Film: No Secret Anymore: AFI Silver Theatre, 6/25
Before you go to see the documentary No Secret Anymore tomorrow at the AFI Silver Theatre, here are a couple of pertinent trivia questions:
Trivia question #1: when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom surprisingly opened the doors of city hall to marry gay and lesbian couples in February 2004—let’s hear it for shots across the bow in the culture wars!—who was the first couple to be married?
Trivia question #2: when, after much legal wrangling, the California Supreme Court once again declared gay marriage legal—let’s hear it for “legislating from the bench”!—who was the first couple to be married?
The answer on both counts? Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, an elderly lesbian couple, together for over a half-century. Unknown to the much-vaunted and usually clueless general public, Martin and Lyon are household names in the gay and lesbian liberation movement.
Give Newsom or whoever was advising him major credit: splashing the image of Martin, 87, and Lyon, 83, tenderly tying the knot in newspapers across the country is a huge public relations coup and tactical boost for gay marriage. How could anyone but the most cold-hearted or religiously/ideologically blinded see granting marriage to these beautiful elderly women as an affront? At the same time, Martin and Lyon are grand figures in the history of gay and lesbian rights. They founded San Francisco’s Daughters of Bilitis (which soon went national) in 1955 and edited The Ladder, among the very first lesbian or gay publications in the United States. They have been active in politics through the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club and have worked to advance causes for the elderly and those lacking health care. If anyone should be the first lesbians or gays to be married legally in California, surely Martin and Lyon are among the worthiest of candidates.
Longtime lesbian photographer and filmmaker JEB (Joan E. Biren – her author photographs grace the jackets of countless works of lesbian literature) created a documentary about Martin and Lyon in 2003, No Secret Anymore. It is being screened tomorrow night, Wednesday, June 25th, at 7 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. JEB will be on hand to talk about the film and answer questions. This is part of Montgomery County’s Out at the Library series in conjunction with gay pride month. The film should be fantastic —- it has won audience awards at just about every gay and lesbian film festival you can think of—and highly informative. Hope to see you there!
First time here? See what we're all about... Get involved... Send us a tip!...
I’ve seen this film before–and it’s amazing. If you can make this screening, you absolutely should! It’s quality filmmaking and is incredibly heartwarming.
I’m giddy that a pair of living legends in the struggle for queer identity and liberation are finally getting their due. It’s taken far too long.
What’s most endearing is that the ladies genuinely seem to be so deeply in love, even after five decades.
New info: JEB says that the film should be available for home video release sometime in 2009, when the rights revert to her from the current distributor.
This was an absolutely amazing screening: free! the filmmaker was there! fantastic movie! we all got free posters!
Seriously, though, Lyon and Martin are nothing but classy and praiseworthy. They did everything! As they say in the film, “This was in the days before burnout,” so they just pounded along like the Energizer Bunny on speed, seemingly involved in every significant lesbian initiative of the era, not to mention work for the rights of battered women, the elderly, etc. etc. What JEB says she wanted to do was to weave together the history of Lyon and Martin’s relationship with the history of the lesbian rights movement. She succeeds, famously.
If you get any chance to see this film in the future, do it. You will spend few more fascinating and inspirational hours.
Leave your response!
Recent Coments
Most Commented
Most Viewed - 30 Days