-- 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: