In the Life: Ep. 805, "1999 Gay Pride Episode"

[Theme music] [Katherine Linton] On this addition of, "In the Life," [Cheers] [Announcer] Paula Vogel, stands center stage. [Announcer] The Reverend Irene Monroe, speaks out. [Announcer] And Miami says, "Yes to Project Yes." Plus, thirty years ago, [Announcer] Judy Garland's life ended, and the Stonewall Riots began. [Announcer] A report on, the Judy connection. All this and more on, "In the Life," America's lesbian and gay cultural news magazine. [Theme music] [Announcer] "In the Life," is funded in part by, [Announcer] The H. van Ameringen Foundation. [Announcer] Additional support provided by, [Announcer] Michael A. Leppen, [Announcer] Jeffrey B. Soref, [Announcer] Ric Weiland, [Announcer] Richard Winger, [Announcer] The Gill Foundation, [Announcer] The Lily Auchincloss, Foundation [Announcer] The Michael Palm Foundation, [Announcer] The Mitchell Gold Company, [Announcer] "In the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and prejudice." [Announcer] And, "In the Life," members, like you. [Music] [Music continues, heavy on drums] [Music] [Linton] Welcome to, "In the Life," and our "Gay Pride," episode. Hi, I'm Katherine Linton. This June, marks the 30th anniversary of one of the seminal events in the history of gay rights. On June 27th, 1969, patrons fought back against police, when they raided the Stonewall Inn. A popular gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village. Now that confrontation, known as the Stonewall Rebellion, is often credited with sparking the world wide gay rights movement that we have today. "In the Life," commemorates Stonewall 30, by exploring one of the legends from that extraordinary night. And by unveiling some, never before seen, footage from a past Stonewall celebration. [Linton] In addition, you'll meet two lesbians who are making their mark in the fight for gay rights. [Linton] One in the theater and one in theology. But first, if Stonewall fueled a movement, then, what on earth fueled Stonewall? The bar had been raided numerous times before by police. So what made that summer, 1969 night any different? Well, that same day, family, friends and fans had mourned at the funeral of Judy Garland. The singer who had taken on mythic proportions for the gay community. So, did the death of this American Icon help give rise to the gay and lesbian movement. Jonathan Capehart reports on the music of Judy Garland, her connection to Stonewall and her enduring influence on gay and lesbian entertainers today. [Judy Garland sings, "Almost Like Being in Love] There's a smile on my face, for the whole human race. Why it's, almost like being in love. All the music of life, [Thomas O'Neil], over Garland] Judy Garland was the most important person to gay men in 1969. It's either an enormous coincidence, that Stonewall happened on the day of her funeral or there's a link. [Garland] And from the way that I feel. [Jeremiah Newton over Garland] I was at the riots. Judy had a part of it. She was in our mind. She was in our hearts. She was in our souls. [Garland] I would swear I was falling, [DeLaria over Garland] What a voice. What an instrument. [Joel Dorn over Garland] She was like a raw nerve. She gave you the whole cake. [Garland] It was almost like being in love. Almost like being in love. [Lorna Luft, over Garland] She was everybody's legend. She was my mom. [Garland] This can't be love. [Jonathan Capehart] In, "Me and My Shadows," Lorna Luft writes a personal memoir about growing up as the daughter of one of this century's greatest entertainers, Judy Garland. And it was here, at the Stonewall Inn, where some believe, Garland's legacy became forever linked with the Stonewall Rebellion. [Garland sings, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow] Somewhere, over the rainbow, [Jimmy James, over Garland] "The Wizard of Oz," would come around once a year, and all the kids in the neighborhood would gather around the television set and watch this motion picture. And I think that was the first time that I fell in love with Judy Garland. [Luft, over Garland] Two generations, almost now, coming up in the world, only know her as Dorothy. They really don't know her as the entertainer. That she became. [Judy Garland singing, "Come Rain or Come Shine"] cloudy or sunny. We're in or we're out of the money. I think it's a real important, a part of our history. To make sure that people know what she did for, popular American music. [Garland] I'm gonna love you, I'm gonna love you, [John Fricke over Garland] There were no flash powder explosions. There was no boa constrictor around her neck. There were no dancers. There were no cone shaped bustiers. This was one woman, standing in front of an orchestra, singing songs and being herself. [Capehart over Garland singing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"] John Fricke, a leading Garland biographer, is the author of the upcoming, "100 Years of Oz," set for publication this fall. [Fricke] She was politically correct long before it was possible to be politically correct. In 1965, a San Francisco columnist had a big press conference at the Top of the Mark, got her into a corner, and said, [Sotto voice] "I understand you have a very large gay following, Miss Garland." [Fricke] And one of the other reporters heard this and wrote about it later and he said, Judy just looked this reporter right in the eye and said, [Fricke] "I sing to people." [Garland singing "San Francisco"] San Francisco. I love it. All is there. She did know, that she had a big gay following and she she liked that. [Scott Schechter] I don't really buy into all of the, the usual stereotypes that, all gay men love her because they identify with suffering and, if anything, I think gay men identify with, her strength. [Garland] San Francisco, here I, come. [Holds note] [Luft] If you went to any of her concerts, [Luft] you would see, families and children, and, and gay people and straight people and you would see this big mixture. I think it's just that the gay audience has made sure to protect her image and protect her memory. [Garland singing "Chicago."] Chicago, Chicago. Chi-ca-go. [Drawn out] Free and easy town, brassy, breezy town. Chicago. [Lea DeLaria over Garland] Like I have this box set of hers that has all this great stuff on it. That you've never heard