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Queer Month Film Festival
By Annabelle Fend | May 20, 2007
This June, NSCC will celebrate “Queer Month” with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender film festival held at the Baxter Event Center on June 6th.
The following films will be shown beginning at 10am:
10am: But I am a Cheerleader: A comic story of a popular teenage girl who’s parents fear she is a lesbian and send her away to rehabilitation camp, where she finds out she really is a lesbian, directed by Jamie Babbit. Rated R.
1pm: Dangerous Living: Coming out in the Developing World. A documentary covering the struggles of the LGBT community in the developing world. Directed by John Sagliotti. Rated R.
3pm: Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The comic adventure of two drag queens and a transexual who cross the Australian desert to go to a performance. Directed by Stephan Elliot. Rated R.
5pm: Ma vie En Rose (My Life In Pink): French with English subtitles. The vibrant and colorful film which tells the story of a cross-dressing young boy, directed by Alain Berliner. Rated R.
The origin of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community occurred after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York on June 28th, 1969. A year later, the first annual Gay Liberation Front held a march occurred in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, in Greenwich Village, New York. On the same day marches were held in Los Angeles and San Fransisco. The first marches were called Gay Liberation Marches and inspired a widening activist movement.
The following years these marches occurred in numerous other cities. The became known as Gay Freedom Marches in San Fransisco and were held on Gay Freedom Day. In the 1980’s less a less radical movement took over the marches. The terms, Gay Liberation and Gay Freedom were dropped for the term Gay Pride.
Eventually these parades took on a less political nature and became increasingly festive. Larger parades began to include floats, drag queens, dancers, and amplified music. Though nature of the Gay Pride parade has become a cause of celebration, the original activism by including some aspect of AIDS awareness and anti-LGBT violence. Hundreds of Gay Pride parades happen around the world in the month of June. These parades have become a part of the fabric of the communities in which they occur, and an summer event that attracts tourists.
The rainbow flag or Freedom Flag became a popular symbol of diversity and understanding withing the gay community. Originating in San Francisco in the 1970’s it has become an international symbol of gay pride.
The term Queer has become a preferred word of identification by many individuals in the LGBT community. The original word meant: different or outside the norm. It is preferred by individuals who strongly disagree with traditional gender identities and those who feel oppressed by heteronormativity. Heteronormativity is the perceived enforcement of traditional beliefs and social institutions and policies. Queerness opens the door for “queer” heterosexuals who disagree with the oppressiveness of social expectations connected to gender, and to the more conservative homosexual to identify as “non-queer.”
The annual Seattle Gay Pride Parade was held in Seattle Center last year and fell into a massive operating deficit. This deficit caused the original sponsors of the parade to declare bankruptcy. Seattle Out and Proud took over the organization of the event which is going back to the original neighborhood in Capital Hill. This years theme is “Coming Together.” The parade is Sunday, June 24 starting at 11:00am on the corner of Union St. and 4th Ave and will proceed down 4th Ave to Denny Way, lasting approximately 2 ½ hrs. For more information about this years event see www.seattlepride.com.
Topics: Events |