KQED is proud to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month in June with a special TV programming lineup. Premiere dates are listed below. Please click on each program for additional airdates and information.
KQED 9
Mon, 6/8 11:30pm Two-Spirit Powwow (NEW) Attending the powwow is a pioneering act of resistance for the many LGBTQ Native American and Two-Spirit people who still face prejudice and stigma in their communities. The film documents how the powwow’s organizers adapt and transform conservative powwow protocol to celebrate queer-positive identities. The film was produced in association with the GLBT Historical Society.
Tues, 6/16 8pm Mae West: American Masters #3008 (NEW) Dive into the life and career of groundbreaking writer, performer and subversive star Mae West. Over a career spanning eight decades, she broke boundaries and possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s.
11pm Pacific Heartbeat #903 “Born This Way: Awa’s Story and The Rogers” Born This Way: Awaʻs Story: In New Zealand, Te Awarangi 'Awa' Puna is an openly transgender Maori teen attending her final year at Kapiti College in Wellington, New Zealand. This documentary follows her journey from male to female as we see the support of her family and the hurdles she must overcome.
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The Rogers: An intimate glimpse into the lives of those who formed the first visible group of transgender men in the Pacific Islands - The Rogers of Samoa - as they build an outside oven, seek romance, and prepare to perform a traditional men's dance in public.
Still from "Pacific Heartbeat: Awa's Story"
Thurs, 6/18 10pm Man in an Orange Shirt on Masterpiece Two love stories, sixty years apart, chart the changes and challenges in gay lives in England—from the era of jail terms to the onset of dating apps.
Tues, 6/23 11pm Truly CA: Our State, Our Stories #1403 “Ruminations” From his early days as a co-founder of legendary gay performance troupe The Cockettes to his golden years reinvention, Rumi Missabu's outlandish tales, both in and out of the spotlight, are a roadmap through San Francisco's queer art past.
Fri, 6/26 8pm Prideland (NEW) Prideland opens a window into the world of modern-day LGBTQ+ life in America. The series highlights authentic personal stories brought to life through Burnside’s curious, exploratory lens. As an LGBTQ+ advocate, he guides viewers into the South’s various LGBTQ+ communities, connecting with people of different backgrounds, locations, experiences and points of view.
Mon, 6/29 11:30pm Reel South #505 “Outspoken” LGBTQ West Virginians fight to live free from discrimination, calling us to reimagine the power and longevity of a small town queer community.
Tues, 6/30 8pm The Lavender Scare The Lavender Scare tells the little-known story of an unrelenting campaign by the federal government during the 1950s to identify and fire all employees suspected of being homosexual.
Still from "The Lavender Scare"
KQED WORLD
Tues, 6/2 5pm America ReFramed #309 “Out in the Silence” “Out in the Silence” captures the remarkable chain of events that unfold when the announcement of filmmaker Joe Wilson's wedding to another man ignites a firestorm of controversy in his small Pennsylvania hometown.
6pm Reel South #302 “Alabama Bound” In the months leading up to the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, gay families in Alabama were busy fighting discriminatory state laws.
Tues, 6/9 4pm We’ll Meet Again #106 “Coming Out” Join Ann Curry as those whose lives were changed by the early days of the gay rights movement reunite.
5pm America ReFramed #222 Broken Heart Land On an early autumn afternoon, in his parent's ranch in Norman, Oklahoma, gay teen Zack Harrington killed himself. One week earlier, Zack attended a local city council meeting in support of a proposal for LGBTQ History Month in his bible-belt town
Wed, 6/10 4pm P.O.V. #3203 “Call Her Ganda” When Jennifer Laude, a Filipina trans woman, is brutally murdered by a U.S. Marine, three women intimately invested in the case—an activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude)—galvanize a political uprising, pursuing justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism.
