Equal (TV series)

Last updated
Equal
Genre Docuseries
Directed by
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Diane Becker
  • Melanie Miller
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkHBO Max
Original releaseOctober 22, 2020 (2020-10-22)

Equal is an American docuseries produced by Scout Productions, Berlanti Productions, Raintree Ventures, That's Wonderful Productions, and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. The four-part series chronicles landmark events and leaders in LGBTQ history, and consists of a mixture of archival footage and scripted reenactments. Equal stars several actors including Samira Wiley, Jamie Clayton, and Anthony Rapp. The series premiered on HBO Max on October 22, 2020. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Plot

Episode 1

This episode explores the rise of the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis.

Dale Jennings and Harry Hay were both married to women before they founded the Mattachine Society. Dale has twice married women.

Kinsey Reports on sexual behavior among men is first published in 1948. This is widely discussed among gay men at the time due to its conclusion of high numbers having had a homosexual experience.

Del Martin was married and divorced from a man before going on to become an activist with the Daughters of Bilitis.

In the 1950s, gay people were prohibited from working for the US government because of Executive Order 10450; this loss of employment became known as the Lavender scare.

ONE magazine was first published in 1953. Mattachine Society members sought to outlaw entrapment. The Ladder (magazine) was first published in 1956. In the 1950s, Ernestine Eckstein says, "The negro cause is widely accepted. The homosexual cause is not yet accepted." Gays and lesbians were seen as "immoral" and "sick." The Council on Religion and the Homosexual was set up in the 1960s to win religious support for the civil rights of gay people; Evander Smith and Herb Donaldson (lawyer) were its leaders.

Episode 2

This episode focuses on the 20th-century transgender movement, including the 1966 Compton Cafeteria riots in Tenderloin, San Francisco. Even earlier, masquerade laws were used to arrest trans men and women. [5]

The FBI goes after Lucy Hicks Anderson because she was receiving the extra pay allotment as the married wife of her husband Reuben Anderson. She faced a "federal fraud case" since the authorities didn't accept her female gender. Both she and her husband were given prison time as a result, but remained together afterward.

In the early 20th century, trans man Jack Starr lives a rough, wild life working as a bootlegger and bartender. He was more than once arrested for traveling on public roads in a male "disguise" according to authorities. Starr's story is also the least documented-his ultimate fate remains a mystery.

Christine Jorgensen's very public transition is recounted, with real footage of her from the 1950s after she underwent a sex reassignment operation in Scandinavia. Multiple films and books are written about this, while she struggles greatly with being in the spotlight, as her life is delved into. Nonetheless, she speaks of her life and experience in good humor.

Trans women, after frequent police harassment, fight back in the Compton's Cafeteria riot. After they were not permitted back into the cafeteria, LGBT+ people picket the establishment before a second riot erupts. Following this, the government of San Francisco allows transgender people to address people publicly, showcasing their humanity and asking for tolerance, with this sparking the movement for trans rights continuing into contemporary times.

Episode 3

This episode highlights contributions from the Black community to the growing LGBTQ civil rights movement. David Susskind praises Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun on his television show. Hansberry and her husband become active in Greenwich Village. Though openly a lesbian, Hansberry was part of lesbian groups privately, saw women and advocated gay rights under a pseudonym. She publicly supported Marxism and black liberation also.

Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader, was very unusual in being openly gay. His conviction for having sex with other men made him perceived as a liability to the civil rights movement. As a result, he was banished temporarily, with the segregationist US Senator Strom Thurmond seeking to use Rustin against them. Nonetheless, Rustin was a key organizer of major civil rights efforts, including the March on Washington, where he spoke publicly for the effort.

José Sarria performed at the Black Cat Bar in San Francisco, California. In 1961, Sarria becomes the first gay person to run for public office.

In Los Angeles, police arrest hundreds of gay people at the Black Cat Tavern in 1967.

Episode 4

This episode tackles the Stonewall Riots and the beginning of the Pride movement." [3]

Craig Rodwell does janitorial work on Fire Island. Later, he opens up a book shop on Mercer Street (Manhattan).

Marsha P. Johnson became known as "the mayor of Christopher Street" in the 1960s. Billy Porter says that the Genovese crime family opened up the Stonewall Inn; in the 1960s, it was illegal to serve liquor to gay and trans people in public bars in New York City.

The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) is founded in June 1969 after the Stonewall Riots. While the Gay Liberation Front sought to form a coalition with racial and feminist groups, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) focused more on gay rights.

Gay activists in 1969 sought end of police arrests for same-sex public displays of affection (PDA). They also clamored for an end to firings and employment reprisals for being gay. In 1973, Sylvia Rivera gives a speech saying, "I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation." [6]

Cast and characters

Episode 1 [8]

Episode 2 [8]

Episode 3 [8]

Episode 4 [8]

Production

Development

On October 16, 2019, it was announced that HBO Max had commissioned an LGBTQ+ historical docuseries consisting of four hour-long episodes from Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. [10] It is the first production from the company's documentary series unit. [4]

The show's executive producers are David Collins, Michael Williams, Rob Eric, and Joel Chiodi (Scout Productions); Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter (Berlanti Productions); Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak (That's Wonderful Productions); Jon Jashni (Raintree Ventures); and Mike Darnell and Brooke Karzen (Warner Horizon Unscripted Television). [10] Diane Becker and Melanie Miller are also producers. [8]

The series premiered on October 22, 2020, in observance of LGBT History Month. [2] [3]

Crew

Equal's showrunner is Stephen Kijak, who also directs episodes one, three and four. [1] Kimberly Reed directs episode two. [1]

Casting

On August 25, 2020, the casting of Samira Wiley, Cheyenne Jackson, Anthony Rapp, Sara Gilbert, Alexandra Grey, Shannon Purser, Heather Matarazzo, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, and Gale Harold was announced. [1]

Reception

The show received positive critical reception. It holds a 83% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. [11] Inkoo Kang wrote for The Hollywood Reporter , "In celebrating a movement whose foremothers and forefathers’ names have yet to enter the common lexicon, Equal is a valuable if glossy resource." [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall riots</span> 1969 spontaneous uprising for gay & LGBT rights in New York City

The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall, were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattachine Society</span> American gay male advocacy group

The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, preceded by several covert and open organizations, such as Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collection of male friends in Los Angeles to protect and improve the rights of gay men. Branches formed in other cities, and by 1961 the Society had splintered into regional groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay liberation</span> Social and political movement in the 1960s and 70s.

