KQED Celebrates LGBT Pride Month in June

-- Four Local Hero Awards Presented at Ceremony on June 2 –

-- Free film screening at the Castro Theatre on June 28 --

-- LGBT-related programming on KQED all month long --

San Francisco, California, May 13, 2011-- This June, KQED proudly celebrates the culture, history, and political and artistic expressions of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender experience in the United States. This month-long commemoration includes an event honoring outstanding local leaders who have given their time, creativity, and passion to the LGBT community, a free screening at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre, and special programming on KQED.

The evening of recognition, hosted by KQED and Union Bank, takes place on Thursday, June 2 from 6 to 8:30pm at the KQED Studios in San Francisco. There will be live entertainment, a tour of KQED, and an awards ceremony. The four new honorees have been chosen based upon their outstanding contributions to the LGBT community and the Bay Area community at large. For the first time, the Gay and Lesbian Pride Month Celebration will also air on KQED 9 on Sunday, June 26 at 5pm.

The 2011 LGBT Pride Month honorees are:

Selisse Berry (Out & Equal Workplace Advocates)
Ed Decker (New Conservatory Theatre Center)
Max Philp (Gay Straight Alliance Network)
Mike Smith (AIDS Emergency Fund/Breast Cancer Emergency Fund)

As part of the LGBT Pride Month, KQED will host a free screening at the historic Castro Theatre on Tuesday, June 28 from 7 to 10pm. On the anniversary of the dramatic event that launched a worldwide rights movement, Stonewall Uprising: American Experience will explore the police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn in 1969. The award-winning film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, which aired as part of KQED’s independent film series Truly CA, follows. It tells the lesser-known story of the local act of assertion at San Francisco’s Compton's Cafeteria – three years before the Stonewall riots.

Also in honor of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month, KQED will offer over thirty programs that focus on LGBT themes and issues. Some highlights of the month include:

KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM:

Polk Street Stories – Saturday, June 5 at 12am
Historian Joey Plaster spent over a year gathering more than 70 interviews from people in the alleys, bars, churches, shelters, and clubs of Polk Street as they experienced its transition from a working class queer neighborhood to an upscale entertainment district.

KQED Public Television 9:

OUT in America – Saturday, June 4 at 7:30pm From the bi-racial Washington, DC couple who have been together for 50 years to the 19-year-old Puerto Rican man from Harlem to the transgender police officer in California, this documentary explores the personal stories about growing up, coming out, and achieving individual status and respect in America.

Stonewall Uprising: American Experience – Wednesday, June 8 at 10pm
The Stonewall riots told by those who took part: drag queens and street hustlers, police detectives, journalists, and a former mayor of New York. This moving film features a rich trove of archival footage as it revisits a time when homosexual acts were illegal throughout America, and homosexuality itself was seen as a form of mental illness.

A Place to Live: The Story of Triangle Square – Monday, June 20 at 11pm
What does it mean to be a gay senior citizen trying to survive on limited resources in America? This documentary explores the issue by chronicling the development and construction of Triangle Square Hollywood – the country's first affordable housing facility for LGBT seniors.

Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial – Sunday, June 26 at 7pm
In 1982, a San Francisco athletic group tries to hold a "Gay Olympics," instigating what will ultimately become a battle at the U.S. Supreme Court and a challenge over the place of gays and lesbians in American Society. The inner workings of the Court are exposed, revealing an institution and individual justices divided and in conflict.

Life Before the Lifeboat – Sunday, June 26 at 7:30pm
Intimate conversations between leading AIDS expert Dr. Paul Volberding and some of San Francisco's courageous leaders from the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic highlight how political and gay activists, along with San Francisco General Hospital, came together to navigate the early years of the AIDS epidemic in The City.

Program listings and descriptions for June can be found in the KQED Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month Guide, which also lists Bay Area resources pertaining to the LGBT community. Look online at kqed.org/pride.

About KQED

KQED (kqed.org) has served Northern California for more than 50 years and is affiliated with NPR and PBS. KQED owns and operates public television stations KQED 9 (San Francisco/Bay Area), KTEH 54 (San Jose/Bay Area), and KQET 25 (Watsonville/Monterey); KQED Public Radio (88.5FM San Francisco and 89.3FM Sacramento); the interactive platforms kqed.org, kteh.org, and KQEDnews.org; and KQED Education. KQED Public Television, one of the nation's most-watched public television stations, is the producer of local and national series such as QUEST; Check, Please! Bay Area; This Week in Northern California; Truly CA; and Essential Pépin. KQED's digital television channels include 9HD, Life, World, Kids, and V-me, and are available 24/7 on Comcast. KQED Public Radio, home of Forum with Michael Krasny and The California Report, is one of the most-listened-to public radio stations in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service delivering more than eighteen local newscasts daily. KQED Interactive provides KQED’s cross-platform news service, KQEDnews.org, as well as offers several popular local blogs, video and audio podcasts, and a live radio stream at kqed.org. KQED Education brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents, and the general public through workshops, community screenings, and multimedia resources.

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Media Contact: Meredith Gandy

(415) 553-2116, mgandy@kqed.org