Fri, 6/12 5pm Stonewall Uprising: American Experience #2309 When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Still from "Stonewall Uprising"
6:30pm The Committee Fifty years ago, Florida’s Legislative Investigative Committee, led by Senator Charley Johns sought to remove homosexuals from Florida's state universities. As a result of the “Johns Committee’s” efforts, more than 200 gay and lesbian students and teachers were expelled or fired. Featuring two of the victims and one interrogator, the film exposes the committee’s subversive activities and how its effects are still felt today.
Sat, 6/13 5pm Terrence McNally: American Masters #3206 Explore four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s six groundbreaking decades in theater, from Kiss of the Spider Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class to Ragtime, The Visit and Mothers and Sons. The film also delves into McNally’s pursuit of love and inspiration throughout his career, LGBTQ activism, triumph over addiction, and the power of the arts to transform society.
Sun, 6/14 8pm Independent Lens #1820 “Real Boy” “Real Boy” follows the journey of trans teen Bennett as he navigates adolescence, sobriety, and the physical and emotional ramifications of his changing gender identity
Mon, 6/15 4pm Pacific Heartbeat #802 “Leitis in Waiting” The story of Tonga’s evolving approach to gender fluidity through a character-driven portrait of the most prominent leiti (transgender) in the Kingdom, Joey Mataele, a devout Catholic of royal descent.
Still from "Leitis in Waiting"
Tues, 6/16 4pm Denial: The Dad That Wanted to Change the World "Denial" falls squarely into a long tradition of documentaries that start by examining one subject before an unexpected twist complicates and enriches the initial investigation. Starting out as an important exploration of energy use and abuse, the film soon takes a sharp turn into the politics of gender identity.
5pm America ReFramed #804 “Little Miss Westie” (NEW) A loving and insightful portrait of two transgender siblings - Luca and Ren - and their parents, set in the changing social climate following the 2016 presidential election.
Sat, 6/20 6:30pm Penny: Champion of the Marginalized Penny: Champion Of The Marginalized is a multi-dimensional portrait of Penny Cooper, a celebrated criminal defense attorney, art collector, supporter of female artists, and protector of the underdog. Cooper's life brims with stories mirroring the profound changes in our country from the 1940s to the present.
Mon, 6/22 4pm Local, USA #304 “The Guys Next Door” Erik and Sandro, like many married couples, hope to become parents. Their friend Rachel decides she can help by becoming a surrogate for them – even though Rachel and her husband Tony have three biological children of their own.“The Guys Next Door” is a story that redefines choice, generosity, and what it means to be a family in today’s America.
Still from "Denial: The Dad That Wanted to Change the World"
Wed, 6/24 4pm P.O.V. #3006 “Memories of a Penitent Heart”
Follow filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo's investigation-both a love story and a tribute-of a buried conflict around her uncle Miguel's death during a time when AIDS was synonymous with sin.
Fri, 6/26 4pm Considering Matthew Shepard Considering Matthew Shepard, composed by Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson and presented by his Austin-based, Grammy-winning Conspirare choral group, is a musical and multimedia response to the anti-gay hate crime 20 years ago that captured the world’s attention. Johnson leads the group from the piano.
Sat, 6/27 4:30pm Poetry in America #204 “This Is Your Home Now—Mark Doty” A visit to the barbershop sparks a meditation on love, the AIDS crisis, and the satisfaction of getting older.
Sun, 6/28 7pm Doc World #401 “Unsettled—Seeking Refuge in America” (NEW) Unsettled: Seeking Refuge in America follows the stories of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East as they flee persecution in their countries of origin to seek better and safer lives in the U.S.
8:30pm Living in the Overlap – Sunday, June 28 Living in the Overlap is the improbably true story of two girls growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, falling in love in the Midwest, and making a life together in North Carolina.
Tues, 6/30 4pm Coming Out: A 50 Year History Transgender teen, Jazz Jennings, narrates this one-hour documentary exploring the history of public gay identity in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community from the 1950s through today.
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5pm America ReFramed #805 “Vision Portraits” (NEW) Interviewing blind and low vision artists - a photographer, a dancer and a writer - Evans embarks on a quest to learn how other artists have continued to create art and how their journeys might serve as inspiration for his own.