before, which is terrific. "Judy," a recently released four CD, video and book collection spans over forty years of Garland's musical career. [Garland] Holler and whoop, all through the loop. [Drum beat] "Judy," includes rare audio and video highlights from the short lived, CBS TV series, "The Judy Garland Show." [Garland] life is peachy, Chicago. [Joel Dorn over Garland] What we wanted to do was an overview of her entire career. So we started when she was, um, I think, five. And we ended a few months before her death. [TV Crew] Judy Garland, episode twenty five, Air, take one. [Clapperboard claps] [Garland sings, "The Man That Got Away] The road gets rougher. It's lonlier and tougher. [Fricke] The TV series is an extraordinary, body of work because it's the only major body of work we have of Judy Garland being Judy Garland. Not playing a role. [Garland] The live long night and day. [Holds note} [Garland] Ever since this world began, [Luft, over Garland] She loved the fact that, they, [Luft] they had a yellow brick road to her dressing room over at CBS and they, they really did go all out. They just, didn't know quite what to do when it was on the air. [Laughs] [Garland] A one man woman. Looking for, the man that got, [Garland] away. [DeLaria, over Garland] I watched her when I was a kid. Fought with family, because, "Bonanza," was on at the same time. They wanted to watch, "Bonanza." I wanted to watch Judy Garland. [Garland] The man, that got, [Holds note] away. [Holds note] On June 22nd, 1969, Judy Garland died from an accidental drug overdose in London, at the age of forty seven. [Williamson Henderson] Friday, June 27th, 1969, ah, started for most people in the New York City gay community by, being at Judy Garland's funeral. [Thomas O'Neil] Twenty two thousand people filed past her casket. And then many of them came right here. [O'Neil] The discussion at the Stonewall Inn that night was not about gay rights in America. It was about, who among them had been at Judy's funeral. [Jeremiah Newton] And by the end of 19, middle part of 1969, we had all had enough. The situation with the police was terrible. They would go into a bar. And we'd have to sit down. And the lights would go up. They would check I.D. Take some of us out and arrest us. And we were tired of living that way. [Henderson] The fact that that day, the gay community lost it's icon, Judy Garland. It was a situation where what more can we lose? We had no rights. [Henderson] Now we lose our icon. One of the few things the gay community had then. [Henderson] And ah, it was just, ah, too much. [Director] Background action! And action! [Crowd noise] [Newton] There was such a feeling in the crowd of anger, towards the police. [Newton] It was at that moment, I knew something bad was going to happen and indeed, that's when it began. The one interesting thing which intrigued me, people were chanting Judy's name. They were saying, "Saint Judy, Saint Judy, Saint Judy, pray for us." If Judy Garland's funeral was not that day, the Stonewall Rebellion would not have happened that night. [Henderson] No doubt it would have happened sooner or later, but let's face it, [Henderson] it didn't happen in two hundred years, I don't mean at the Stonewall club, but gay people never revolted prior to that. Why that night? The connection was Judy Garland. There's no question about it. [DeLaria] Sing Hallelujah, come on, get happy. Get ready for the judgement, [Capehart over DeLaria] In the thirty years since her death, Judy Garland continues to inspire and influence a new generation of gay and lesbian artists. [John Epperson] The character of Lypsinka is sort of meant to be every diva. [Epperson] And you won't see a gesture that Judy would have done. What I call Judy hand jive. Cause she had a very idiosyncratic and individual way of moving her arms and her hands. [Music] [Tommy Femia] Half of my audience, I'm surprised I get the kids from the East Village. You know, with the different color hair. [Femia] And they can relate to her. Because she's not dated. And because of her brutal honesty, it transcends time. [Announcer] Mister Jimmy James recreating Miss Judy Garland. [Jimmy James, singing] Forget your troubles, come on get happy. [James] The good thing about Judy is that I can like just break into a little Judy and just become that personality and that spark that she had. [Man with red shirt, chuckling] [Man with green shirt] Listen I'm going to meet some friends in a few minutes out front and we're going to get something to eat. [Green shirt] And then we're going to go to a piano bar. To this day, Garland's grip on the gay community is so strong, that when one gay man meets another, the code is, [Green shirt] Listen, you'll fit right in, they're all friends of Dorothy. [Green shirt] You know, friends of Dorothy, Judy, The Wizard of Oz. [DeLaria as Garland, singing] The sun is shining, come on get happy. [DeLaria] I think she's one of the true great performers that have ever, ever [?]. There are a couple of people that have had that sort of impact on my career. As a performer. I get that from her. [Garland sings, "Get Happy"] and get happy. Chase your cares away. Shout hallelujah, come on get happy. Get ready for the judgement day. [DeLaria over Garland singing] Someone that just goes out on stage and does it. What ever there is to do. [DeLaria] And gives that one hundred and fifty per cent. [Garland] come on get happy. We're going to the promised land. [DeLaria over Garland] You give me someone that does what Judy Garland does. [DeLaria] I can't. That's why she's a legend. That's why she'll be a legend forever. [Garland] on the other side. Forget your troubles, come on get happy. You better chase all your cares away. Shout hallelujah, come on get happy. [Luft over Garland] I don't know, why my mom had such a huge gay following. Um, I'm pleased that she did. They have kept her memory alive. [Garland] For the judgement day! [Holds note] [Music continues, applause] [DeLaria, scatting, continues under dialogue] Kay, Stonewall Inn, site of the Stonewall Riots June 27th to the 29th, 1969. That, by the way, was when Judy Garland died. Birth of the modern lesbian and gay rights liberation movement. Birth of our movement. Right here, now. This is what that means, okay. In this bar, we had a lot of drag queens We had a lot of big dykes