Joe Baldwin performed in the vibrant New York gay club scene in the 1970s; he moved to Vancouver, then to Winnipeg and was interviewed for Swerve magazine in 1995; he was an eyewitness to the Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, which many consider the start of the gay liberation movement:

"The cops weren't prepared for people fighting back... Those queens overturned police cars - they overturned a fire truck, for God's sake!"