In the Life: Ep. 2101, "20th Anniversary Season Premiere"

in the life is funded in part by the age fan amering and Foundation Dewey and Le buff the estate of Richard W Weiland Arcus Foundation Gill Foundation the calamus Foundation David Bonet Foundation and these funders and by the annual support of in the Life members like you this season in the Life marks 20 years of LGBT visibility on public television documenting the movement for social justice and exposing the lies and misinformation about lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people tonight in true in the Life fashion we take a hard look at New York's historic vote for marriage equality how it happened who stood in the way and where do we go from here and later we look back at the impact in the life has made over the past 20 years covering the culture wars [Music] we brought everybody together [Applause] there was nothing for you to hide [Music] on July 24 2011 hundreds of gay and lesbian couples throughout the state of New York married in front of family and friends one month earlier Governor Cuomo had signed the marriage equality bill into law victory for same-sex marriage supporters was the joyous end of a long and contentious struggle that less than two years earlier had suffered a crushing setback when the same bill was voted down in the state senate [Music] not everybody was an honest broker mistakes were made I made mistake groups made mistakes it was a very sad and tough time and personally it was a very difficult time for me going into the vote last time I was very clear we were going to lose so there were some people who I think thought we actually had the votes so that I think was very difficult for them said we weren't sad and we weren't disappointed and we were an outraged we thought we had until 2010 to organize for the vote but Governor Patterson put it on special extraordinary calendars so we were sort of marched into having a vote happen in 2009 we were hearing directly from legislators and their staff saying things like you know you don't really have to worry about the gays all they do is fight with each other so people did a Frank analysis an honest analysis and developed a much smarter more strategic plan for 2010 and 2011. the goal was to take out some marriage no votes in the 2010 elections and replace them with marriage yes votes and we succeeded we got rid of some of those who voted no and replaced them with Pro equality candidates but in the process of course the leadership changed in the Senate from democratic to Republican which created a different set of challenges 58 percent of New Yorkers support the freedom to marry the challenge has been to make those voices heard in Albany and to thread through the sometimes dysfunctional systems in the legislature particularly in the state senate while the 2010 elections brought in a Republican state senate they also swept in Governor Andrew Cuomo who had campaigned on reforming Albany and passing marriage equality in March of 2011 he asked equality Advocates to meet with him he called LGBT leaders and Advocates up for a strategy meeting and was there himself for over an hour had his top people there assigned his highest ranking staff person to work with us so please join me in supporting marriage equality equality for all New Yorkers said I am going to use my political Goodwill that I have in the state of New York to help make this happen the momentum was there all the organizations were working together for the first time we formed a coalition we knew it was important to send a message that we as a community were speaking with one voice United in this fight together and that's why we formed New Yorkers United for marriage with the Republican Senate we had to do a few things one was we had to raise some Republican dollars to show Republican Senators that Republicans supported this and would raise money to support those who supported equality that was essential legislators are so sensitive to their political future if I take this vote what's going to happen to my political career so for a republican it is very helpful to know that there will be resources Financial Resources still there if they take this vote while several Republican donors were willing to commit to marriage equality opposition to the bill was spearheaded by Reverend Ruben Diaz senior a democratic state senator from the Bronx who runs the New York Hispanic clergy organization and works closely with the National Organization for marriage between a man and a man is wrong institution created by God and to redefine marriage now is wrong we were definitely outspent and a lot of our Focus was on um connecting folks with their legislators and again legislators simply didn't listen think same-sex marriage doesn't affect your family legalizing gay marriage has consequences for kids and it wasn't that they didn't hear I mean some legislators have said oh we heard from we didn't hear that much from the supporters of traditional marriage yeah that's that that's not true uh the same sort of uh you know overwhelming calls that were coming in in 2009 were coming in now we were all over the state our opposition was not all over the state they were inside the capitol they played the lobbying game they were there in the Halls they were they were there talking to Senators behind closed doors rather effectively I would