GULFPORT, FLORIDA: The LGBTQ Resource Center at Gulfport Public Library continues its monthly free LGBTQ Film Series on Thursday, June 13 with an award-winning documentary surveying the historic Stonewall riots of 1969, which touched off the modern-day Gay Rights Movement. A guest speaker who was present during the riots will also speak. The Film Series is a free gathering to watch a film in the company of friends and neighbors on the second Thursday of each month.
Each film begins at 7pm in the Friends Room at Gulfport Public Library (5501 28th Avenue South). Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Licensing restrictions prohibit explicitly naming film titles in general press releases. But feel free to call the Library at (727) 893-1074 for the film title and other information about the film series. Or find titles and more information online: www.mygulfport.us/lgbtq-resources.
About the June 13 film: On June 28, 1969, New York police raid a Greenwich Village gay bar, The Stonewall Inn. For the first time, patrons refuse to be led into paddy wagons, setting off a three-day riot that launches the Gay Rights Movement. Told by Stonewall patrons, reporters and the cop who led the raid, this compelling 2010 documentary recalls the bad old days when psychoanalysts equated homosexuality with mental illness and police entrapment was rampant. At the height of this oppression, the cops raid Stonewall, triggering nights of pandemonium with tear gas, billy clubs and a small army of tactical police. The rest is history. (Rated PG 13).
We are proud to screen this film as part of our full slate of events for LGBTQ Pride Month throughout June, also commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Prior to the film, we will also hear remarks by local resident Jay Chetney, who was present during the Stonewall riots.
Save the date, Thursday July 11, for the next film in the series. Started in the 1980s as a fabricated movement intended to punk the punk scene, Queercore quickly became a real-life cultural community of LGBTQ music and movie-making revolutionaries. From the start of the pseudo-movement to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture, this 2018 documentary is just that: a how-to-do-it guide for the next generation of queer radicals. ”An important document capturing the influence of queercore, an underground movement that enjoys life on the fringes, where identifying as an anti-establishment ‘arty weirdo’ is just as important as sexuality.” Los Angeles Times (Not Rated)
Watch for announcements of other films as they are added to the series on the second Thursday of each month.
The LGBTQ Resource Center of the Gulfport Public Library is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Resource Center provides collections, services and events throughout the year to the local LGBTQ community, its friends and family. Find out more about the Resource Center and the Library on the web at www.mygulfport.us/gpl or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GulfportLibraryFL. Or contact the LGBTQ Resource Center by email to LGBTQGulfport@gmail.com.