on motorcycles. They're having a happy time. Doing what dykes on motorcycles do, fighting. And just playing, having a wonderful time. Boom. In comes the police. Says you can't do that anymore. And this is exactly how gays got into the designer field. See, they said, take that police car, put it over there. Take that policeman, throw him over there. And that brings us to gay pride, today! [DeLaria, singing] Day! [Music crescendo] [Theme music] For an older generation of gay men and lesbians, the music of Judy Garland provided comfort, refuge and strength. In our next segment, we turn our attention to the younger generation. And an organization in Miami that's working to combat a staggering suicide and drop out rate, among gay, lesbian and bisexual teens. An organization, who's motto might as well be, just say, "Yes." [Music, background voices] [Martha Fugate] My name is Martha Fugate and I'm the director of Project Yes. [Fugate] I was in college, before I discovered that I had this strange habit of falling in love with women and not men. [Fugate] I was a homosexual. I wasn't a lesbian, because there were no lesbians in North Carolina, where I was from. Like many others, I looked it up in the dictionary and found out I had a mental disease. One of the misconceptions is that it's easier for kids now. And, I thought that myself when I started Project Yes, but what I found out is, it's really much tougher for kids, because they're not coming out when they're twenty one or twenty two or, independent. They're coming out when they're thirteen and fourteen and fifteen. [Fugate] Thirty three percent of teenage suicides are committed by lesbian and gay kids. [Fugate] I kept hearing that statistic, wishing that somebody would come along and do something about it. [Fugate] somewhat insulting to refer to it as lifestyle. 'Cause it is who they are. We really looked at the four areas of a child's life. School. Ah, religion. Family and peers. And we looked at a way to either have an impact, [Fugate] or approach other organizations that are working in those areas that will have an impact on the life of a kid. [Fugate] One of the first things we did was a GED program. [Fugate] For kids who have dropped out of high school so they can meet, get a high school equivalency, ah, degree. [Joseph Zolobczuk] When I came to Project Yes the first time, I was, I had, I was just recently coming out of a very bad high school experience. [Zolobczuk] I was harassed on a daily basis. [Zolobczuk] I was called names. Um, I had food thrown at me in the cafeteria. [Zolobczuk] Ah, I felt like the whole school was against me. I didn't have any place to turn to. And, ah, when I'd go to my counselors, ah, they didn't know how to deal with this issue at all. [Jason Morale] My senior year got a little rough, because I wan't, I didn't come out until my senior year. [Morale] And I started to get looks from people in the halls and People pointing. And then, you hear people coming up, I have a little sister, who's a cheerleader, soccer player. People are coming up to her, [Morale] "Your brother, what's this rumor going around about your brother, your brother's gay?" I didn't want her to have, to have to deal with crap from people at school. Due to a decision that I had made. It's not just gay and lesbian kids. It's their brothers and sisters. It's their mothers and dads. It affects the whole family unit. [Eva Leivas-Andino] I was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed with pain. With profound sadness. And also with guilt. Um, I was, horrified of the fact that I, this child had been living with me, this child that I adore. [Leivas-Andino] And I never, I never realized what was going on. You know, we're revisiting all these moments. And, ah, he is the one that keeps telling me, "Mama, don't worry because you're no longer the person that you were then." [Emotional] I'm sorry. [Morale] My dad, he took it really hard. He didn't speak to me for almost six months. And we were really close. I mean, he coached my soccer team. He went to every school event I ever did. And now, all of a sudden, he wouldn't talk to me. I couldn't eat dinner with the family anymore. It was, um, I highlighted my hair, and, ah, for, like, three months after I told him. And that's the first time my dad ever called me a faggot. [Zolobczuk] Why I was so afraid to come out to my parents was because I was afraid I would be rejected of their love. That's the number one thing. Whether they think it's a sin and all that, it's really extraneous. But to have a kid, that's dealing with this issue, and is afraid that he's not going to be loved, could sometimes, you know, as we've seen at Project Yes, sometimes result in suicide or running away from home. [Marilyn Spiegel] The other thing that we tried to do, was to establish the first, um gay and lesbian PTA in the country. [Spiegel] We took it up to State, and the State PTA just wasn't that comfortable, with it, and they refused to acknowledge the charter. [Fugate] The church still has it's position that nobody should, outside of marriage, have any kind of physical relationship. [Morale] When I first came out, I kind of, ah, I was like, there can't be a God. There's no God. [Morale] 'Cause no God, would create, someone, [Morale] just so that they can be constantly ridiculed. [Morale] Have nothing but prejudice against them. To cause their family and friends to turn against them. Merely because of a feeling they haven't, it's not even a feeling, it's, a part of who I am. [Rev. Marilyn L. Usher] I really didn't get involved with, ah, Project Yes until I, ah, learned that they were really having some difficulties, [Rev. Usher] um, addressing issues of spirituality with the youth that they were coming in contact with. [Rev. Usher] So, I participated in the training, communications training that Project Yes gives. [Rev. Usher] It entailed, ah, being able to deliver the message, a positive message, to the people that we speak to, without getting, bent out of shape, when people don't agree. [Leivas-Andino] I went to that communications course, and that was the beginning of, of my speaking, and, ah, I haven't shut up since then. [Leivas-Andino] My son didn't have the strength to confide in us. [Leivas-Andino, over herself] We go to different groups of teachers and principals and do