Before Stonewall: Joe's Interview Clip 3 of 3
From the collection of
Before Stonewall: Joe's Interview Clip 3 of 3
Joe never needed to 'come out', being a 'butch lez' for the whole world to see. Looking back, she remained a rebel despite the beatings.
In this extract, Joe eplains that she never had to come out of the closet as she was already visible as a 'butch' lesbian. She refers to others she knows who did have problems coming out and were rejected by their families. Happily, Joe says she's glad that there's less of that going on in 2003.
She recalls that in the past everything had to be discreet and that if two lesbians worked at the same place their sexuality remained inconspicuous. Joe, however, was remarkably different, as the whole world could see, since she wore a suit and tie as well as Brylcreem in her hair. She also 'didn't give a damn' how many times she was beaten up because at heart she was a rebel, with an 'if you don't like it - lump it' attitude. Joe was certainly not going to change for anyone, though she saw many lesbians who did.
Joe reflects that when you find someone who loves you unconditionally, that's the one to keep and girls liked being with Joe because they always felt that she was protective - they felt safe with her
Joe was born in 1941 and was raised in a children's home in Fazakerley, Liverpool. She attended a boarding school, where an enlightened teacher recognised that she was a lesbian.
Around the age of 17, Joe started dressing in men's clothes and cutting her hair like a man's. This could, and did, lead to numerous violent attacks from homophobes. In one case, both she and her girlfriend were gang-raped and beaten. Her girlfriend died as a result of the attack.
Becoming a transient after that incident, and having had an abortion as a result of the rape, Joe moved to London for work and to find the lesbian scene. Joe worked in house services at the BBC and, disturbed by her butch appearance, the corporation organised appointments with a psychiatrist for her.
Joe became politically engaged and went on several marches and demonstrations connected with sexual identity issues. In later years, Joe's mental health would suffer, largely due to the homophobic violence she'd suffered throughout her life.
Tags
GLAM Before Stonewall: LGBT Oral History Project
This fascinating and important collection, recorded onto videotape, contains the testimonies, in the form of interviews, from individuals of varying ages, backgrounds and ethnicities from across the LGBT community.
‘Before Stonewall: An Oral History of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community’ was a Heritage Lottery Funded project organised in 2003 by a Brighton-based organisation 'Gay and Lesbian Arts and Media', otherwise known as GLAM.
The project sought to record for posterity the first-hand recollections of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from across the United Kingdom and beyond, of a time before the events in New York’s Greenwich Village which culminated in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. This was a time which was very different, and in many respects more oppressive for homosexual and transgender people, than the one we’re familiar with today.
This fascinating and important collection, recorded onto videotape, contains the testimonies, in the form of interviews, of over one-hundred individuals of varying ages, backgrounds and ethnicities from across the LGBT community. With recollections that reach back as far as the 1920s, what all of the interviews describe and reveal is the whole gamut of human experience, from the deeply tragic to the exhilaratingly joyous - all from the perspectives of a section of society that has often been considered to be ‘different from the others’.
Journalist Charlotte Cooper, who worked for the gay press at the time, co-ordinated the project’s video-recording with volunteers and conducted many of the interviews herself. Charlotte describes her time on the project as both a revelatory and profoundly moving experience.
Screen Archive South East has made available from across this collection a total of eighty four extracts from thirty individual interviews. Together they give an insightful and first-hand account of what life was like for LGBT people, both in the United Kingdom and abroad, and in both the years before Stonewall and after.
