HBO’s new Max to profile forgotten LGBTQ heroes
Holding out for LGBTQ heroes? HBO Max has your back.
The HBO-meets-Cinemaxmeets-Warner Bros streaming service that is set to debut in the spring of 2020 has picked up a four-part docuseries that will chronicle “landmark events and forgotten heroes of the LGBTQ+ movement,” a press release from WarnerMedia announced.
The show, which will be executive-produced by openly gay entertainment bigshots Jim Parsons and Greg Berlanti, will document the “gripping and true backstories of the leaders and unsung heroes, pre-Stonewall, who changed the course of American history through their tireless activism,” according to HBO Max’s description of the show.
“In June, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which shepherded in a new era for
LGBTQ+ pride. While we know the story behind that fateful summer night, there’s a lot of fascinating, untold history of the patriots, artists and thinkers who paved the way,” Jennifer O’Connell, executive vice president of nonfiction and kids programming for HBO Max, said.
“It’s time to share their heroic tales, and we could not have more perfect partners in Jim Parsons, Greg Berlanti, Jon
Jashni and Scout to introduce our HBO Max audience to these historical trailblazers,” she added.
“We are extremely proud to partner with these groundbreaking producers on a subject this important, at a time this critical,” added Mike Darnell, president of unscripted and alternative at Warner Bros. “What a perfect project to launch Warner Horizon Unscripted Television’s new documentary series unit.”
The series, which will utilize both documentary footage and re-enactments for the hour-long episodes, will tell the stories surrounding some lesser-known — but equally important — LGBTQ trailblazers. The show “honors the rebels of yesteryear through high-end reenactments, never-before-seen footage, and captures the emotions of the times with messages just as relevant today.”
One of them, Harry Hay, was one of the founders of the Mattachine Society, the nation’s first major gay rights group, as well as the Radical Faeries, a countercultural movement that was born in California in the 1970s and that aimed to redefine queer consciousness through spirituality.
Other subjects include Christine Jorgensen, a Bronx-born transgender woman who underwent one of the first widely publicized gender-reassignment surgeries in the nation; African American rights leader Bayard Rustin; and the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the U.S., which was formed in San Francisco in 1955.
The final episode will center on the Stonewall Riots and the first Pride event, which took place a year later, in June 1970.
HBO Max is WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. It will offer 10,000 hours of curated premium content when it launches next year. Besides original programming, it’ll also will include content like “Doctor Who,” “Friends,” “Game of Thrones,” the “Gossip Girl” sequel and “Sesame Street,” as well as movies including “Wonder Woman” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”