vision.” Titled Different Drummers the concept of the show never evolved due, in part, to a lack of available funding from the Corpo- ration for Public Broadcasting and the rise of the politically conserva- tive 1980s. Nevertheless, many public broadcasting executives remained interested in Scagliotti’s idea and arranged a meeting with two other film producers, Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg. Together this small group began work on the documentary, Before Stonewall, a history of the making of the gay and lesbian community in America. , From the sexual experimentation ot the Roaring Twenties to the scapegoatingof homosexuals dur- ing the McCarthy era and the de- velopment of the homophile move- ment, the film provides an intimate look at gay history in America. Using archival news and in depth interviews with such person- alities as poets Audre Lorde and Allen Ginsberg, as well as Harry Hay, co-founder of the Mattachine Society, the documentary took three years to make before finally airing on PBS in December 1986. Despite being viewed as “question- able” and “inflammatory” by main- stream society, the film won two Emmy Awards and opened the closet for other gay directors. Having achieved great suc- cess with Before Stonewall, Scagliotti desired a break from the world of producing films and se- cured a position as program man- ager at a local New York radio sta- tion. In the midst of developing his THE CHOSEN 2 bill, bl... l<£nneflrM¢"'¢’3 Muzak own shows. the idea fora gay and . lesbian culture series on television once again entered the forefront of his mind. "After about three or four years (at the radio station), it was time to leave. There had been a big change in radio and the gay move- ment started changing. i knew there was a need for a gay and les- bian series on television,” said Scagliotti. Although many were impressed with his ideas, few were able to lend the necessary mon- etary support, and it took over a year and a half to raise enough funds for one show. The first installment of the series titled In the Life, was aired was a way to reach people who would have otherwise remained uninformed, alone and afraid” on six stations. Before the second show aired, Scagliotti and a small group of supporters began a grass roots effort to boost their viewership. “We'd send out things in the mail, and try and get people to call their local stations and (urge them to carry the show). it went from six stations to one hundred and twenty and oontinuestodowell today, but they can only afford to do about eight shows a year,” said Scagliotti. After leading the series for five years, Scagliotti resigned his post shortly after the death of his partner, Andrew Kopkind, who had become an award winning journal- ist, in 1994, and only recently has he started documentary work again. His current project, a highly anticipated film entitled AfterStone- wall, will serve as a sequel to its Emmy award winning predecessor. Narrated by Melissa Etheridge, the film will recount the M ILY 0 ,/Xbbd I Ralleiregi I??? velar Fr-'"'r"°"' The greedev/5, B015” 9 5,,,,t'e«5, Ciircl€JeVl‘e5--- ( °l%“‘—"J .‘ \-Ila‘ ‘. ,;-g, pg past thirty years in gay America, including the ‘70s and '80s disco scene, the rise of the AIDS crisis, the fight to stop rising fundamen- talist “new right’ organizations, and the successful election of hundreds of openly gay candidates to politi- cal office. According to Scagliotti, “Through personal stories and per- sonal expertise mixed with rich ar- chival materials, we hope to be able to tell the big picture by telling a number of small stories. (Also, it ‘ is our goal) to give a sense of the sweeping change that has taken place, and to show how we changed the world... how this gay and lesbian experience of ‘coming out and being open has af- fected ev- ery single institution in the world.”_The film will be available to the PBS network in time for the thir- tieth anniversary of the Stonewall , riots in June of 1999. What began as merely an in- terest in communicating informa- tion to a large number of people has gradually evolved into a life- time pursuit for John Scagliotti. A self-described “amateur,” he has two Emmy awards to his credit,_but they pale in comparison to a letter he received one day in Boston while working at the radio station. “it was from a kid who had turned ttieradio down reallylow in hisbed- room in order to listen to ‘The Lav- ender Hour.’That was the first time he had ever heard another gay person, and hewanted totliank me for putting the show on. Those sto- ries have repeated themselves throughout all of my work and con- tinue to be the only reward... see- ing how my work changes people’s lives.” ~¥”=;}s..; 1 slate mg Firal Fem»? l \f’ 2 dgbum ‘Ffom ct fiaof veaefab/e / rgfli/cl: when I wqg J 3 'l'Gl‘iI-ya dl/‘H1? ‘Fun mil" _ 8“ ~ 1. V . .~ ' "\ cf “-8"». ired of trying , to find 21 queer section in your bookstore? 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