The documentary Stonewall Uprising opened in theaters in 2010 and will be broadcast on the PBS show American Experience this April. In advance of the broadcast the station that produces American Experience, WGBH, has announced an open call for video shorts that “Show Us Where Stonewall is Now.”
We invite citizen reporters, journalists, video-bloggers, documentary story tellers, animators or new media-makers: in a 3 minute video, show us where Stonewall’s legacy of courage is today.
The deadline for video submissions is February 14th. A ,000 prize will be awarded to the top five entries selected by WGBH’s panel of judges.
I haven’t seen Stonewall Uprising yet, but I’ve read some of the criticisms that it “gaywashes” the event. Until I see the film I can’t have an opinion on that score. However, it does appear from the open call notice and the “tips” page that the focus of the WGBH video project is gay-centric.
There is no doubt that Stonewall catalyzed the gay rights movement, if you want to think in the narrow terms of a bygone era. But there is also no doubt that transgender people were key participants in the Stonewall riots and are an integral part of the movement I choose to belong to, the LGBT civil rights movement.
I wish I had the skills answer the invitation to “Show us something about today’s struggle for gay rights that we don’t know” with a video showing that today’s struggle for “gay rights” must be as tightly linked to transgender rights as were the actions of the gay and transgender people who together sparked our civil rights era at Stonewall.
What’s your take on Stonewall Uprising? Will you entertain WGBH’s invitation? The trailer for Stonewall Uprising is below the fold.
The trailer for Stonewall Uprising
Pam’s House Blend – Front Page
