STONEWALL
The boarded up Stonewall Inn after the riot the weekend of 28th June, 1969.
© Larry Morris / New york TiMes / redux / eyeviNe
Once upon a time we were written out of history. Now, we make history. But when a Hollywood film with a gay theme opens, more often than not, it hits the headlines for the wrong reasons. In the U.S., where gay liberation began, activists don’t take kindly to the way we’re represented on the big screen. In 1980 people took to the streets to protest the implication in Cruising that all gay men are sado-masochists. Hollywood’s first major film about AIDS, Philadelphia (1993), came under fire because the straight actors playing gay lovers (Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas) never kissed. Now, organisations are calling for a boycott of Stonewall, a new film about the New York riots that gave birth to gay liberation, because people allegedly integral to the epoch-making event aren’t shown in pivotal roles. This is despite the fact that the film tells a fictitious story “inspired” by real events.