About
Playing Gay: How America Came Out On Television
$141,417
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Thank you to Norman Lear for his $10k matching pledge!
Thank you to Mike Gleason and David Kettel for matching the previous $10k!
Playing Gay: How America Came Out on Television is a documentary film that needs the support of the LGBT community and its allies in order to be made. The film will tell -- for the first time -- the story of how television changed the way America views LGBT people.
There has been a major shift in the hearts and minds of America over the past four decades. Television has been both the catalyst for and a powerful reflection of Americans’ views on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
We are lining up interviews with actors and directors who have played key roles in the history of LGBT people on TV. But in order to shoot and edit this film, we need you.
Back this project now and your pledge will be matched!
The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Marriage Equality didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened, first, on television.
In the 70s, President Nixon was secretly taped describing television as “glorifying homosexuality” while using words like “fag," "queer,” and “homo” to punctuate his disgust.
In the 90s, landmark shows like Roseanne, The Real World and My So-Called Life began introducing breakthrough characters and storylines, and we saw America’s closet door begin to swing open...
But it wasn’t until 1997 that the world witnessed the extraordinary courage of Ellen DeGeneres, and that cultural closet door was finally removed. Ellen bravely paved the way for shows like Will & Grace, Queer As Folk, The L Word and Modern Family.
From an American president voicing his disgust at the portrayal of a gay character, to an entire nation embracing love as a universal right - this is the incredible story of Playing Gay: How America Came Out on Television.
And it’s a story that can only be told with your help!
You can make Playing Gay a reality by helping us raise the money and resources we need to finish shooting and editing this film. Your contribution will cover:
As you scroll through our perks we hope you’ll smile as you remember some of the major television milestones along the way— and just how far we’ve come!
Rewards include access to behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes from the film, an exclusively designed Kickstarter T-Shirt, Poster, or join our Playing Gay team for the official Crew T-Shirt and your name in the credits!
You could even attend a live taping of an interview with some of the most important people in the industry and have dinner with the creators of the film!
David Crosby is overseeing music scoring for Playing Gay! Show your appreciation for his support and get an exclusive Playing Gay/StagCondoms.com gym bag plus other perks!
Please tweet about our matching pledge. Click here!
Executive Producer Wilson Cruz says: “David Bender’s long history in LGBT and mainstream politics, dating back to the days of Robert Kennedy, and my long history in television and LGBT activism — along with fellow Executive Producer Wendy Abrams and producer David Permut — make us the perfect team to tell this story! Now, all we need is everybody’s help!!"
Please back this project so we can tell this story!
Risks and challenges
The principal challenge here is the willingness and availability of the potential subjects. To date, we've interviewed Michael Douglas, Norman Lear, Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook, Sheila Kuehl, Wilson Cruz and Dannielle Owens-Reid. We're interviewing Rachel Maddow very soon, and we have many more exciting artists ready to participate when this campaign succeeds!
We are uniquely positioned to tell this story but we need the funds and resources to collect many more never-before-told stories from these groundbreaking artists in order to preserve the true history of LGBT images on television!
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Funding period
- (34 days)