Pride Guide 1999 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE C-II

Film marks gay movement from the riots to the millennium

Thirty years ago, America's lesbians and gays a largely closeted, fragmented and shunned community-experienced a profound turning point.

On June 27, 1969, in what is considered the birth of the modern gay civil rights movement, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City spontaneously united and fought back against chronic police harassment, jeers and arrests.

Activist Barbara Gittings led the fight for inclusion of lesbian and gay literature in U.S. libraries.

"Everything came together in that one moment," a voiceover says in the film After Stonewall, a 90-minute special airing on PBS Wednesday, June 23, at 9 pm; check local listings. "If you were there you knew, 'This is it. The film chronicles the gay and lesbian experience since the Stonewall riots.

"Each and every one of us felt as if we held history in our hands,” lesbian author Dorothy Allison recalled.

From the emergence of the 1970s Gay Liberation Movement and womyn's music festivals to the onslaught of AIDS, the vibrant Gay Games movement and Ellen DeGeneres' highly publicized coming out, After Stonewall presents a story as compelling, rewarding and provocative as the individual lesbians and gays who defined the era. Narrated by.out lesbian musician Melissa Etheridge, After Stonewall captures the struggles, defeats and triumphs of a proud, though still stigmatized, community.

"I am deeply honored to be part of this important telling of our community's history and contributions," Etheridge said.

The film records the personal accounts of gays and lesbians who have transformed not only their own lives, but also American society and the world community.

"These are the stories that prompted the public to question its own fundamental values with regard to family, work, religion and relationships," said program producer John Scagliotti. "Through this film, viewers will

be educated about the profound influence gays and lesbians have had on the shaping of the 20th century."

Archival and never-before-released footage from the gay and lesbian community, including personal videos and 8mm home movies, provides the centerpiece of After Stonewall. Some of the most raw and compelling footage is of then San Francisco city supervisor Diane Feinstein announcing live from San Francisco City Hall that fellow supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone had been assassinated. The audible shrieks and cries of "Oh my God" from the assembled crowd is overwhelming. Film clips of Anita Bryant getting "pied" in the face by gay activists in Dade County Florida, are equally compelling.

We even get a shot of the pre-scandal Bill Clinton at his best during the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Voice wavering with just the right amount of sincerity and looking like Moses come to set his people free, Clinton delights gay and lesbian delegates when he says, "This is America... there is no 'them,' there is only us."

Filmmakers interviewed more than 200 people for the film, including author Armistead Maupin; early activists Frank Kameny, Jewelle Gomez and Barbara Gittings; Rep. Barney Frank; novelist Dorothy Allison; presidential advisor David Mixner; drag entertainer Charles Ching; bestselling lesbian author Rita Mae Brown; Human Rights Campaign executive director Elizabeth Birch (we see a cute home photo of the head of the largest and most powerful

Phil Johnson (left) and Frank Kameny dance together of the American Psychiatric Association Banquet in 1972.

GLBT organization dressed as a bunny); and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals from all walks of life.

Barney Frank recalls thinking about running for public office: "Some friends said, 'You could probably run for state legislature,' and I remember thinking to myself, this really means staying in the closet. It was inconceivable to me that you could be in office and be out."

AIDS and its effect on our movement is

accurately addressed in After Stonewall. After recounting the momentum-building achievements of the movement since 1969, a man's voice says, "And then came AIDS, and it changed everything. We thought we were going to lose our entire community and all that we had created."

"At that time," gay activist David Mixner says of the early 1980s, "nobody was doing anything [about AIDS],and the reason was, they weren't treating it as a normal health epidemic because it was affecting gay men, period."

As a result of that government in action, ACT UP was born, and this film provides viewers with some inspiring inside the movement footage. Whether you agree or disagree with ACT UP, tactics, it's hard to argue that they had an impact when watching the scene of several members entering St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and lying in the

aisles, while one member screams directly at Cardinal John O'Connor: "Stop killing us! We're not going to take it anymore!" The look on O'Connor's face is one of utter defeat.

After Stonewall is the sequel to the Emmy Award-winning documentary Before Stonewall, which succeeded in bringing gay and lesbian issues to national attention with its PBS release in 1986. Before Stonewall remains a popular educational documentary repeatedly shown on public television and in homes, schools and workplaces as an honest depiction of the earliest, yet neglected, history of gay life in America.

For more information on After Stonewall, see the film's web site at www.afterstonewall.com. To order the film for home viewing, call 800-229-8575. ✔

Compiled by Doreen Cudnik from press materials.

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For Adam & Steve

For Anna & Eve

Because in the beginning, they only had one choice.

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Current Phone (740) 363-9126

Email: Uccpast@aol.com

Online at www.emmanuelfellowship.org or http://netministries.org/see/churches/06267

Akron OH 44305 (330) 376-8725

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HAROLD JAFFE

JEWELERS

Toledo, Ohio

Store Hours:

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