Celebrate Pride Month with WPT!

June 1, 2017 Susannah Brooks Leave a Comment

Communities across the United States are celebrating June as Pride Month – and so are we! In the coming weeks, join PBS to explore facets of the LGBTQ experience through true, personal stories (and additional resources, online and off).

According to the National Women’s History Project:

In June of 2000, Bill Clinton deemed the month of June, “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” The month was chosen to remember a riot in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan that is thought to be the beginning of the gay liberation movement in the United States.

In Wisconsin, several legislators introduced 2017 Assembly Joint Resolution 31 in order to officially recognize June as Pride Month.

On WPT’s flagship channel, check out these four thoughtful documentaries:

Independent Lens: The New Black
9 p.m. Monday, June 5
See how the African-American community is grappling with gay rights in light of the gay marriage movement. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of gay marriage legalization and examines homophobia in the black church.

Independent Lens: Limited Partnership
9 p.m. Monday, June 12
Decades before the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, one gay couple – a Filipino-American and an Australian – fell in love. Over the course of 40 years, they took on the U.S. government to fight for marriage and immigration equality.

Independent Lens: Real Boy
9 p.m. Monday, June 19
Real Boy is the coming-of-age story of Bennett, a transgender teenager with dreams of musical stardom. During the first two years of his gender transition, as Bennett works to repair a strained relationship with his family, he is taken under the wing of his friend and musical hero, celebrated trans folk singer Joe Stevens.

Join us in person! Indie Lens Pop-Up Screening
6:30-8:45 p.m. Thursday, June 8
Madison Central Library

Indie Lens Pop-Up is a neighborhood series that brings people together for film screenings and community-driven conversations. This series is a partnership between ITVS, WPT, and Madison Public Library. Please stay after the film for a panel discussion featuring the following panelists:

Finn Enke – Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, History, LGBTQ Studies, UW-Madison
Sawyer Johnson -Transgender Justice Program Coordinator, GSAFE
Kestrel – Trans Activist
Joanne Lee – Trans Advocate and Parent

Can’t attend in person? Find Independent Lens on Facebook for information on our online Pop-Up events.

The Campaign
10:30 p.m. Friday, June 30
Heartbreaking and inspiring, The Campaign follows five ordinary people caught in the firestorm of the massive campaign to defeat California’s Proposition 8 and defend same-sex marriage. Holli, Claudia, Richard, Anne and Alison discover that acceptance doesn’t always translate into votes – but political participation transforms them, win or lose.

You can also watch some excellent videos in our online archives.

First Person, from WNT and PBS Digital Studios, offers brief episodes about about gender identity, sexuality and queer community. Best of all, new episodes premiere this month!

Visit First Person on Facebook to keep up with the releases.

And we’ll close out this post with one of the most popular animated shorts from StoryCorps Shorts: The Saint of Dry Creek. 

Growing up on a dairy farm in the 1950s, Patrick Haggerty thought he was successfully hiding being gay – until his father surprised him.

Thanks to all of the individuals and community members who have shared their stories.

Independent Lens LGBT Pride Month LGBT