The dramatic revisiting of the era that gave birth to the Stonewall revolt of 1969 is a poignant reminiscence of the traumatic rites of coming out in an era before Facebook, cell phones, and our growing consensus about equal rights for people of alternative gender choices.
For me, scene after scene was a flashback to my own coming out in 1969 in the LA area. The events dramatized were an accurate portrayal of characters and the raw emotions and yes, the violence and the marginalization of those who could not be contained in the closet of anonymity.
Then as now, the unsettled issues of class and race permeated the nascent discontents that erupted in four days of rage and rebellion on Christopher Street in New York.
Any retelling of the Stonewall Riot can’t be true to its roots without including a prologue that is an artistic replication of the human traits that define us as vulnerable to the social sanctions of the smug, sanctimonious and supercilious.
For those who did not live through the era of Stonewall this re-telling is a must see to be able to empathize with the lives of unsung heroes who in no small measure enabled the benefits of a less onerous path we follow today.
