Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay & Lesbian Rights in America

Winner of the Audience Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, writer/director Jeff Dupre's Out of the Past initially focuses on Kelli Peterson, a 17-year-old high school student from Salt Lake City who provoked political chaos in Utah when she sought to start a Gay-Straight Alliance extracurricular club at her school. From this recent civil rights struggle in Utah, the scope of the video expands to detail the battle for gay rights in the U.S., noting the accomplishments of Bayard Rustin, Henry Gerber, Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, among others. Out of the Past provides us with a general understanding of the historical context of gay and lesbian resistance to institutionalized discrimination and public ignorance. It also offers a perspective on the personal difficulties gays experience in coming to terms with their sexuality in a culture that defines their sexual orientation as abnormal. Dupre and his collaborators have produced a very polished and engaging documentary that moves with great facility between the hidden past and the current visibility of the Gay Rights movement. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Van Vleck)