The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Rivera</span> American LGBT rights activist (1951–2002)

Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag queen for most of her life and later as a transgender person, participated in demonstrations with the Gay Liberation Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pride at Work</span>

Pride at Work (P@W) is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group (LGBTQ+) of labor union activists affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NYC Pride March</span> Event celebrating the LGBTQ community

The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade in North America and among the largest pride events in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June. The parade route through Lower Manhattan traverses south on Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village, passing the Stonewall National Monument, site of the June 1969 riots that launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT pride</span> Positive stance toward LGBT people

LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Cat Tavern</span> LGBT historic site in Los Angeles, California

The Black Cat Tavern is an LGBT historic site located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1967, it was the site of one of the first demonstrations in the United States protesting police brutality against LGBT people, preceding the Stonewall riots by over two years.

LGBT rights organizations are non-governmental civil rights, health, and community organizations that promote the civil and human rights and health of sexual minorities, and to improve the LGBT community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Rodwell</span> American gay rights activist

Craig L. Rodwell was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration. Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture in New York City</span>

New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest LGBTQ populations and the most prominent. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Grey</span> American actress (b. 1991)

Alexandra Jordan Grey is an American actress, singer, songwriter and producer. She is best known for her roles as Melody Barnes on the Fox music drama series Empire (2015–2020), Elizah Parks on the comedy series Transparent and Parker Phillip's on the CBS action/adventure series MacGyver (2016-2021). She also portrays Denise Lockwood on the NBC TV medical drama Chicago Med, and had guest roles on Code Black, How to Get Away with Murder, Drunk History and the period television drama series The Alienist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Leitsch</span> American gay rights activist (1935–2018)

Richard Joseph Leitsch, also known as Richard Valentine Leitsch and more commonly Dick Leitsch, was an American LGBT rights activist. He was president of gay rights group the Mattachine Society in the 1960s. He conceptualized and led the "Sip-In" at Julius' Bar, one of the earliest acts of gay civil disobedience in the United States, LGBT activists used "sip-ins" to attempt to gain the legal right to drink in bars in New York. He was also known for being the first gay reporter to publish an account of the Stonewall Riots and the first person to interview Bette Midler in print media.

The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is an American memorial wall in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". The wall is located inside of the Stonewall Inn and is a part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty nominees were announced in June 2019, and the wall was unveiled on June 27, 2019, as a part of the Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 events. Each year five additional names will be added.

<i>Making Gay History</i> LGBT history podcast

Making Gay History is an oral history podcast on the subject of LGBT history, featuring trailblazers, activists, and allies. Most episodes draw on the three-decade-old audio archive of rare interviews that the podcast's founder and host Eric Marcus conducted for the two editions of his oral history book about the LGBT movement, which he was commissioned to write in the late 1980s. In February 2020, Making Gay History was adapted for the stage at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Sargeant</span> French-American gay rights activist

Frédéric André Sargeant is a French-American gay rights activist and former lieutenant with the Stamford CT Police Department. He participated in each of the nights of the 1969 Stonewall riots and was one of the four co-founders of the first Gay Pride march in New York City in 1970. He was vice-chairman of the Homophile Youth Movement at the time.

<i>Pride</i> (American TV series) American TV series or program

Pride is an American documentary television miniseries revolving around LGBT rights in the United States decade-by-decade. It consists of 6 episodes and premiered on May 14, 2021, on FX.

Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive, and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Petski, Denise (2020-08-25). "'Equal': Samira Wiley, Anthony Rapp, Cheyenne Jackson Among Cast For HBO Max's LGBTQ+ Docuseries". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  2. 1 2 "See LGBTQ+ Icons Reincarnated In HBO Max's New Series 'Equal'". www.out.com. 2020-08-25. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  3. 1 2 3 Rudolph, Christopher. "Out Celebs Transform Into Queer Pioneers for HBO Max's "Equal"". www.newnownext.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. 1 2 Petski, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie (2019-10-16). "HBO Max Picks Up LGBTQ+ Docuseries 'Equal' From Greg Berlanti, Jim Parsons & New Warner Horizon Docu Unit". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  5. HBO Max's 'Equal': What were 'Masquerade Law' and 'Three-Article Rule' used by cops to persecute trans community?
  6. A Forgotten Latina Trailblazer: LGBT Activist Sylvia Rivera
  7. 1 2 Kang, Inkoo (22 October 2020). "'Equal': TV Review". THR. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilchrist, Tracy E. (2020-08-24). "See Cheyenne Jackson, Samira Wiley as LGBTQ+ Icons in HBO Max's EQUAL". www.advocate.com. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  9. Here's What We Know About the LGBTQ+ Figure Jack Starr Featured on Equal
  10. 1 2 Otterson, Joe (2019-10-16). "HBO Max Orders LGBTQ Movement Docuseries From Scout Productions, Jim Parsons, Greg Berlanti". Variety. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  11. "Season 1 Equal Critics". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 December 2020.