presentations, about, ah, you know these issues and, [Leivas-Andino] I think the most important thing that we're doing is, creating, ah, the spaces where people can give themselves permission to talk, about, ah, things like homosexuality, and, and, you know, what the gay and lesbian children go through. [Fugate] We don't need to wait until we all agree, on something before we start working together to have a world that's safe for kids. Because I haven't met anybody, no matter what their beliefs about homosexuality, who didn't want, an environment that was safe for all kids. [Theme music] [Theme music] Next, you will meet a woman who is a role model to any gay teenager. And who represents one of the most striking personal examples, of what thirty years of the modern gay rights movement, has meant. Irene Monroe has faced and overcome obstacles all of her life. As a baby, she was found abandoned in a trash can in Brooklyn, New York. Today, the Reverend Irene Monroe, is one of the most out spoken and accomplished African American theologians. [Rev. Irene Monroe] I was abandoned at six months. They, they estimated that I was about six months. And so, where most people have a date of birth, and certainly have a birth name they estimated, since they found me on July 11th, that, [Rev. Monroe] January 11th, would be my birth date, assigned birth date. [Rev. Monroe] And I get the name, Irene Monroe, because Sister Irene, who was the head nun, of the New York Foundling Hospital, which is in New York City. um, was a Marilyn Monroe fan. And so she named me, Irene Monroe. [Laughs] [Rev. Monroe] Just looking at my life, um, I grew up in a, ah, economically distressed, [Rev. Monroe] enclave of Brooklyn, New York, with foster parents who unfortunately, were functionally illiterate. And they also, ah, as an example, ah, showed me, the difficulty of not having, ah, an education. So, education was, ah, was, absolutely, um, essential. [Linton] Irene and her new family, partner, [Monroe to dog] C'mon. [Linton] Dr. Thea James, an emergency room physician, and their dog and cat live in Cambridge. [Monroe] Okay, let me put you on a leash, wait a sec. [Linton] Irene and Thea have been together for five years. [Monroe] Thea is my best friend. [Monroe] My, me, my, as they say, my bestest friend. She's really my best friend. [Thea James] Good boy, good boy. [Monroe] Um, she runs this race with me. She would say, she's more disciplined. She is. [Laughter] I'm a little scattered. [Thea James] She wakes up in a good mood every morning, she's always smiling. [James] As a matter of fact, when I first met her, I thought it was a little weird. That she'd wake up in the morning and sing to the animals. You know, she'd sing to the dog, she'd sing to the cat, I thought it was a little strange. But now, you know, I'm, I'm used to it and I appreciate it. And it's a wonderful thing, you know, to wake up to someone like that every day. [James] She's really learned what it can be like to have your partner as your best friend, and, um, how wonderful it can be, and how it can, it can go on and it can last, um, forever. And I probably in turn, have learned that from her. [Linton] Having graduated from Wellesley College in Union Seminary. Irene is now a doctoral student at Harvard Divinity School, where she is the head teaching fellow to Reverend Peter Gomes. [Monroe narrating over conversation] Peter Gomes has been a mentor. [Monroe] I have to say in my life here at Harvard. [Monroe] It's been quite difficult, um, being an African American, lesbian, doctoral student. [Monroe] And particularly, at a divinity school. Um, so I haven't had very much mentoring. And, being his head teaching fellow has been a wonderful gift. [Rev. Peter J. Gomes] Irene has standards. Very high standards. And she takes no nonsense. [Rev. Gomes] She's been there, done that. And she's also a first class academician. So she knows all the academic games. So she's perfect in a, in a place full of hustlers and posers such as Harvard College. You can't get away with anything with Irene. And I'm glad she's working for me and not against me. [Linton] In his 1997 national best seller, "The Good Book," Peter Gomes wrote that the Bible is being misinterpreted by the Religious Right, in order to exclude gay and lesbian people from the kingdom of God. Well, I think it is a tremendous burden of moral responsibility and guilt on anybody, ah, who would, ah, presume, to exclude, ah, gays and lesbians and sexual minorities from the Kingdom Of Heaven. Any Christian who presumes to speak that invites divine wrath and retribution. That is, that is the most arrogant and wicked assumption on the part of fallible human beings of divine power. And everything we know about God is contrary to that, ah, parochial, petty little point of view. So, I think, the good news, the gospel, for gay people is, that you may have a beef with the church. And the church may even have a beef with you. But you don't have a beef with God, and God certainly doesn't have one with you. [Monroe] I do think that as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people we need to take back the Bible. Um, the very tool that's used, ah, as a, as a tool of oppression, we can turn that around to be a tool of liberation. African Americans did that clearly, when, um, the Bible was certainly used as the biblical, legitimate biblical sanction for slavery. And we've turned that around, turned that around as a tool of, of liberation. Um, women have turned the Bible around, as a tool of liberation and it's now our time, to do the same. [Linton] Through her preaching, her participation in seminars and conferences across the country and her weekly column which appears in a Boston newspaper, Irene is fulfilling her call to be, what she terms, a public theologian. [Monroe] It's important that those of us who are queer theologians, to make ourselves accesible in a way, to explain to our community, how religion is used against us but at the same time can be used to liberate us. [Ben Perkins] She's out there. She's getting her hands dirty. She's out there among the people. [Perkins] So I see her role, I see her theology as coming from doing that kind of work. Ah, it's certainly not, ah my experince with her is that she is certainly not doing theology from the ivory tower. [Gomes] She's taking theology back