Stonewall Uprising

I never knew of this documentary until Easter 2021. I recorded it from my own national television station in Ireland thinking it might have been something I saw before, just to be sure. How wrong I was.

I learned new and more, about life at the time, and I use the term "life" very loosly.

I never knew there was a concerted TV effort to make people feel they were nothing, just because they loved what was not accepted. And THAT is the problem, that most don't understand.

I won't get into a debate except to say, Gay is Gay, Lesbian is Lesbian. So what? No one knows who they will love, until it happens. And NO one has the right to deny that love.

I'm hetro, getting married to a blonde bombshell, with big boobs. Stop me.

Get my point?

Documentary about the Stonewall riots back in 1969 that started the gay rights movement. People who were involved in the riots are interviewed--gay men, lesbians and even a police officer. They paint an incredibly horrific picture of how gay men and lesbians were treated back then. They also show some truly fascinating clips from TV specials about homosexuality done back in 1967. It makes it clear that gays are mentally ill and chose this way of life (of course this is all ridiculous). Then they get to the riot. There's no footage of it happening but they show us pictures and all the participants describe what happened and the aftermath.

This is a good documentary--not great but good. It's well-done and all but it lacks that certain spark to make it great. Also a lot of this material was covered in the 1980s documentary "Before Stonewall". I've read the books about it and saw the (fictional) 1995 movie "Stonewall" so none of this material was surprising. Maybe that's why it didn't work completely for me. Still this is an important film for everybody to see and realize how horribly gays and lesbians were treated before they fought back. Younger gays especially should see this and realize how they should be grateful that things are so much better now.

I'm wondering why this documentary COMPLETELY overlooked the involvement of people of color in this riot. As a matter of fact, there were absolutely NO people of color bringing their perspectives in this documentary whatsoever. Why? Not one single mention of Sylvia Rivera or Marsha P. Johnson, two transgender women of color who are believed to have been integral in this uprising and afterwards. Start valuing perspectives of people of color.