In 1995, Kelli Peterson started a gay and straight club at her Salt Lake City high school. The story of her ensuing battle with school authorities in interspersed with looks back at the ...
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Title: Out of the Past (1998)
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3 wins & 1 nomination.
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Cast
| Credited cast: | |||
| Stephen Spinella | ... | Michael Wigglesworth (voice) | |
| Gwyneth Paltrow | ... | Sarah Orne Jewett (voice) | |
| Cherry Jones | ... | Annie Adams Fields (voice) | |
| Edward Norton | ... | Henry Gerber (voice) | |
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Leland Gantt | ... | Bayard Rustin (voice) |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Annie Fields | ... | Self |
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Barbara Gittings | ... | Self |
| Peter J. Gomes | ... | Self (as Rev. Peter J. Gomes) | |
| Linda Hunt | ... | Narrator | |
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Sarah Orne Jewett | ... | Self |
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Kelli Peterson | ... | Self |
| Bayard Rustin | ... | Self (archive footage) | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
In 1995, Kelli Peterson started a gay and straight club at her Salt Lake City high school. The story of her ensuing battle with school authorities in interspersed with looks back at the diary of Michael Wigglesworth, a 17th-century Puritan cleric, at the 30-year love affair of Sarah Orne Jewett and Annie Adams Fields, at Henry Gerber's attempt after World War I to establish a gay-rights organization, at Bayard Rustin's role in the civil rights movement, and at Barbara Gittings' taking on of the American Psychiatric Association's position that homosexuality is illness. One person comments, "To create a place for ourselves in the present, we have to find ourselves in the past." Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
31 July 1998 (USA) See more »Edit
Box Office
Opening Weekend USA:
$1,671, 2 August 1998Gross USA:
$9,078Cumulative Worldwide Gross:
$9,078Company Credits
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A top-notch documentary which beautifully weaves the story of Kelli Peterson, who tried to start a gay-straight alliance at a Salt Lake City high school, with tales of real gay heroes of the past.
The wonderful Barbara Giddings is featured in a tremendously moving moment in which Kelli and Barbara meet, and it is clear that if only Kelli - and other students like her - had simply been told the facts about gay people in school she would never have wanted to commit suicide. This film is an excellent testament and memorial to those who died having lived miserable lives totally in the closet.