where it belongs, on the street, in the newspaper, on the radio and television. She talks theologically to people who don't know she is talking theologically which is probably is the best way, ah, ah, to do it. [Linton] Last year, Irene read an article about Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, which caused great controversy. [Linton] Especially in the African American community. [Monroe] I open up saying that his misogyny is no different than Christian, African American Christian Ministeries. [Monroe] But that, because Louis Farrakhan is in the limelight, we have a lot more qoutes by him and a lot more information about how he has shaped, his misogyny and homophobia. But in essence, this kind of misogyny that he espouses and homophobia is really pandemic throughout the entire, as I see it, African American community. [Monroe] To have one kind of extremism, shape the American, ah, culture, shadows very much what democracy is about, which is about freedom, individual freedom. [Monroe] You can't help how you come in this world. [Monroe] But you certainly, can help how you leave it. And what you do while you are here. [Monroe] God's gift to us is our life. [Monroe] And what we do with our life, is our gift back to God. So, [Monroe] that's sort of what motivates me. [Linton] Last year, Irene became the first African American woman ever to serve as marshall for Boston's gay pride parade. This November, she becomes the Reverend Doctor Monroe when she receives her PHD from Harvard University. [Bongo drum music] [Paul Rudnick] Well, I wrote, "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told," for one reason only. To get on "In the Life." [Laughter] [Rudnick] Now, this play was inspired by that Christian Fundamentalist remark, that, [Rudnick] "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." And I thought well, what if God did. [Music] [Pharah] I have enslaved hundreds of thousands of homosexuals to build my pyramid. Oh, look at them all, just sitting there. Criticizing. [Laughter] [Rudnick] For more about the stories you see on, "In the Life," we invite you to check out a fabulous resource for information, reaction and personal insight. Our viewers. Go on line and surf your way to, "In the Life's" discussion forum, at inthelifetv.org. There you can take part in a discussion about the issues raised tonight on this program. This is Paul Rudnick for, "In the Life." [Linton] Still to come on, "In the Life." [Music] [Harvey Fierstein] Hello gorgeous! [Announcer] From the, "In the Life," archives, a look back at Stonewall 25. [Announcer] The largest commemoration of the 1969 riots. And playwright, Paula Vogel, on her life, love and her Pulitzer Prize. But first, [Linton] Thirty years after Stonewall, many gays and lesbians are extending their energies and activism beyond the gay rights struggle. Taking a stand on progressive issues such as immigration, labor, even animal rights. Two such activists are Jim Brewer and Dale Riffle, who have opened their gate to scores of mistreated and unwanted animals. Now their driving force behind their labor of love was the plight of the pot bellied pig. Not too long ago, this exotic animal was the pet of the moment. But, when these forty pound piglets grew into their adult size of nearly two hundred pounds, many were abused and abandoned by their owners. "In the Life," visited the West Virginia couple, who over the past few years, have saved hundreds of pigs, and in the process, have provided a haven for all kinds of animals. [Music] Pigs, a sanctuary newly located in Shepardstown West Virginia, is the countries only facility, designed to provide direct care to abused and abandoned exotic pets. [Jim Brewer] I've always had animals. I was raised, fortunately on ten acres in a small town, so I've been around animals my entire life. [Brewer] And the animal rights, the compassion for all animals came about when we adopted a homeless pot bellied pig when we lived in Maryland. [Brewer] And that was the impetus behind the sanctuary, his name was Rufus. [Brewer] We became vegetarians as a result of Rufus. Ah, [Brewer] became involved in the animal rights movement, because, because of one animal. [Dale Riffle] There was actually a kind of an awakening. [Riffle] Um, ham has always been my favorite food. [Riffle] And, I was sitting at the table, eating ham one night, and Rufus was sitting on the floor beside me, waiting for a handout. [Riffle] And, it just hit me like a ton of bricks, the only difference between the ham on my plate and the ham on the floor is that the one on the floor, is very, very lucky. [Brewer] And we realized that this animal had been mispromoted, ah, his needs were not being met and it was how pot bellied pigs were promoted. [Brewer] So, Dale did some phone calls to see if humane societies across the country were having problems with this new pet animal, [Brewer] and found out that, yes they were getting phone calls but nobody knew what to do with this animal. [Linton] In 1992, Jim and Dale bought five acres in West Virginia and opened a member supported sanctuary, [Linton] not only for mistreated pigs, but other unwanted animals as well. [Riffle] Are you getting wet? Lythia. [Pig splashes, grunts] [Brewer] Ah, the love for them has always been there. [Pig grunting] I think most people love animals. [Brewer] Ah, we just carried it a couple steps further. [Riffle] When we were starting the sanctuary we discussed, um, we did not want, [Riffle] the fact that we're a gay couple, [Riffle] we felt that it would cause some people to not want to contribute, [Riffle] and we didn't want the animals to suffer. [Riffle] because we were a gay couple. [Riffle] In the beginning, Jim normally, wasn't there when the press did come. [Riffle] To kind of, you know, [Riffle] So they wouldn't notice. [Riffle] That was only the first few times, and then after that, you know, we kind of felt like, hey, [Riffle] we're denying ourselves for this, and, you know, we're, [Riffle] we're helping this cause, but we're kind of hurting this cause when we could, you know, help both at the same time. [Linton] After extensive national and international press coverage, with no mention of their sexual orientation, [Linton] an article with the lead in, "Gay couple sow seeds of love at their rescue farm for pot bellied pigs," appeared in