On June 28, 1969 members of the NYPD attacked the LGBTQ patrons at the Stonewall Inn. Raids were common but that night the patrons fought back. The battle led to a riot that galvanized the struggling queer rights movement. 1995’s Stonewall imagines the days leading up to the clash. A headstrong musician (Frederick Weller) moves to New York’s Greenwich Village. There he dates a bold trans woman (Guillermo Diaz) and a closeted professor (Brendan Corbalis). The love triangle explores the disparate factions and philosophies of a divided community.

Organizations like The Mattachine Society and The Daughters of Bilitis sought to overturn unjust laws. They practiced Respectability Politics in order to assimilate with their straight white cisgender colleagues. Meanwhile Stonewall provided haven for sex workers, homeless youth, trans folk and people of color. Their very existence was a political act. The story understands La Miranda is trans, though characters misgender her and perceive her as a drag queen. She’s played by a cis actor, common in the 90’s but a deal breaker for some audiences in 2025.

Rikki Beadle-Blair’s screenplay was inspired by the memoir of activist Martin Duberman. His angsty, self-loathing characters aren’t much fun. The frank depictions of police brutality are difficult to watch. But Beadle-Blair crams a lot of interesting history into the film. The climactic riot offers a much-needed catharsis.

Let’s take a look in this spoiler filled recap. Trigger warning for the aforementioned violence.

The Boy from New York City

Scene One: The Stonewall Inn
MATTY DEAN (a young musician): I just got here from Anytown USA. I’m looking to meet my people.
LA MIRANDA (a trans sex worker): You came to the right place honey.
POLICE: This is a raid! You’re under arrest! Wash off that makeup!
(The Police attack La Miranda. Matty Dean tries to defend her. They’re both arrested.)
MOB BOSS (The Stonewall’s Owner): I pay you ****s to warn me when a raid is coming!
BOSTONIA (Mob Boss’s trans girlfriend): I’ll go bail those idiots out.

Scene Two: Mattachine Society Meeting
GAY ACTIVIST: We’re planning a protest. The men must wear suits and ties. The women will wear long skirts. The law shouldn’t discriminate against the mentally ill.
MATTY DEAN: What does this accomplish?
ETHAN (A literature professor): We need straight people’s sympathy. We have to win the fight from inside the system.

Scene Three: La Miranda’s Apartment
LA MIRANDA: I’ve just been drafted. They want me to see a shrink.
MATTY DEAN: I’ll go as you in full drag. They’ll never take me. Anyway, we’re thirty minutes into a queer movie and there’s been no nudity. (Strips.) Let’s have sex!
LA MIRANDA: Sounds good to me. (They do. A relationship montage ensues.)

Scene Four: The Stonewall Inn
GAY ACTIVIST: I am a homosexual and I am requesting a drink.
BOSTONIA: It’s against state law to serve homosexuals.
LA MIRANDA: I’d like to join your protest, lover.
MATTY DEAN: We have to look respectable. You wouldn’t fit in.
LA MIRANDA: You’re a prick.
(Matty Dean goes to Ethan’s apartment. They have sex in the shower.)
MATTY DEAN: I should do a Broadway play where I shower on stage.

Scene Five: Tragic Subplot
MOB BOSS: If you have an operation, we can get married.
BOSTONIA: No thanks. Besides, we’d still be an interracial queer couple.
MOB BOSS: I guess I’ll never be normal. I love you.
(Mob Boss shoots himself.)

Scene Six: Fire Island
ETHAN: If we’re going to date you have to learn the rules. No dancing without a woman present. No kissing in public. On Wednesdays we wear pink.
MATTY DEAN: This is what you’re settling for? Forget it. I’m going back to La Miranda.

Scene Seven: The Stonewall Inn
POLICE: This is a raid! You’re under arrest!
BOSTONIA: Don’t push me.
(A cop attacks Bostonia. She punches him. The crowd rescues her and attacks the cops. Matty Dean and La Miranda join in. The Stonewall riots commence.)

THE END

We Are the Stonewall Girls!

Bostonia’s the character with the most agency and the clearest arc. She protects her friends, stands up to a controlling partner and instigates the riot. She initially tells Matty Lee not to stand up to police. But is eventually pushed to do so herself. La Miranda has pride but she’s a reactive character. Matty Lee sets the tone of their relationship. Will he be a better partner now that he’s seen the limits of the Fire Island gays?

Director Nigel Finch died from AIDS related illness while Stonewall was in post-production. He was 45. The film had a limited release and received mixed reviews. It won audience awards at the London Film Festival and the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. In 2007 Beadle-Blair adapted it into a stage play.

In 2015 Roland Emmerich directed another fictional account of the Stonewall Riots. Screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz adopted a similar structure, following the relationships between a white, cis man, his lovelorn trans friend, and a member of the Mattachine Society. Here the white boy dominates the narrative. We get lengthy flashbacks to his tropey backstory. Then a subplot where he’s targeted by sex traffickers. The film was criticized for minimizing the roles of trans people of color at the riots. But the trans characters of color come across better than the predatory white queers who molest the twink protagonist. When the cops are the lesser evil in your Stonewall movie, something’s gone wrong.

You can find more of my reviews on The Avocado, Letterboxd and Serializd. My podcast, Rainbow Colored Glasses, can be found here.