Queer activists attack college for screening ‘Stonewall’ because it’s not diverse enough
A college faced calls to cancel a screening of the film Stonewall – after students complained the film doesn’t portray enough diversity.
The Roland Emmerich film, released earlier this year, portrays the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York – often considered the birthplace of the LGBT rights movements.
However, angry critics slammed the film for “whitewashing and erasing trans people” – though defenders of the film say it does feature a prominent diverse cast, including historical drag activist Marsha P Johnson.
Despite flopping at the box office, the film has now caused controversy again – after students at Colorado College called for a screening to be scrapped.
The film had due to be screened last month by the Film and Media Studies Department, but student newspaper The Catalyst reports that it was besieged by complaints from queer activists.
One group of students wrote: “This film is discursively violent.
“In a world where cisgender, white gay people have finally achieved ‘marriage equality’ and many see the struggle as being over, it is reinforcing a hierarchy of oppression to invent someone who never existed and place them in a historically-based film with the express purpose of silencing more marginalized groups.”
Proponents argued that they were not advocating for the film’s worldview, but merely presenting it for analysis and discussion – with the Daily Beast noting that film studies classes regularly screen Nazi propaganda without criticism.
However, the queer activists say their point is more important.
Student Amelia Eskani told the newspaper: “I think Colorado College should cancel the screening because the safety and well-being of queer and trans* students surpasses the importance of a critical discussion.”