an article by renowned columnist, Deb Price. [Riffle] It was just incredible. But that piece brought in, [Riffle] more supporters, more donations, [Riffle] and more positive letters then any press we have ever done. [Linton] Jim and Dale don't place themselves on a higher level than animals. [Linton] Instead, they look at them as their equals and see the plight of abused animals as another kind of holocaust. [Music] [Riffle] Hitler was killing homosexuals and Jews and, and gypsies and everybody else, because he viewed them as lesser beings. [Riffle] And then in this country we have blacks as slaves, and they were viewed as lesser beings. [Riffle] And women were property, they were bought and sold and traded, [Riffle] and treated as lesser beings, and for us, the animals are the next step, to, to completing the whole circle to where every, being will be treated with the same dignity and respect that they deserve. When Mathew Shepard was murdered, ah, we had a great outpouring of people that were very concerned about, you know, the horendous act that was done to him, being strung up on a fence, left to die. And for me, I took that to what I see happening every day to the animals in this country. This is how animals in this country, are treated every day. Pork Chop came from here in West Virginia. And the people who had him, hit him across the back with a two by four and they broke his back, so he's parapalegic. Until about two years ago, when one morning we walked out on the front porch and looked out, and here comes Pork Chop across the yard, walking. So, he doesn't walk like a normal pig, but he, but he's not dragging his butt anymore. [Brewer] Bringing an injured animal in, here, treating him or her, turning that animal into an environment where, they, we know they're going to thrive. got to be the touchstone of the sanctuary's work. [Brewer] We would like to use the sanctuary, especially being so close to Washington DC, for the gay community. Come out here, see what's going on, [Brewer] meet Dale and I, and learn, it's a learning process. Will you give me a kiss? [Kiss] That's a good kiss. If we, as a gay community can embrace animals, if we can embrace each other, we can make so much more progress as, a movement, and it's going to be such a more compassionate movement, [Brewer] If an animal comes in here and lives one hour and then dies, we know that they had one hour of sanctuary. [Brewer] They were out of an abusive situation. [Brewer] What has been the most satisfying in all of this, I get to spend my days in the country, with somebody that I love very much, [Brewer] surrounded by animals that I know we have been able to save their life, [Pig grunting] we've been able to give them their life. And, um. [Brewer] I spend my days, just giving them what they need. [Music] Pulitzer prize winning, playwright, Paula Vogel has been out of the closet for years. But most recently, she has been in the spotlight. Vogel is probably best known for her play, "How I Learned to Drive." And her most recent New York production, "The Mineola Twins." Was called exhilarating by, "The New York Times." "In the Life," correspondent, Scott Hileman, caught up with Vogel in D.C. [Scott Hileman] One of the nations most respected regional theaters, Arena Stage, is now a creative home to playwright Paula Vogel. [Hileman] And some of her work, including, the Pulitzer prize winning, "How I Learned to Drive." [Hileman] It's the story of an incestuous relationship between a girl and her uncle. [Li'l Bit] Just one kiss. [Uncle Peck] I'm going to lift your blouse. [Paula Vogel] I think it's a coming of age story. I think in many ways, [Li'l Bit] it's cold. [Vogel over dialogue] it's a love story. [Uncle Peck] I don't know why you're shivering. [Vogel] I think it's about the gifts we receive from people who hurt us. [Vogel] I think after time, [Vogel] twenty two plays. It becomes the way I think. [Vogel] I've programmed myself. If something's hurting me, if there's an issue, if I need, to look at something. It comes out in the form of a play. [Vogel] Literally images and ideas come to me. [Li'l Bit] Someone will get hurt. [Uncle Peck] Have I forced you to do anything? [Hileman] Vogel doesn't think of herself as a lesbian playwright but rather a playwright who happens to be a lesbian. While, "How I Learned to Drive," catapulted her into the national spotlight, she never expected it would win her the Pulitzer Prize for drama. And although she still modestly thinks of that win as a fluke, she admits the distinction put, an already busy career, in fast forward. Every single iron that I had in the fire, thinking, oh maybe, maybe this will come to pass, came to pass at the same time. Ah, which means that I literally have writing projects for the next three years. [Vogel] I'm glad that I won later rather than earlier because I think, [Vogel] it focused me on falling in love with, [Vogel] being in a rehearsal room. I think I'm writing plays for the reward of being able to produce a play. Rather than the prizes. [Hileman] Another of Vogel's works being produced is called, "The Mineola Twins." [Hileman] It's a modern epic comedy that features identical twin sisters, with very different political views. [Swoosie Kurtz/Myra] Oh, listen. Hand me that Coke would ya. [Mandy Siegfried/Ben] I thought you told me not to drink Coke. [Ben] That the Coca-Cola company was this mega conglomerate and imperilous profits fueled the war. [Myra] It's true. [Myra] But it's got caffeine. Sometimes you've got to use the system to crush the system. [Vogel] "The Mineola Twins," ah, was written actually at the same time as, "How I Learned to Drive." And I wrote them very deliberately together because I felt that as a playwright, [Vogel] I wanted to write two plays that were almost polar opposites. [Myna] She doesn't ask. You don't tell. Don't ask, don't tell. A formula for modern marriage. [Laughter] The second anyone puts me in the envelope I'm going to try to push the envelope. [Hileman] And she does. Vogel has written about prostitution, AIDS, gay parenting and other themes some consider controversial. No, it's not a thing that I, I do consciously. Um. It's not that I set out and think, oh, how can I provoke people. How can I make people leave the theater or, ah, critics, ah, get angry. I don't sit down and think about