As is explained in the "storyline" above, this is a documentary about a gay activist who was a graduate student and teaching assistant in the school of education at the University of Saskatchewan in the 1970's. He placed a small ad in the school newspaper calling on gay students to come together to form a group with shared interests. The university and his college reacted by sacking him and doing all they could to distance themselves from someone who was openly gay.
Certainly this is a part of gay history that should be documented and Doug deserves recognition for taking a stand at a time ... hard to believe it was less than 50 years ago ... when remaining in the closet was a fairly basic survival strategy even at a place supposedly dedicated to intelligent open-minded thought rather than busily preserving mind-numbing bigotry and obviously actively engaged in witch-hunting.
That said, this production didn't do much to help us understand Doug Wilson as an individual or to get some feeling for him in the context of his activism at the university or elsewhere. I don't know who produced the film or what was available to them in the way of resources, financial or historical, and I expect they were working within a tight budget so I don't want to knock their initiative or what they were able to accomplish. It is important for people to understand how far we have come and how much further we need to go.
It's worth watching if gay activism is of interest to you and it is a valuable record to be preserved, but it depends a lot on friends and relatives sitting before the camera repeatedly telling us that he was attractive, a real presence, a genius and a victim somewhat of a two- dimensional testimonial or resumé, but not particular riveting or inspiring.
Certainly this is a part of gay history that should be documented and Doug deserves recognition for taking a stand at a time ... hard to believe it was less than 50 years ago ... when remaining in the closet was a fairly basic survival strategy even at a place supposedly dedicated to intelligent open-minded thought rather than busily preserving mind-numbing bigotry and obviously actively engaged in witch-hunting.
That said, this production didn't do much to help us understand Doug Wilson as an individual or to get some feeling for him in the context of his activism at the university or elsewhere. I don't know who produced the film or what was available to them in the way of resources, financial or historical, and I expect they were working within a tight budget so I don't want to knock their initiative or what they were able to accomplish. It is important for people to understand how far we have come and how much further we need to go.
It's worth watching if gay activism is of interest to you and it is a valuable record to be preserved, but it depends a lot on friends and relatives sitting before the camera repeatedly telling us that he was attractive, a real presence, a genius and a victim somewhat of a two- dimensional testimonial or resumé, but not particular riveting or inspiring.
