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| Kramer |
There is a lot of anger and confusion about the upcoming Stonewall movie. Based upon what was seen in the trailer, many lgbts are worried that the movie, which chronicles the riots in New York, which many feel led to the modern lgbt equality movement, will omit key lgbt of color personalities during those riots.
In other words, they are fearful that the movie will "whitewash" the entire incident. Because of that, there have been petitions, threats of boycotts, and an online storm of condemnations. Now I am not one to judge a movie solely based upon a trailer. However, on the other hand, trailers are generally shown to garner interest in a movie so there is nothing wrong with people expressing their displeasure if a trailer causes the opposite reaction.
So to tell the truth, I'm not necessarily concerned either way. However, I am concerned by the recent remarks made by legendary lgbt activist and playwright Larry Kramer:
don’t listen to the crazies. for some reason there is a group of
“activists” that insists on maintaining their prime importance and
participation during this riot. unfortunately there seems no one left
alive to say “it wasnt that way at all”, or “who are or where the f—
were you.” as with so much history there is no way to “prove” a lot of
stuff, which allows artists such as yourself (and me I might add) to
take essences and attempt to find and convey meaning and truth. i
sincerely hope this boycott your film s— peters out. we are not dealing
with another “Cruising” here. keeping your film from being seen is only
hurting ourselves. good luck and thank you for your passion. larry
kramer
While Kramer does somewhat make a good point, I found his tone to be rather ignorant and indicative of the problem.
You see, my opinion is that this anger regarding Stonewall is not just about the movie. It is about the lgbt equality movement in general. I've always felt that the movement was too limited by what we are told to embrace, what we are told to believe, and what we are told should be our history.
When people talk about my ethnicity (African-American) or my region (the South) when it comes to being an lgbt, I get a mixture of pity and sadness. There seems to be this belief in our community that if you live in the South, you are disconnected from the community, except for being something like a Morlock in a homophobic No Man's Land.
And when you are black, you are pulled into transitory conversations about diversity and such, but you still never know what your history is when it pertains to lgbts. All of the prominent spokespeople in our community you hear about who made a visible impact - from Frank Kameny to Larry Kramer - are generally white and male. You ask where were the black lgbts who led organizations or who wrote books and were given a platform such as the cover of
The Advocate magazine. Hell, where are they now?
In general, I guess I am trying to say that the anger over the Stonewall movie is merely a reaction to the fact that many prominent folks in our community aren't acknowledging that we are becoming not only more diverse but outspoken. And one thing we are speaking out about is that we are tired of the same visuals which does not include lgbts of color being visible leaders.
No disrespect meant, but what bothers me about Mr. Kramer is I don't know if he is aware of that. This one time his blustery "tell it like it is" attitude isn't exactly "telling it like it is." Kramer is "telling it like it was," but it's not that way anymore.
