Vito
Russo is not a household name. He’s not even well known in the gay
community, though he should be. The gay activist, who died in 1990 of
AIDS, was extremely influential in getting mainstream media to change
its approach to covering LGBT issues.
“Vito,”
a new documentary for HBO, aired for the first time late last month.
HBO is still showing it, and it’s definitely worth watching.
Perhaps
best known for his 1981 book, “The Celluloid Closet,” Russo spent
five years researching movies from the silent era to the
contemporary, and what he uncovered was revelatory.
Russo
found that gay characters were seen in movies as far back as silent
films, and they were presented in generally positive terms. But in
the 1930’s, as the government began enforcing a strict code of what
Hollywood filmmakers could show, the subject of homosexuality was
severely censored. And gay characters began a slow metamorphosis into
comical sissies, misfits, and psychopaths. Film, being the powerful
medium that it was for decades, left many Americans with the
impression that gays were to be feared or pitied.
Even
more troubling, Russo’s work revealed how many in the LGBT
community had learned to view themselves with the same biases.
But
Russo’s work didn’t stop with the publication of “The Celluloid
Closet.” After the death of his boyfriend from AIDS, Russo
co-founded ACT Up in response to the federal government’s slow
reaction to the disease.
ACT
Up approached protests differently than the sponsors of the peaceful
marches and rallies of the past. Activists began targeting specific
individuals and companies with their protests, bringing them unwanted
media exposure.
ACT
Up was credited with getting drug companies to lower their prices for
the few drugs available to treat AIDS at the time. And it spurred the
federal government to intensify research and hasten FDA approval of
some drugs.
Russo
was only in his mid-40’s when he died, but in a relatively short
time he destroyed long-held beliefs about gay people. And he changed
the LGBT community forever.
This article appears in Aug 1-7, 2012.
