Media

Media Releases

Biographer of Gay Rights Giant to Speak at Liberation Church

Cleveland, OH — August 5, 2011 — New Yorker Michael Schiavi, author of the new book, Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), will speak at Liberation United Church of Christ on Friday, September 9th at 7:30 p.m. Russo was a gay rights giant;at the center of the gay cultural and political turning points in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. He witnessed the Stonewall riots in 1969; emceed NYC’s earliest Pride Parade rallies; and hosted America’s first gay show on public television, “Our Time.” He was a cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and was a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) — which presented its 2011 Vito Russo Award to singer Ricky Martin. Russo’s entertaining and insightful interviews with celebrities, many of whom became his friends (including Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Valerie Harper, Harvey Fierstein and Whoopie Goldberg), appeared in The Advocate, Film Comment, Moviegoer and numerous other publications. Russo wrote The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, generally regarded as the foundational text of gay and lesbian film studies. A 1995 feature documentary film by Academy Award winning directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman was based on Russo’s work.

Vito Russo embodied the spirit of early gay liberation and his death in 1990 epitomized how AIDS had wiped out a generation of the movement’s best and brightest movers and shakers.

Film writer and biographer Schiavi, Professor of English at the New York Institute of Technology, never met Russo, but when he was “17, closeted and very scared,” Schiavi came across The Celluloid Closet on a library shelf and soon claimed the spellbinding gay activist writer as his personal hero. Schiavi’s engrossing biography draws on archival materials, unpublished letters and journals, and more than 200 interviews with family members and friends. His presentation will include commentary, video, readings from Celluloid Activist, and Q&A. “I’m excited to introduce Cleveland to one of our movement’s most important activists,” says Schiavi. “Vito was visionary, articulate, fiery, extremely funny, charismatic, sexually precocious, and wholly loving. His inspiring life created lasting change for us all.”

Schiavi’s appearance is part of Liberation United Church of Christ’s 18th anniversary celebration. The church, with a special mission to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied communities, is located at 13714 Madison Avenue in Lakewood (one block east of Bunts Road). Books will be available for purchase for $20.00 (list price is $29.95) at the event, which will be followed by a reception and book signing. A free-will offering will be received.

For more information, contact the church office at 216-521-5556 or info@liberationucc.org.

 

PDF version of this media release.

News & Events

• Please join us for worship every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.!

Saturday, May 5, 2012
• Cabaret, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 6, 2012
• Worship, 10:30 a.m., Wake Up For Worship Yoga at 10:00 a.m.
• Male Spirit Drumming, 1:00 p.m.

Friday, May 11, 2012
• Movie and Game Night, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 13, 2012
• Worship, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday, May 20, 2012
• Worship, 10:30 a.m.
• Spirit Walkers, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 27, 2012
• Worship, 10:30 a.m., Pentecost Sunday