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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2002)
FILM .........▼......... Keeping history alive hen people ask filmmaker Eric Slade about his work and he starts spieling off his credits (they are impressive), the one response he invariably pro vokes is: “Really? You worked on Hard Copy!" T hat truly is the least of his accomplishments. Dedicated to creating films that make a dif by O riana G reen ference, Slade most recently added a significant contribution to the preservation of queer histo ry. Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay tells the story of our era’s first gay activist. The film will he shown at a benefit screening March 3 at Hollywood Theatre. In 1948 Hay penned the manifesto that sparked the mtxlem gay rights movement. Working on behalf of presidential candidate Henry Wallace, he had set out to write a plat- form plank pushing to end police entrapment of homosexuals, a common txxurrence at the time. Instead, Hay authored a more startling doc ument declaring homosexuals an oppressed . minority; he believed what needed to change were societal attitudes. It’s impossible to over state how radical his ideas were in the rah-rah, an-apple-pie-on-every-table, post-war days. v So radical that it took Hay many months to collect a handful of gay men who responded to his vision. T hat core group, cloaked in secrecy and known to one another at first only by pseudonyms, eventually became the Matta- chine Society, the country’s first successful gay H arry Hay ttxlay— the activist is flanked by his longtime partner, John Burnside, and Portland rights organization. filmmaker Eric Slade “The vision of the original group was a trans- electro-shock “therapy” or even a lohotomy. formation of society,” Slade explains. “They didn’t hen Slade showed his finished film to It took a long time for Hay to find the man of Hay— who, hy the way, is still feisty at just want to make it safe to he gay.” his dreams, hut, happily, in 1963 he partnered up 89— his only criticism was that he Ironically, the organization Hay started with John Burnside, and they’ve been together wished the director had captured more of “the eventually ousted him for being too radical. In ever since. After colon cancer surgery two years horrors we lived through.” Still, Hope Along the the dark days of the M cCarthy era, the young ago, Hay sprang right hack and looks forward to Wind does make the point that pre-Stonewall, men brave enough to join weren’t quite ready a big 90th birthday bash April 7 in San Francis every time homos gathered they risked their to associate with a founder who recently had co. His partner is still spry and “only 85”! been a card-carrying Communist. After Mattachine, Hay pioneered another During the 1930s, many proriiinent pro gay movement. In search of answers to his gressive thinkers openly explored commu three prevailing questions about homosexu nism as an antidote to the Great Depression. als— who are we, where do we come from For Hay, it turned out to he useful training in and why are we here— he began to study the activism and direct action. berdache tradition among Native Americans. O ne of the more startling tidbits in the film That confirmed Hay’s belief that gays serve a is the revelation that Hay was politicized and purpose separate from heterosexuals, which introduced to Marxist ideas by one of his early led the two men to resettle in New Mexico lovers, actor Will Geer (yes, kids, Grandpa and immerse themselves in tribal culture. Walton), then a handsome young buck. The This, in turn, gave birth to the Radical two joined legions of other activists and Faeries in 1979. The film has some delightful worked to raise awareness of the need for the footage of Hay and friends frolicking at the very benefits we enjoy today: Social Security, Faerie outpost in southern Oregon. As he health insurance and workers compensation. puts it, he wanted to "create a place to heal Hay quickly became a labor organizer and from hatred.” T he sexy and stoic H arry Hay circa 1930 Marxist teacher, although homosexuality was not embraced within the party. lade got to know Hay through the Radi reputations, jobs, homes and freedom. Being In fact, it wasn’t until 1938 that “homosexu cal Faeries. He says the idea for the pro certified queer could land you in jail or a men al” turned up in a U.S. dictionary. Until then, ject “had been percolating for a long tal hospital, where you might be subjected to the buzzwords were “nervous” and “that way.” W Portland filmmaker documents the legendary life of H arry Hay V S Beyond Borden D ignified pet S ervices fairly Traded Handcraft and Organic Coffee Cremation A Memorials For Your Companion time, and it amazed me th at no one had done this documentary.” But first the director accumulated that impressive list of credits, including his first job after Emerson College: working for Portland Public Schools in the television services department. Slade was a one-man band— shooting, producing and editing the series School Reel, which aired on KOIN-TV for a couple of years. “The hook was that the kids were the reporters, and we won some awards,” he explains. “It was great experience for me because I had to do it all— dozens and dozens of stories.” Slade then worked as an assistant editor at a large editing house, Northwest Video Works, doing television commercials, documentaries “and all kinds of high-profile, expensive stuff.” In 1987 he answered the lure of larger opportunities in San Francisco, where he worked as a free-lance director of photography on all kinds of projects, including for University of California on HIV and breast cancer educa tion, and Safety in Numbers, a safe-sex video for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which, he confides, was “actually softcore erotica.” Slade is rightfully proud of his work for the C enter for AIDS Prevention Studies as well as Acting Up for Prisoners, a film about the A C T UP campaign to bring HIV health care to women behind bars. “In ’93 all HIV-positive women in Califor nia were being segregated in one wing of one prison, but once A C T UP got the word out, things changed. Activists did a huge amount of good,” he recalls. “And I wanted to do a docu mentary about how direct action works. T hat’s why I chose Harry. H e’s one of those guys.” Slade, who recently moved back to Port land with his lover, believes Hay deserves to be revered alongside the other great civil rights leaders, and he hopes his film will help achieve that. If you ever meet up with the director, do him a favor. Exclaim: “Really? You made the Harry Hay film?” j n H ope A long toe ORIANA G reen is a Portland writer who is thank ful Harry Hay has balls of steel. Needles Visit us online at: www.reyreece.com or schedule your appointment 503-2563700 REY REECE DEALERSHIPS ISUZU-VOLKSWAGEN-USED 122nd & East Burnside www. reyr eece .com flflo-B W Capitol Hwy. In Multnomah Village WWW OPEtl TDESOAY-SUhOAT • Unique ûieMation UxnS • Me^otiQ?, Jeweüxy • Books 6 Litexatuxe Iqma linlm. IV (nth iwrtrtiRj dhfhim ^ TV hrxktr Mfly iMmutiml. I k . «( tt* fur Tndf WmW» k a nota 1st • Pexsonafcized Caskets • Gliûnite Monuments 8976 SW Tualatin Sherwood Road Tualatin OR 97062 Phone (503) 885-2211 www. Di gn i fi ed Pet Serv ices, com (A Division o f Cascade Funeral Directors. Inc) W ind : T he L ife of H arry H ay premieres 2 p.m. March 3 at Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd. Tickets are $ 10 at the door or $25 for the movie and post-show reception at near by Caravan Studios. Advance tickets are available for $8 and $20 from in Other Words and Gai-Pied. Pro ceeds benefit the Harry Hay Documentary Project. To send Hay a birthday card (or thank-you note), write in care of Mark Garrett, P.O. Box 14032, Son Francisco, C A 94114. (If you feel like making a donation to his medical care, enclose that, too.) 11 n