say rather effectively but they were not in the street we were all over the street New Yorkers these folks came out of a full-time job and stood on Corners in key districts for hours getting postcards signed stopping constituents and basically pleading our case with them educating right there on the spot we had flash calls going on where our volunteers had a cell phone they would call the senator from that district and folks would leave a message we had phone banking door-to-door petitioning going on from Buffalo to Rochester out on Long Island Troy Upstate downstate we engaged people we talked to them and we saw the energy and we saw the passion on our side no Senator I asked to meet with said no everyone sat down with me just to be honest about who you are and what your life is like and when these Senators sit down with you and they talk to you and they hear about my partner and my father and my partner's dad and our families it's hard to stay stuck in the rhetoric I also saw the light come on in some of their eyes as they changed their position and that to me was the most remarkable you talked to any of the Senators that switched their vote from no two years ago to yes they will all say what a difference two years makes in the number of constituent contacts we receive by email by phones the people stopping them on the streets on June 13 2011 three Democratic state senators publicly announced they would switch their vote from no to yes on marriage equality 6015 people had weighed in on this issue and in the end 4 839 people wanted me to vote Yes so in the end that is my vote it was a tremendous Victory and really gave us a lot of momentum when the three Democrats came forward and said that they were going to vote Yes and they publicly said they were going to vote Yes we were at 29 then with a magic number of 32 but the hard work was still in front of us which was getting three or four Republicans to say yes and more importantly getting a vote out of a republican conference would you be announcing today your decision on whether to put a bill in or not we will we're going to have a meeting we're actually overtime on the meeting uh we're going to be meeting right after this Michael and we're going to discuss that topic the group will make a decision and then I'm sure we'll make that decision public I was actually in the meeting we sat down and the governor asked us all point blank what we wanted to do if we felt that um the time was right to push the bill forward and we all of course said yes and then he asked us to just wait a few minutes and then send a release he came in the room and let us all know that he was in fact going to come out and support and wanted our help standing with the Press I am Jim alisi I'm a Republican I was born that way I can't tell you the Elation that came over me at that point because I had always known in my heart that it was a bipartisan issue and here he was I give you my vote thank you soon after Senator Roy McDonald came forward and said yes on the Republican side now there were two publicly acknowledged Republicans saying that they would vote Yes and we needed another one to win and even better too so that no one would be the one vote to make it happen the momentum just built [Applause] [Music] but then I have to say that there was a lull in that momentum as the week went by and no vote came no one wanted to be the 32nd vote we were literally back to back in the hall and uh you couldn't walk down the hall there was no space there it was very tense now we are looking obviously for the remaining votes on the Republican side and apparently the discussion is there from what I understand there were about four hours that they spent yesterday trying to figure out what to do the middle of the week was tense I'll give you that I had anxiety I was nervous and at this point uh we're not entirely convinced we have enough votes but I still think we do to be out there on such a controversial issue and then not have the issue come to the floor for a vote is it's not a disaster but it's really not a good thing [Music] we knew that time was not our friend and that the longer things waited the more things could potentially go wrong because we were really worried about the opposition the protests the pressures that were being put on the senators from all kinds of opposition marriage built a fact of human society established by the Creator and redeemed I think it's important to let them know that there are also people of Faith here that that believe in equality for all as the Republican conference met to discuss adding religious exemptions to protect religious institutions from having to serve same-sex couples tensions mounted in the hallways of the Capitol on both sides of the issue [Applause] we are not asking to get married into a church that does not want us so it's really not an issue and it's just a delay tactic to delay the vote to come to the floor [Applause] religious exemptions is not strong enough and I'm lobbying the Senators that are wavering to vote no on the bill marriage between two persons of the 26 is wrong to get some attention doesn't make it right we're telling the religious folks whatever you want to do in your church that's your business it has nothing to do with civil rights my human rights [Applause] we don't know we don't know when there's going to be a vote it's