that. [Hileman] Vogel will have plenty of opportunity to test her creative range over the next three seasons. [Hileman] She'll be writing original works, specifically for Arena Stage, including a holiday play called, "A Civil War Christmas." [Vogel] I intend it to be a show that my, my god children, [Vogel] my nephews, [Vogel] all the kids I know, can come and see. Instead of me describing, in very elusive terms, what Aunt Paula is working on, ah, whether or not it remains that way, I don't know. It's a very strange thing you know, at some point, and I think this is what art is. Art is really about a writer not having control, of the subject. But the subject takes control of the writer. Paula's love for writing is rivaled only by her passion for teaching her craft. Until recently she directed the graduate playwriting program at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. And while not currently working in a classroom, she continues to share her experience, creativity and knowledge through a series of workshops, she calls boot camps. [Vogel] My real aim in boot camp is I sort of try to think of myself as, kind of, [Vogel] John Epps or Johnny Appleseed right now, in terms of, of, of play writing. Ah, [Vogel] it's that they become a group that mentors each other. It's the peer group. That moment, [Vogel] where suddenly, this gets back to your comment about, you know, how do you pull the rug out? [Vogel] Well, how do you do that? Suddenly, when people go, okay, let's move. [Vogel] But what the purpose of art is, is to defamiliarize. [Vogel] I get tired with my own thoughts. I get tired with my own, voice. [Vogel] I like to hear other people's voices. So, being, [Vogel] able to work collectively. [Vogel] has become a real passion for me. [Hileman] Some might describe Vogel as ahead of her time. [Hileman] In the late 1960s, at the age of seventeen, she came out as a lesbian. [Vogel] I think it's probably very different, for, teenagers, today. in this world. So I can't, really presume to give them advice, based on my own experience. Ah, but the main thing that I try to do is, to show the hope that I have. The times have changed. That things are getting better. That they will get better. [Vogel] And that there's a future with a, can, win a Pulitzer Prize. Ah, become an astronaut. Ah, hopefully, become President of the United States. [Hileman] Vogel's tendency to encourage others may have come from her relationship with her late brother, Carl. [Hileman] To some, he was a gay activist. To Paula he was a beloved friend, father figure and one of the most influential people in her life. I often thought of the little drummer boy. I played my best for him. Um. I will probably continue to write for him. I do in every play. [Hileman] Carl died of AIDS in 1988. [Hileman] It wasn't long after that Vogel would meet her partner, Anne Fausto-Sterling. A scientist and the author of the book, [Hileman] "The Myths of Gender." [Vogel] To talk about Anne, I'm gonna quote something Stella Adler said. Ah, that made an impression on me. She said, "In the theater, "people need three things in order to make it. "They need the hide of a rhinoceros. "The tenacity of a bulldog. "And they need a good home to come home to." Ah, and I didn't find the last, until I met Anne, ten years ago. [Vogel] She's created a center and a calm. She created, ah, for me a sense of a future. Have you met your own definition of success? [Vogel] I don't think it's the lot of an artist to be satisfied. Um. I don't know that I would be happy if I were satisfied. Ah. I enjoy the hunt too much. I do think I'm happy in what I'm doing. I think that, [Vogel] I'm certainly happy with my partner, I'm happy with the life we've made. [Vogel] Um, and to me that's my greatest accomplishment. [Vogel] I think the longest route, often times, is a most interesting journey. [Music] [Stockard Channing] In May of 1978, San Francisco designer and activist, Gilbert Baker, [Channing] was asked to create an exciting new symbol of the lesbian and gay movement for the city's upcoming Freedom Day Parade. [Channing] Baker chose the rainbow flag. [Channing] According to Baker, a flag must transcend the personalities behind it and symbolize the community it represents. [Channing] The rainbow flag's bright diversity of colors stand for strength and unity in lesbians and gays around the world. [Music] [Liza Minnelli] This 25 year commemoration of Stonewall is a time to look back and to remember, and to live, and to act. This commemoration also, marks, ah, a significant year for me. It's 25 years exactly since my mama died. [Applause] [Audience member] We love you! [Over applause] She'd be so happy. [Applause, cheers] [Linton] We began this program, commemorating the 30th anniversary of Stonewall, by exploring the connection between Judy Garland and that historic night. We'd like to end this program by remembering Stonewall's 25th anniversary. In 1994 hundreds and thousands of people came to New York City, for one of the largest gay and lesbian events in history. Liza Minnelli's presence on the Stonewall 25 rally stage, brought her mother's legacy full circle. We asked actor and comedian, Marga Gomez, to go into the, "In the Life," archive and bring you some memorable moments, never before seen on television, until now. [Marga Gomez] I played in Utah, this year, Salt Lake City, Utah, Not my kind of town. Couldn't get a cappuccino anywhere. No, we don't serve Mexican food here. [Applause, laughter] [Gomez] I can't tell you how exciting it was to be on that stage, in front of all those people, five years ago. There's no national event planned this year for the 30th anniversary of Stonewall. So, after screening hours of archival, "In the Life," footage, we wanted to revive the spirit and scope of Stonewall 25, with this special retrospective. [Applause, cheers] [Carol Channing] Happy Stonewall 25! [Cheers] [Music, claps] [Kathy Najimy] What if you were at another bar that day? [Laughter] [Music] [Najimy] We'd be commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Fifi Larue's! [Najimy] Don't forget the, Rusty Spike. [Applause] [Harvey Fierstein] Hello gorgeous! [Applause] I'm so proud to be here with all of you. [Fierstein] My children. [Cheers] My loins hurt. [Laughter] [David Drake] Now this, is a queer image. [Music] Shake your, [Bleep] What