- Nobody has ever given us anything
we haven't had to fight for.
(slow drumming)
We're not different.
You take me apart in the chemicals,
I am exactly the same as any heterosexual person.
But for some reason the universe has chosen
to have me be who I am.
I think if I fought the universe,
I would be out of place in this universe.
I have to be who I am.
And I have been.
(fast drumming)
- When Alexei told me the story of The Black Cat,
we stood on this bus stop right here.
If he hadn't done what he did,
I don't know that I could have the life that I have today.
- When the New Year's Eve raid happened,
two people kissed.
This is in The Black Cat, so I'm gonna reference that
so people know what I'm talking about.
This is where the stage was.
So you wouldn't be outed,
the windows were always painted out.
You even watched when you went into the bar.
It was more than just a place to socialize,
it was a place to be.
Where we felt safe.
Because it was New Years Eve,
Auld Lang Syne had been played and everybody sang it.
Two people started to kiss.
In those days, it was against the law
for two men to kiss.
Undercover police came into the bar,
they saw what was happening.
They thought that that was lewd conduct.
They were the first to be grabbed.
The bartender, he was like 101 pounds.
Two 230 pound police grabbed him,
beat him, ruptured his spleen.
Two people walked into the bar.
One was in a white dress, they thought, "Drag queen."
They grabbed her.
They beat her.
They broke her collarbone.
And after beating her, she was laid out bleeding
on the sidewalk to be arrested.
People ended up in the hospital.
Police brutality, that's what we were afraid of.
But what it did,
is I was inspired.
'Cause I lived through it.
Now, my father was killed in the Ukraine.
I don't know why, but I know I grew up without a father.
But my mother was very important to me.
I know where I came from.
Unless you know where you came from,
you don't know who you are.
I'm getting emotional again, I'm sorry.
Two people made me who I am today.
My mother, and Mother Bryant.
He was 86 years old when I was 14.
There was about six or eight of us who were young gay men,
and a couple of gay women.
Now, to this day, I don't know his real name,
but we called him Mother Bryant.
He would sit with us and tell us what it was like
to be a young gay man
in 1890.
(smooth guitar music)
In those days, and even when I was younger,
they just didn't want us around.
We were considered psychiatrically unbalanced.
We could be put into a mental institution,
go through shock treatment,
and be chemically castrated for being gay.
He stopped for a minute, and he said,
"When you're my age and ready to leave this earth,
"if you haven't left your community and the world as a whole
"in a better place than you found it,
"you haven't lived.
"Your life was wasted."
I looked at him and went, (sighs)
I can remember the first time I had a partner,
and we were going to be living together,
and the landlord, he says, "So, what's the relationship
"between the two of you?"
And I said, "He's my partner and my lover."
I looked at my partner.
His mouth was hanging open,
and the landlord looked at me, and he says,
"Okay, here's the keys."
And I stood there, and I closed my eyes,
and I looked up, and I said, "Thank you, Mother Bryant.
"I will never lie about being gay again."
So, I had to tell that story.
Now I'll go back to California.
(hard drumming)
When the New Year's Eve raid happened,
we were sick and tired of being sick and tired
of being treated that way.
You gotta understand that three months earlier,
the peace demonstration was attacked
by the sheriff and by the LA police department.
We were afraid of what we were doing,
but we knew we had to do something.
On February 11th, 1967,
500 to 600 gay men and women,
and those who support us,
demonstrated against police brutality
and our rights, all rights.
They were here.
We were in the parking lot.
We were walking up and down the block, here.
They were serious about what was going on.
Do you see anybody smiling?
They took their lives in their hands.
That was the first large demonstration,
and it worked.
Because two and a half years later,
what happened?
I want somebody to say it.
Stonewall happened.
(gentle music)
You have Bunker Hill.
You have Gettysburg.
You have Selma, Alabama.
We have to have a place.
What the fuck, you know?
(laughing)
We never die, we never die, we never die.
We never, look right here.
That's a history.
These people were afraid because they were gay.
No more.
We're not gonna take that anymore.
- Alexei, if you hadn't been so brave and so bold,
doing what you did,
I wouldn't have my life.
You and the people who were around you in that time
saw a future where I could be free.
And you made that happen, so thank you.
- Thank you.
It humbles me.
(uplifting music)
Isn't the world amazing, when you give it a chance?
(uplifting music)
And I'm proud of who I am.
I have to say, I'm gay and I'm proud.
And I'm proud of other people who are not gay.
People who make a difference to you.
(uplifting music)