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BBC Radio to Air Documentary Stonewall: The Riots That Triggered the Gay Revolution

Tom Robinson hosts hour-long programme
 

■ Musician and radio host Tom Robinson who presents Stonewall: The Riots That Triggered the Gay Revolution on BBC Radio 2 tomorrow evening. photo © BBC Radio

LONDON, June 29, 2009  –  BBC Radio 2 is to air its major documentary Stonewall: The Riots That Triggered the Gay Revolution tomorrow (June 30) at 10:30pm.

Presented by Tom Robinson, the programme visits the Stonewall Inn as it is now to re-imagine the riots, and examines the legacy of this historic week of disturbances.

The one-hour documentary contains interviews with rioters, journalists and policeman who were there and explores what really happened and asks why, after decades of similar raids across the United States, it was Stonewall that exploded the most violently.

Stonewall: The Riots That Triggered the Gay Revolution finds out what impact the riots had on gay people around the world and asks, 40 years on, what we still have to learn from the events of that fateful summer week in New York.

“Radio 2 continues to commit to documentaries that reflect the world we live in and that deliver distinctive and thought-provoking content to our listeners, commented Lewis Carnie, head of programmes, Radio 2 and 6 Music.

“I’m proud that Stonewall is the first BBC in-depth documentary into the Stonewall Riots and delivers a remarkable look back at one of the most revolutionary moments in modern history.”

Using archive material and new interviews with those who were there, the programme provides an audio ‘snapshot’ of the riots in full swing.

Many believe that the gay rights movement began the night after the Stonewall Riots yet, prior to the riots, there was a growing resistance amongst the gay community.

Previously unheard archive interviews with late activists Craig Rodwell and Barbara Gittings reveal the transformation of the gay power movement.

In 1969, New York was in the middle of an election campaign and the Mayor, John Lindsay, was calling for a clean-up of the city’s bars.

With ties to organised crime, the Stonewall Inn was an easy target.  But things soon turned ugly, as customers spilled out from the Stonewall Inn onto the street, a crowd of thousands gathered, forcing the police to retreat back into the bar, pursued by petrol bombs.

What followed was three nights of pitched battles between the gay community and riot police in the streets of Greenwich Village. The Gay Liberation Front formed just a month after the riots and soon became an international force.

In the programme, Peter Tatchell talks about how the riots spurred him on to become an activist with the GLF in London.

And, just three years after the riots, in 1972, US law changed to the effect that homosexuality was no longer considered a mental illness.

The programme pays a visit to the newly-refurbished Stonewall Inn to ask whether revellers feel like they have reached full acceptance.  While the events of 1969 helped move gay rights forward, many still struggle to discuss their sexuality openly.

And the question is asked if there are still lessons to be learnt from that fateful night four decades ago.  As the debate on same sex marriage continues to divide US politics, how far will the battle continue?

The programme consultant is David Carter, author of the book Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution.

Other contributors include Seymour Pine, the policeman who led the raid; and Howard Smith, the journalist stuck inside when the crowd turned on the police and attempted to set fire to the Stonewall Inn. There are also eye-witness from the rioters themselves and we learn how the rallying in subsequent months led to a sea change in gay rights activism and the establishment of the annual Gay Pride parade to mark the riots.

Presenter and musician Tom Robinson kick started his own musical career with the notoriety of Glad To Be Gay and rounded it off 20 years later with an album cheerfully titled Having It Both Ways.

He presents a BBC 6 Music show every Friday as well as 6 Music’s twice-weekly show for new music, BBC Introducing.

■ Stonewall: The Riots That Triggered the Gay Revolution is transmitted on BBC Radio 2 on, Tuesday 30 June 2009, 10.30pm.  It will also be available on BBC iPlayer for seven days following transmission.  A BBC spokesperson has confirmed to UK Gay News that those outside the United Kingdom will be able to access the programme.  The programme was made for the BBC by the independent production company Somethin' Else and is produced by Jody Waldman.

SEE ALSO

'Stonewall Gave Me New Gay Role Models'.  The Stonewall uprisings 40 years ago brought the gay rights movement to the forefront of American culture. Writer and historian David Carter assesses what progress has been made since that pivotal moment and how far the quest for equal rights has to go.  (BBC News America, June 29, 2009)

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