Transmissions
Remembering Stonewall
David Isay (US 1989)
David Isay (US 1989)
29 min
On Friday, June 27, 1969, eight officers from the public morals section of the first division New York City Police Department pulled up in front of the Stonewall Inn, one of the city’s largest and most popular gay bars.
At the time, the vice squad routinely raided gay bars. Patrons always complied with the police, frightened by the prospect of being identified in the newspaper. But this particular Friday night was different. It sparked a revolution, and a hidden subculture was transformed into a vibrant political movement. What began with a drag queen clobbering her arresting officer soon escalated into a full-fledged riot, and modern gay activism was born.
This documentary, broadcast on the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, is the first documentary — in any medium — about the riots. It weaves together the perspectives of the participants, from Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine, who marshaled the raid, to Sylvia Rivera, one of the drag queens who battled most fiercely that night. The revolutionary impact of the riot is better understood by looking at life for gay men and lesbians in the era before Stonewall, seen through the eyes of people like Bruce Merrow and Geanne Harwood, a gay couple who have been together for 60 years, and Jheri Faire, an 80-year-old lesbian. Remembering Stonewall also examines how Stonewall affected gay politics through the voices of people like Randy Wicker, the first openly gay person to appear on television and radio; Joan Nestle, founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives; and yippie leader Jim Fouratt, who helped found the Gay Liberation Front on the third night of the Stonewall Riots.
This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience. This was David Isay’s first radio documentary.
Producer - David Isay
Narrator -Michael Schirker
We Were Always Here: They Weren’t Us
Hana Walker Brown - Broccoli (UK 2021)
Produced by Hana Walker-Bown at Broccoli (UK 2021)
28 min Episode 1 of 6
During the 1980's, Marc Thompson found his feet and his people as a young Black gay man in Brixton, South East London, enjoying everything that life and his community had to offer; family, parties and a safe space to express himself. At the same time, reports of a strange cancer that had been affecting young white gay men begun to emerge from America. It was like a mist, slowly creeping into the consciousness of Marc and his friends. But it was over there and these were white men, so there wasn't anything to worry about it, was there?