the government must hire them if they didn't look like people the government hires.

But beyond that was the hope that if homosexuals didn't look odd or threatening, it would make it easier to change the pervasive perception that homosexuality is a perversion. That battle to have the American Psychiatric Association remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses wasn't won until 1974, five years after the period covered in Before Stonewall. But the progress documented in the movie suggests a movement that would make such victories inevitable.

The freedom to be just like everyone else (without having to be like everyone else) seemed attainable in the days before Stonewall. One of the activists in Before Stonewall says, "From the time of Stonehenge to the time of Stonewall, this has been the struggle. And we're winning."


__________



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Recommended:
Yes

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