American Experience; Interview with Doric Wilson, 1 of 2 : Stonewall Uprising
Description:
In this interview, Doric Wilson discusses his participation in the Stonewall uprising and Gay Liberation movement. Wilson also recalls social repression in the 1950's, including the pressure to marry a woman, McCarthy era culture, and attitudes towards LGBTQ folk on the east vs. west coasts. Other topics include Wilson's experience growing up gay in rural Washington, working as a playwright in New York, and cruising and bar culture in Greenwich Village. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Such raids were not unusual in the late 1960s, an era when homosexual sex was illegal in every state but Illinois. That night, however, the street erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.
