Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center is proud to partner with ArtsQuest to present the 4th Annual LGBT Film Series!

On September 30th, in particular, we are hosting a talkback following a screening of Gay Pioneers. The talkback features our Executive Director, Adrian Shanker, and the Executive Producer of the film, Malcolm Lazin.

Gay Pioneers is the story of the first organized annual "homosexual" civil rights demonstrations held in Philadelphia, New York and Washington, DC from 1965-69. When few would publicly identify themselves as gay, these brave pioneers challenged pervasive homophobia.

On July 4, 1965, forty people carried signs in front of Independence Hall supporting gay emancipation. Each year in NY, DC and Philadelphia their numbers grew. By July 4, 1969, one month after Stonewall, 150 people demonstrated at Independence Hall. The annual demonstrations were consolidated in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. That led to the then largest gathering for gays and lesbians when between two to five thousand people congregated in New York's Central Park. The 1970 demonstration encouraged activists to stage the first gay pride parade in NYC. The New York Pride Parade was emulated in large and small cities in North America and worldwide and helped catapult an international civil rights movement.

Gay Pioneers is directed by PBS award-winning documentary filmmaker Glenn Holsten and produced by PBS affiliate WHYY and Equality Forum. Gay Pioneers braids archival footage from these seminal demonstrations; FBI investigative files obtained under the Freedom of Information Act; gay pioneer interviews about the homophobia of that era, the protocol for the demonstrations and how those demonstrations impacted the movement and Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz on-camera in 2004 discussing same-sex marriage.

The complete schedule for the 2015 LGBT Film Series is:   

Aug. 27, 7:15 p.m.: Kinky Boots
Aug. 31, 7:15 p.m.: The David Dance
Sept. 13, 7 p.m.: Liz in September
Sept. 17, 7:15 p.m.: Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
Sept. 21, 7:15 p.m.: Transgender Short Films presented by Gender Reel
Sept. 27, 8 p.m.: Appropriate Behavior
Sept. 30, 7:15 p.m.: Two Short Films: Gay Pioneers/The Next Stop (includes talkback following film)
Oct. 4, 7 p.m.:  Do I Sound Gay?  

Tickets for each film are $10 regular admission, $8 for ages 60 and older and $7.50 for ArtsQuest Members. (Please note: this is not a fundraiser for Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center -- admission costs go directly to ArtsQuest, who is responsible for obtaining screening rights for each film.)

Each film is held at The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, which are located in the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. For more information on the series and films, visit steelstacks.org.