Kickstarter Campaign Raises Funds for Stonewall Heroes
The "Happy Birthday Marsha!" fundraising campaign on Kickstarter is collecting money to produce a short film on two LGBTQ leaders during the Stonewall Protests. The film surrounds the lives of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two homeless transwomen of color, during the legendary 1969 protests in Greenwich Village.
The filmmakers, Reina Gossett and Sasha Wortzel, aimed to to "tell the stories of our heroes matters." The film will follow the decisions and daily lives of Johnson and Rivera on the day leading up to Stonewall, which was also Johnson's 25th birthday.
"We are drawing upon our community to make this film because we have an opportunity to make a movie written, directed and produced by people living Sylvia & Marsha's legacy through our own work," the two women said. "It's been 45 years since the Stonewall rebellion yet the leading role that street queens, trans women of color and gender non-conforming people had during the riots hasn't received the recognition it deserves. By making Happy Birthday, Marsha! we are seeking to change that, but we need your help to make it happen."
The campaign ends Aug. 15 and has raised over $19,000 dollars of its $25,000 goal thus far.
Other recent Kickstarter campaigns have made headlines, including actor and director Zach Braff's crowd-funded film "Wish I Was Here" and the bizarre case of a man who raised over $55,000 to make potato salad.
However, LGBTQ causes have garnered many campaigns on the website. Author S. Bear Bergman raised $18,555 in 2012 to publish two books for gender-independent children and is now trying to organize a book club subscription service called Flamingo Rampant Book Club that will produce six more original kid's books.
According to a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin's Cooperative Children's Book Center, of the 3,200 children's books published in 2013, less than 8 percent were authored or included characters of color. Bergman aims to feature black, indigenous and "gender-independent kids, binary busters full of confidence."
"The last children's book to feature gay parents who are not white was published in 1990," Bergman said. "It's called Asha's Mums, and it is lovely, but I sort of think in 25 years maybe we could do another one."
Bergman's Kickstarter runs through Aug. 12 and has raised more than 80 percent of its $49,000 goal.
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