More than a dozen transgender and gender-nonconforming people and their allies lined the entrance to the Century Landmark Cinemas, 2828 N. Clark St., on Sept. 20, asking audiences attending the 2015 Reeling LGBTQ+ International Film Festival if they were planning on seeing Stonewallthe festival's centerpiece presentation.
Stonewall director Roland Emmerich's credits include Independence Day, 10,000 BC, Godzilla and Eight Legged Freaks.
Emmerich has come under fire for blanching the historic 1969 uprising, which became the catalyst for a more prolific LGBTQ-rights movement in the United States and worldwide, under a story about Dannya white gay man who escapes the prejudice of his Indiana home for Greenwich Village, and comes of age through his experiences battling the New York Police Department ( NYPD ) and through a love affair with another white character named Trevor. [More about this is on page 70-71 of Windy City Times.]
Together they watch with horror as members of the NYPD raid the Stonewall Inn. "This is what we're fighting," Trevor announces defiantly.
Historians and those who actually participated in the riots note that Stonewall was actually precipitated and led by transgender women of color. In an interview earlier this year with Windy City Times, beloved Chicago transgender mentor Gloria Allen recalled Stonewall in 1969; "The violence against transgender women was horrific," she said. "They were being stabbed and found in garbage cans with their bodies chopped up. The police were killing us, too. They would raid the clubs and drag us out. It was like living in Salem during the witch hunts. If you were Black and transgender, it was bad."
In reporting the raids and ensuing demonstrations, press outlets like the July 6, 1969, edition of the New York Sunday News noted under the headline "Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad" that, "Last weekend, the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force."
In reviewing the 2015 version of events, Little White Lies critic David Jenkins stated, "In Stonewall, Roland Emmerich does to the dignity of New York's burgeoning LGBT community what he did to the White House in Independence Day."
The leaflets handed out by the demonstrators in front of the Century Landmark were just as damning. "The movie Stonewall erases trans people and people of color from LGBTQ history," they said. "It is part of Hollywood's long tradition of focusing on white male protagonists."
The demonstrators were on a mission to educate audiences about who they consider to be some of the real heroes of Stonewalltransgender women of color like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Miss Major Griffen-Gracy.
"We are groups of people who are similarly frustrated with the way Stonewall is being talked about," co-organizer and activist Rebecca Kling told Windy City Times. "We have all collaborated to try and get the message of outreach and education."
Eli was one such member of the group. "I'm a trans person and I don't ever see myself portrayed in media," he said. "These trans and queer women were the source of marriage rights. To see this narrative of the past erased and ciswashed by Hollywood is an oppressive and violent act against me."
Both Kling and Eli believe that it ultimately comes down to the respectability politics that has always played a pervasive role in the fictions presented to the general public. However, when they allow it to plague a central moment in history, much like the NYPD in 1969, Hollywood and the media have crossed a line.
"Part of what's frustrating about the film is that it ignores a number of incredible narratives," Kling said. "You could come at it from the trans women of color who were heavily involved. The implication here is that history isn't interesting enough and these leaders of the community aren't powerful enough or narratively fascinating enough to warrant their own stories."
The leaflets highlighted at least three independent films that believed such narratives are importantMajor, Happy Birthday Marsha and Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria.
Kling said that although Reeling organizers had welcomed and even encouraged the demonstration, she was still disappointed that the film served as the festival's centerpiece. "I don't think they should have pulled the film. I definitely think they should have changed the way they talked about it on their website and in their literature."
In a statement released to Windy City Times, Reeling founder and co-programmer Brenda Webb wrote, "Stonewall is the most high-profile studio picture to date addressing a flashpoint in American LGBTQA civil rights history. It is a fictionalized account of one man's coming of age, set against the backdrop of a watershed historical moment. Reeling would be remiss not to showcase the film's first showing in the United States in front of an LGBTQA audience."
"Stonewallshepherded by a gay director, written by a gay playwright and featuring diverse gay and trans characterswould be conspicuously absent from one of the world's most prominent LGBTQA film festivals," Webb added. "Based on its success it could well inspire more future movies telling additional stories of the Stonewall riots. We made this our centerpiece because we were very proud to present it."
In a sad irony, another co-organizer of the demonstration, Mike Oboza, announced on the event's Facebook page that he could not attend after being assaulted and robbed of his train and taxi money.