[NEohioPAL] Liberation Church to host author of Celluloid Activist

[ZeemannZ at aol.com]

Liberation  United Church of Christ  
presents  an evening with 
MICHAEL  SCHIAVI, author of the acclaimed new biograply, 
CELLULOID  ACTIVIST:  The Life and Times of  Vito Russo 
Vito  Russo (1946-90) was a gay rights giant at the center of the gay 
cultural and  political turning points in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.  He 
witnessed the Stonewall riots in  1969; was a cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to 
Unleash Power (ACT UP); and was a  founding member of the Gay and Lesbian 
Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).   Russo’s entertaining and  insightful 
interviews with celebrities such as Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, and  Whoopie 
Goldberg appeared in The  Advocate, Film Comment, and  numerous other 
publications. 
He  was a lifetime film buff who combined his love for movies and gay 
activism into  a “Celluloid Closet” lecture series about LGBT people in 
mainstream movies.  His lectures became the basis for  The Celluloid Closet:  
Homosexuality in the Movies (1981), still the most important book  written about 
gays in popular culture.  Vito Russo embodied the spirit of early gay 
liberation and his death in  1990 epitomized how AIDS had wiped out a generation of 
the movement’s best and  brightest movers and shakers. 
Michael  Schiavi is Professor of English at New York Institute of 
Technology.  Using video, commentary and readings  from Celluloid Activist, Schiavi 
will  introduce us to one of the LGBT community’s most important leaders 
during the  two decades after Stonewall.  A  dialogue and book signing will 
follow Schiavi’s  presentation. 
“I’m  excited to introduce Cleveland to one of our movement’s most 
important  activists,” says Schiavi.  “Vito was  visionary, articulate, fiery, 
extremely funny, charismatic, sexually precocious,  and wholly loving.  His 
inspiring  life created lasting change for us all.”  

Friday,  September 9, 2011,   7:30 p.m. 
Liberation  United Church of Christ 
13714 Madison  Avenue                                                       
                             216-521-5556 
Lakewood, OH  44107                                                         
               _info at liberationucc.org_ (mailto:info at liberationucc.org)  
1 block east of Bunts  Road                                                 
                 _www.liberationucc.org_ (www.liberationucc.org)  
A free-will offering  will be received.
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