It is in my middle school years that I heard about Proposition 8 being discussed in my family. It was also then that I was even introduced to the concept of homosexuality, or even the LGBT movement. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was growing up in the middle of a state-wide and national movement. I had never heard of figures such as Cleve Jones until much later in life. I came from a certain paradigm already, but I wanted to see what was happening in my own backyard years ago, and why the LGBT movement is what it is today.
Regardless of the views you have towards the movement, I find that the "outsider perspective" of this narrative is particularly compelling, especially since I grew up during the time that Robin McGehee was making waves in Fresno, an evangelical and Republican stronghold, at the "Meet In The Middle Rally" against Proposition 8. All the way to 2013, when the United States Supreme Court ruled DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) as unconstitutional, and I was a junior in high school.
The stories of Roma Guy, Ken Jones, and Cleve Jones are followed all the way from their adolescent years to the present. The issues of HIV/AIDS outbreak, city-wide health care, rising rent of the tech boom, non-nuclear parenting, and intersectional racism and homophobia (illustrated and portrayed towards Ken Jones) are all present in this four-part series.
Millennials ought to watch and hear these stories, as we are typically active in the social justice world. Especially if you align yourself as an advocate for LGBT rights, the narrative painted here is crucial for fully understanding the origins of the movement. The factors that spurred the movement, the tactics used by people such as Jones and McGehee, are important to look at, as they illustrate sociological and political obstacles that ultimately hinder their progress.
You watch the series with a sense of empathy as you can see broken people trying to succeed in the world they live in. San Francisco, especially, home of the Castro District the turned into a headquarters for LGBT rights. Seeing Cleve Jones violently assaulted in San Francisco is an example of many types of violence that occurred against people in even the most liberal cities. The story of Matthew Shepard is briefly shown to further that point. The best part of this documentary is that it pulls real footage from these moments in history, to further show that this REALLY happened.
There are a few drawbacks to the miniseries: It can seem disorienting because the narrative focuses on characters and social issues through decades of history, and the movement is very much individually-focused, then moves to the more macroscopic level when DOMA is overturned. There were a few narrative gaps here and there, but it ended up not making that much of a difference.
I urge my fellow millennials to watch this intriguing and emotional series and to watch other series such as "Roots," to see how their leaders unite disjointed factions behind a unified message, much like Guy attempting to unite the multiple factions of feminism in the earlier part of the series. Take a few days, and it will make you appreciate how far we as a society have moved.
