LOS ANGELES, Feb 23 — When We Rise, a miniseries about the history of the gay rights movement in the USA, will air from Monday to Friday, March 3 on US TV network ABC.

The series is executive produced by Gus Van Sant, who also directs the first instalment, starring Guy Pearce and Mary-Louise Parker.

When We Rise chronicles the fight for recognition of LGBT rights from the 1970s to the present day.

The ABC miniseries explores how, in the space of less than 50 years, the USA turned from a country where homosexualiy was once considered a disease, treated with electroconvulsive therapy or even lobotomies, to a land where same-sex marriage is now legal.

The show’s starting point will be the Stonewall riots of June 1969 in New York.

At a time when it was illegal to serve alcohol to homosexuals, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, flouted the law by opening its doors to all the marginalized groups of the day (gays, lesbians, prostitutes, transvestites, homeless people, etc.), in spite of frequent police raids.

One of the raids ended badly for New York City police officers, when the bar’s patrons turned on the officers.

This led to days of protest which marked a symbolic starting point for the gay rights movement in the USA.

The series focuses in particular on three real-life activists of the day: Roma Guy, played by Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), a feminist who discovers her sexuality when fighting for the rights of her lesbian friends, Ken Jones (Michael Kenneth Williams, who previously starred in The Wire), a Vietnam veteran who feels rejected by the Afro-American and veterans communities, and Cleve Jones (Guy Pearce), an emblematic face of the movement who was also a character in Gus Van Sant’s movie Milk.

Gus Van Sant returns to TV


Best  known for movies such as Good Will Hunting, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Elephant and Last Days, the American director hasn’t often worked in small-screen format. His first foray into the world of TV dates back to 2011-2012 with Boss, a political series shown on the Starz cable channel.

For his second TV project, Gus Van Sant returns to a theme previously evoked by the director in Milk, the movie biopic of openly homosexual gay rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk, in 1970s America.

The filmmaker has, in fact, re-teamed with the same screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black.

After scooping an Oscar for Milk, the screenwriter also worked on HBO’s Big Love and Clint Eastwood’s movie J. Edgar.

As well as executive producing When We Rise, Gus Van Sant also stepped behind the camera to direct the first episode, before handing over the reins to Dustin Lance Black, Dee Rees (Bessie) and Thomas Schlamme (The Americans, The West Wing).

The eight episodes will be shown over four evenings on US TV: Monday, February 27, Wednesday, March 1, Thursday, March 2 and Friday, March 3. — AFP-Relaxnews