Canadian Stonewall première disrupted by trans protesters
The Canadian première of rights film Stonewall has been disrupted by angry protesters, upset at the supposed lack of inclusiveness in the film.
The Roland Emmerich film is based on the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York – but came under fire amid claims of whitewashing and trans-erasure, after the first trailer suggested it would be centred on a white middle-class gay hero.
Though the final film is far more inclusive than the original trailers suggested, it has been panned by critics and audiences alike – and bombed at the US box office, making a hefty opening weekend loss.
There was more trouble for the film at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it premièred in Canada, with angry queer and trans activists attempting to disrupt the screening.
Canadian LGBT news outlet DailyXtra released a clip from the event, with protesters chanting “shame” and trying to shout down the film’s cast and crew.
Trans activist Danielle Waters, who has not seen the film, told the outlet:” The movie is problematic in quite a few ways. It erases people of colour, it was erasing trans people from the narrative as well around the Stonewall protests.
“The original people were not a white gay man from Kansas. It goes beyond erasing, not just trans people, not just people of colour, but the queer dyke component that was heavily present at that moment of time.”
Strangely, Ms Waters and other activists were wearing a t-shirt referencing drag activist Marsha P Johnson – who is in fact heavily present in the final film.
The film’s star Jeremy Irvine said he wasn’t aware of the protesters, but said: “People have seen a trailer which I myself will admit can be misleading – it doesn’t show Marsha P Johnson, who is a huge part of the film and a pioneer of the Stonewall movement.”