has happened in South Africa, is the best proof that gays and lesbians around the world, have our common interest. [RuPaul] My name is RuPaul, super model of the world. [Cheers, music] [Amanda Bearse] I am Amanda Bearse, and I am your next door neighbor. [Guinevere Turner] Hi, lesbians. [Rose Troche] Hello. [Music] [Audience member] Yeah! [RuPaul] Well, well, well, well. [Suzanne Westenhoefer] The lesbian chic and the March on Washington, and Elton John came out and Amanda Bearse came out and, Martina and Melissa and Katie, and what is going on? It's amazing. [RuPaul singing] You've got the right to [Sir Ian McKellen] Come out and make today last for the rest of your life. [Kate Clinton] But I think the healthiest thing we can all do is, come out! [Judith Light] No one's rights are safe, until everyone has equal rights. [Gomez] For instance, my lover and I, we want the right to have a legal wedding. Okay, but we don't want to get married. [Cheers] No, we're queer, we're not crazy. [Laughter] [Gomez] That medal on my neck was for trying to pick up the woman's swim team at the fourth Gay Games held the same week as Stonewall 25. [Music] [Gomez] Besides the celebration, marches and rally, there were visible reminders of gay history and heritage, all over New York. [Gomez] The largest of these, in fact, the biggest display of lesbian and gay history ever, [Gomez] was the, "Becoming Visible," exhibit at the New York Public Library. [Music] [Molly McGarry] It's been years in the making, the 25th anniversary. Stonewall provided, a wonderful reason to do a large history of, ah, lesbian and gay life in New York. [Gomez] The exhibit covered a century of gay and lesbian life, including the Stonewall Riots, the gay rights movement and personal photographs. [Music] [Gomez] The curators have since expanded their research in the 1998 book "Becoming Visible," which includes never before published photographs, documents and artifacts. [McGarry] For lesbians and gay men, to know they've had this long, proud history of a hundred years is incredibly important politically. [Fred Wasserman] We wanted to start with Stonewall, look at it as this incredible turning point, but, also say, it didn't begin here at all. It's part of a much longer historical process. This is it, this is what we've been waiting for. [Gomez] That process is also chronicled for television in the emmy award winning documentary, "Before Stonewall." [Gomez] And is now continued in it's sequel, "After Stonewall," airing this summer, on PBS. [? over music] When Stonewall happened. Um, I was in New Jersey. [Music] [?] No, I was the only lesbian in New York, who was not involved in the Stonewall Riots. [John Scagliotti] Like in with, Before and After Stonewall, we now cover the whole century. [Scagliotti] And, with, "After Stonewall," there was a major change that took place. In 1969, for those thirty years. Immense changes have taken place. [Janet Baus] In looking for the archival, one of the most exciting things, but also one of the most difficult things, was getting the moment. You had to get the exact moment. Um, of whatever you were talking about. You know, to be able to deal with thirty years, of archival footage, [?] it was a really amazing experience. [Cheers, Applause] [Gomez] This developing national presence, was very much on display at the first march in the nation's capitol in October of 1979. [?] There was nothing like the 1979 march. They say you always remember your first. [Music] I remember standing on the sidelines. And, I just started crying. Because it was New York, and then it was Nevada. And then it was, what comes after N? You know, it just went on, Omaha, I mean it was just like, and it didn't end. [Marching music] With every anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, whether it's ten, twenty five or thirty years. We always want to remember who was there. And how it all began. [Applause] [Queen Allyson Allante] Now on that night we took part in a series of events over several nights, have since become known as the Stonewall Rebellion. [Allante] We stood up and we fought back. Thank you very much. [Crowd noise, chant gets louder as it goes] Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! [Sylvia Rivera] This is what the Stonewall brought. This beautiful get together after twenty five years. [Everyone] Happy Birthday, dear Stonewall Happy Birthday to you! Yay! [Nicole Ramirez-Murray] Today the global gay, lesbian community, [Ramirez-Murray] has come home to New York. [Ramirez-Murray] has come home to Stonewall. [Ramirez-Murray] Because like Judy Garland said, [Ramirez-Murray] There's no place like home! [Cheers, applause] [Minnelli, singing] Someday we'll be free. I promise you we'll be free. If not tomorrow, then the day after that. [Morris Kight, over Minnelli singing] And so we are a people. Our work's not over. We're far from free, but we're getting there. [Minnelli singing] And, if not tomorrow, then the day after that. [Minnelli singing] And the world that brings us pain, that fills our lives with fear, on the day after that, [Minnelli singing] we'll disappear. [Holds note] And the war we fought to win, [Minnelli singing] I promise you we will win. [Minnelli singing] If not tomorrow, then the day after that. [Minnelli singing] Or the day after that. From all of us at, "In the Life," thank you for watching and we'll see you next time. [Judy Garland sings, "The Man That Got Away] The road gets rougher. It's lonelier and tougher. With hope you burn up. Tomorrow he might turn up. There's just no let up. The live long night and day. [Holds note] Ever since this world began. [Holds note] There is nothing sadder than, A one-man woman. Looking for the man that got, away. [Holds note] [Announcer] "In the Life," is funded in part by, [Announcer] The H. van Ameringen Foundation. [Announcer] Additional support provided by, [Announcer] Michael A. Leppen, [Announcer] Jeffrey B. Soref, [Announcer] Ric Weiland, [Announcer] Richard Winger, [Announcer] The Gill Foundation, [Announcer] The Lily Auchincloss, Foundation [Announcer] The Michael Palm Foundation, [Announcer] The Mitchell Gold Company, [Announcer] "In the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and prejudice." [Announcer] And, "In the Life," members, like you. [Announcer] A presentation of WNET, New York. [Theme music]