really very very close [Applause] [Music] the purpose was to ensure religious exemptions that there are Protections in this bill for church and religious organizations on a personal note I have as many people who are certainly struggled over this issue who am I to say that someone does not have the same rights that I have with my wife who I love I vote in the affirmative Mr President I vote yes thank you thank you Mr President eyes 33 Nays 29. it was just like a wave of cheering very exhilarating made the last 13 years really worth it democracy works when the people speak and the people spoke in volumes over these past few months and this legislature responded this week today this is the first time a republican-led legislative chamber has voted in support of the freedom to marry with Republicans providing the margin of Victory this is a cause and a campaign in New York that was supported by Business Leaders as well as labor leaders Republicans as well as Democrats and independents by young people working those phone Banks and by older people telling their stories and embracing it we're going to one one bill to pass before the 11 o'clock news they like the chamber and this person it was a dictatorship even though the the law has passed it's not over yet it's not over here foreign the legislature has voted this is a creation of the legislature it can be done away with by the legislature so I think that the political class views this uh as a done deal and I think again as as we're seeing in Iowa and New Hampshire that's not correct our opponents have pledged to raise two million dollars to take on these legislators that have stood up for love and equality and they are all up for election uh just a year a little over a year away in November of 2012. so we have to make sure that we stand by those who stand by us we were successful in New York so yes we'll talk about taking this model and bringing it to another state in fact last Friday Governor O'Malley was in Annapolis to announce his strong support for marriage bill and he talked about what happened in New York he talked about the broad Coalition in the aftermath of the New York Victory we testified in Congress at the first ever hearing on repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and passing the respect for Marriage Act to undo this Federal discrimination in 2011 we now have six states 35 million people living in states where gay people can marry we have more than a hundred thousand married couples with their kids their loved ones their families and we have the living proof that ending marriage discrimination helps families and contrary to the constant scare tactic of the right wing hurts no one in the right on June 9th 1992 in the life was first broadcast light in the loafers if you sing in the choir then you are in the Life Kate Clinton was our host thank you what a way to come out obviously early 90s and it was really very radical to do what we were doing now I know a lot of you are thinking gosh not another show on gays and lesbians on television it was great to be the first host and I don't really think I knew the import of it because it was so crazy busy backstage I mean Julie taymor had nothing on John scagliotti he had everything planned he packed a variety show my then boyfriend Giuseppe and I were in the very like top row so the idea that I would then go from sitting in the audience to then being a correspondent for the show to now sitting here and talking about it 20 years later really it means I'm getting old very little material had been on public television to have a voice this was a major leap oh that piece of film Vito and I made that in 1983 Todd and Martha this historic public television broadcast was quickly met with opposition it seems that the broadcasting apologists are hiding behind Big Bird Mr Rogers and Masterpiece Theater laying down their quality smoke screen while they shoveled out funding for Gay and Lesbian variety shows Bob Dole called us out on the floor of Congress saying that we were hiding behind this smoke screen to slip in these horrific gay images daddy and his roommate are very happy together and I'm happy too these are the two copies that were out on the shelves they are now in my possession and librarian you're not getting them back the right always has us at the center of their crosshairs in the culture wars and especially in the early 90s when we as a community and in the life documenting this movement of our community saying no we are not going to be silent we will not be invisible we want our American rights as time went along the folks who are running in the Life decided the gay community needs news the feeling here today is incredible there's a true sense of unity we have come out to reach out Across America the gay community needs to know what's happening with it act up fight back fight AIDS not just in New York or in Washington or L.A but in other places around the country you're letting people know in Ohio or in Kansas or Texas or wherever that they're gay people they're gay people everywhere it was the first authentic programming produced by LGBT people for LGBT people you know it never went through the filters of big broadcast it really was kind of homes fun it got right into the grass fruits it got right into the nitty-gritty of what LGBT life was like what the issues were that we confronted