Ah, the summer of 1969: a time of social change, free love, flower power and radical revolution. These days, we may think of hippies and beatniks whenever we wax nostalgic for the late sixties and early seventies – and yet these were also some of the darkest days of discrimination for the American gay community.
On June 27, 1969, patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Manhattan’s East Village, fought of an attack by the public morals police in a historic stand against the status quo. And now, airing as this week’s feature on the “American Experience” PBS broadcast, comes the documentary “Stonewall Uprising,” a film that seeks to re-create and recall the events of what many consider to be the birth of the gay rights movement in the United States.
The film made its debut on Monday and will air again today, April 27, on San Diego public broadcast stations. Directed by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, “Stonewall Uprising” revisits the occasion of the seminal event and includes interviews and comments from many of the uprising’s original participants.
Davis explained how excited she was to interview and connect with individuals who took part in the Stonewall uprising, saying that “the Stonewall participants still felt much of the emotional excitement” of the event and “recalled the days that led up to the riots and why they would be willing to join in with remarkable acuity and emotional presence.”
“I didn’t expect that,” Davis continued, “and I think that’s what made the film.”
That being said, “Stonewall Uprising” includes its share of hard-to-watch, archaic footage that Davis described as seeming “almost medieval at times.”
“Making and looking at the footage of institutionalized homophobia felt like the 1800s, the slavery days, but it was only 40 years ago,” she explained, recalling the world of intolerance that not so long ago confined and stifled the lives of American homosexuals.
Despite today’s continuing struggle for LGBT equality and tolerance, it only takes a glance back in time to see how far we’ve come. “Stonewall Uprising” is an invaluable lesson in critical LGBT history, and a key reminder of the work that has been done in the name of equality.
Check out your local PBS station for information on local broadcasts of the documentary.
