American Experience; Interview with Martin Boyce, 1 of 4 : Stonewall Uprising
Description:
In this interview, Martin Boyce discusses homophobia and oppression in the 1950's and 1960's, as well as LGBTQ culture at the time. Topics include early gay cultural icons and literary figures; cruising, drag, and bar culture in Greenwich Village; and police brutality and bar raids. Boyce also discusses his personal experience at Stonewall and the impact and legacy of the uprising. 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.