over the last couple of decades I think the function of in the life has been to show an LGBT World in an LGBT point of view of the world that is an invitation to come out [Music] welcome to in the Life America's news magazine on game this shift to a news magazine allowed the show not only to profile the lives of LGBT people the first open lesbian appointed to a federal bench but to also counter messaging of the radical right the gay movement is the spare point in the culture war against the Judea Christian value system we were trying to counter the images that were being put out there about us that we're sick and we're sinful and we're destroying our children I wrote Alfie's home to let children teens adults Educators and therapists know that the possibility of changing from homosexual to heterosexual exists we did not accept the debate that the rest of the mainstream was accepting which is that somehow homosexuals gay people whatever we're no good [Music] a homosexual agenda we will be destroying the Integrity of the marriage-based family the innocence of childhood and indeed the very fabric of our society recognizing that the struggle for LGBT equality extended Beyond American borders in the Life went Global I was a really curious you know about this lesbianism in India we don't we don't know much about latianism [Music] I wanted it for gay people to make their voices heard they make their voices heard in many ways they don't make their voices heard only in the political Arena [Music] those of us who survived the 80s lost hundreds of friends we're we probably were walking wounded ourselves AIDS was going to be an important part of whatever we did my name is Ed ditterline and this is John Perkins we were lovers for 18 years he died three days ago and I'm really very sad es did accelerate things and I think the cultural Wars were a sign that we're fighting and our people fighting against us yes and I wish they were perceived more clearly as the bigots they are as opposed to just the other side but the fact that we are standing up and fighting is a new manifestation of us to be able to capture the the visceral and rightfully so anger of our community we stood up and said we demand the medication we had demand the attention we demand the pharmaceutical companies to to hear us to listen to change things a human chain around the capital to demand more leadership from elected officials I would say there's probably nothing nothing more powerful or moving than to see them unfold and to lay out the amount of quilts one panel after another and then to step back and see that it covered the entire Mall it's a critical Archive of Our movement of our LGBT Movement we still live at a time that there isn't widespread capturing of gay history so in a way in the life has become one of our Central archives in the last century the in the Life archive also inspires hope through the stories of icons and allies gay community has always been incredibly supportive of me from the very very beginning I'm glad I'm out truth set you free that's for sure [Applause] hi I'm John Waters I'm Cherry Jones I'm Rosie O'Donnell I'm Ani DeFranco I'm Alan welcome to in the life 20 years later in the Life continues to shatter stereotypes and expose injustices waged on LGBT people the family is the oldest and arguably most influential Christian conservative organization in Washington someone's got to stand up to the religious right the religious right really wants a theocracy really wants the laws of the country to reflect their often very narrow-minded religious ideas the religious right is wrong on a lot of the issues or I'm sorry not a lot of the issues all of the issues pertaining to the community expanding Beyond traditional broadcast in the Life continues to raise awareness and impact public policy you figure out ways to kind of skirt around the Discrimination but eventually it finds you our focus is on federal policy and the life's focus is really on the public education and the work we do is helped dramatically by the public education that in the life does what changes laws are people's opinions bullying is not a gay issue or a straight issue it's a safety issue it's about there is nothing more powerful than seeing people seeing their worlds if we just take gay marriage alone every time it's a popular vote and many times when it's just legislators we lose because we haven't changed those hearts and Minds our stories that is what changed the New York legislator to vote for gay marriage the only way to get rid of fear of who we are and what you know supporting us is going to do is by getting to know us and hearing our stories thank you for watching in the life to watch more historical coverage from the last 20 years of in the Life visit our website at itlmedia.org I can't believe this day has finally come it's just a proud day for America that says that diversity wins over adversity it's here and arriving 21 years 42 years together for four and a half years we've been together this thing's College I'm so happy to waited so long for this I finally did it yeah did it in the life is funded in part by the age fan amering and Foundation Dewey and Le buff the estate of Richard W Weiland Arcus Foundation Gill Foundation calamus Foundation David Bonet Foundation and these funders and by the annual support of in the Life members like you thank you