Explore LGBTQIA+ stories and history in our Pride Month programming lineup on WFIU and WTIU:
WFIU
Sunday, June 4
6:00 PM – Witness History: Pride Month
Explore remarkable stories of LGBTQIA+ rights, told by the people who were there. We meet the first openly gay political candidate in the US, revisit the first Pride March in the UK, and hear about the diaries of the woman commonly referred to as “the first modern lesbian.”
WTIU
Friday, June 2
9:00 PM – American Masters – Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock And Roll
Featuring interviews with Ringo Starr, Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, and Big Freesia, along with intimate contributions from friends and bandmates and the never-before-broadcast words of Little Richard himself, this documentary tells the story of a rollercoaster life, of musical highs and knuckle-biting lows, and makes the case that Richard should be crowned the king—and queen—of rock ’n’ roll.
Friday, June 16
1:00 PM – Patient No More
Queer women are not statistically "safe," but medical spaces have been crafted so that they can be treated with the same dignity as any other patient. Patient No More explores the barriers LGBTQIA+ women navigate across healthcare systems, and how the never-ending hunt for affirming care affects their lives.
Sunday, June 18
2:00 PM – Out in Rural America
Explore the struggles and joys of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and genderqueer in rural America. Following five stories from the LGBTQIA+ community over six years, this film delves into the issues of self-doubt, discrimination, acceptance, and small-town and Midwestern LGBTQIA+ life from a cultural, social, familial, and religious perspective.
7:00 PM – Unidad: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos
Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU) was founded in 1981, only a dozen years after the Stonewall rebellion and only a couple of years before the HIV/AIDS pandemic began to ravage LGBTQ communities. GLLU was the greater Los Angeles area's first major Queer Latin@ organization, and the film chronicles events surrounding GLLU at a pivotal time in the history of LGBTQIA+ equality, women's rights, and civil rights movements that shaped the destinies of GLLU's communities for decades to come.
Tuesday, June 20
9:00 PM – Prideland
Follow queer actor Dyllon Burnside on a journey across the South to meet diverse members of the LGBTQIA+ community. From a lesbian rodeo champ in Texas to an African American mayor ally in Alabama, he discovers how LGBTQIA+ Americans are finding ways to live authentically and with pride in the modern South.
10:00 PM – Independent Lens – Mama Bears
Although they grew up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, these moms are now willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to keep their LGBTQIA+ kids safe-even if it challenges their belief systems and rips apart their worlds.
Sunday, June 25
2:00 PM – For the Love of Friends
This documentary blends performance rehearsal clips with interview and archival footage to highlight the remarkable life and work of activist Brent Nicholson Earle. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Brent refused to watch his friends suffer due to government inaction and public ignorance about the disease. His audacious response in 1986 was to embark on a 10,000-mile run around the perimeter of the United States to draw attention to the plight of AIDS patients. After enduring blisters, exhaustion, ignorance, and fear, he returns home to discover his own HIV diagnosis. Though the run finishes, Brent's activism never stops.
3:30 PM – The Lodge
Take a trip into a historic, first-of-its-kind retirement community explicitly created for LGBTQIA+ seniors and their allies.
7:00 PM – Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol
A young boy with fantasies of one day making animated movies with his teen idol (1970s Disney star Ike Eisenmann) follows his dream on what turns out to be an incredible 40-year odyssey.
Tuesday, June 27
9:00 PM – American Experience: Casa Susanna
In the 1950s and '60s, when failure to wear gender-appropriate clothing was illegal across most of the country, a community of cross-dressing men found refuge at a modest house in the Catskills region of New York. Named after its matriarch, Casa Susanna provided community and validation for its guests.