75 videos in this collection
1
2
Before Stonewall Summary: Charlotte Cooper Clip 2 of 4
3
Before Stonewall Summary: Charlotte Cooper Clip 3 of 4
4
Before Stonewall Summary: Charlotte Cooper Clip 4 of 4
5
Before Stonewall: Jenny's Interview Clip 1 of 3
6
Before Stonewall: Jenny's Interview Clip 2 of 3
7
Before Stonewall: Jenny's Interview Clip 3 of 3
8
Before Stonewall: Eddie's Interview Clip 1 of 3
9
Before Stonewall: Eddie's Interview Clip 2 of 3
10
Before Stonewall: Eddie's Interview Clip 3 of 3
11
Before Stonewall: Chris's Interview Clip 1 of 1
12
Before Stonewall: Peter's Interview Clip 1 of 2
13
Before Stonewall: Peter's Interview Clip 2 of 2
14
Before Stonewall: Anthea's Interview Clip 1 of 1
15
Before Stonewall: Geoff's Interview Clip 1 of 3
16
Before Stonewall: Geoff's Interview Clip 2 of 3
17
Before Stonewall: Geoff's Interview Clip 3 of 3
18
Before Stonewall: Rex's Interview Clip 2 of 6
19
Before Stonewall: Rex's Interview Clip 3 of 6
20
Before Stonewall: Rex's Interview Clip 4 of 6
21
Before Stonewall: Rex's Interview Clip 5 of 6
22
Before Stonewall: Rex's Interview Clip 6 of 6
23
Before Stonewall: Roger's Interview Clip 1 of 4
24
Before Stonewall: Roger's Interview Clip 2 of 4
25
Before Stonewall: Roger's Interview Clip 3 of 4
26
Before Stonewall: Roger's Interview Clip 4 of 4
27
Before Stonewall: Jane H's Interview Clip 1 of 5
28
Before Stonewall: Jane H's Interview Clip 2 of 5
29
Before Stonewall: Jane H's Interview Clip 4 of 5
30
Before Stonewall: Jane H's Interview Clip 5 of 5
31
Before Stonewall: Jacky's Interview Clip 1 of 4
32
Before Stonewall: Jacky's Interview Clip 2 of 4
33
Before Stonewall: Jacky's Interview Clip 3 of 4
34
Before Stonewall: Jacky's Interview Clip 4 of 4
35
Before Stonewall: Jane T's Interview Clip 1 of 4
36
Before Stonewall: Jane T's Interview Clip 2 of 4
37
Before Stonewall: Jane T's Interview Clip 3 of 4
38
Before Stonewall: Jane T's Interview Clip 4 of 4
39
Before Stonewall: Sue's Interview Clip 1 of 3
40
Before Stonewall: Sue's Interview Clip 2 of 3
41
Before Stonewall: Sue's Interview Clip 3 of 3
42
Before Stonewall: David's Interview Clip 1 of 3
43
Before Stonewall: David's Interview Clip 2 of 3
44
Before Stonewall: David's Interview Clip 3 of 3
45
Before Stonewall: Joe's Interview Clip 1 of 3
46
Before Stonewall: Joe's Interview Clip 2 of 3
47
Before Stonewall: Joe's Interview Clip 3 of 3
48
Before Stonewall: Michael C's Interview Clip 1 of 2
49
Before Stonewall: Michael C's Interview Clip 2 of 2
50
Before Stonewall: John's Interview Clip 1 of 3
51
Before Stonewall: John's Interview Clip 3 of 3
52
Before Stonewall: Michael's Interview Clip 1 of 3
53
Before Stonewall: Michael's Interview Clip 2 of 3
54
Before Stonewall: Michael's Interview Clip 3 of 3
55
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 1 of 6
56
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 2 of 6
57
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 3 of 6
58
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 4 of 6
59
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 5 of 6
60
Before Stonewall: Millie's Interview Clip 6 of 6
61
Before Stonewall: Donald's Interview Clip 1 of 4
62
Before Stonewall: Donald's Interview Clip 2 of 4
63
Before Stonewall: Donald's Interview Clip 3 of 4
64
Before Stonewall: Donald's Interview Clip 4 of 4
65
Before Stonewall: Sapphire's Interview Clip 1 of 4
66
Before Stonewall: Sapphire's Interview Clip 2 of 4
67
Before Stonewall: Sapphire's Interview Clip 3 of 4
68
Before Stonewall: Sapphire's Interview Clip 4 of 4
69
Before Stonewall: Peggy's Interview Clip 1 of 1
70
Before Stonewall: Patricia's Interview Clip 1 of 1
71
Before Stonewall: Dave's Interview Clip 1 of 3
72
Before Stonewall: Dave's Interview Clip 2 of 3
73
Before Stonewall: Dave's Interview Clip 3 of 3
74
Before Stonewall: Charlie's Interview Clip 1 of 1
75