Out On Film is proud to partner with HBO Max to present a sneak preview of “Equal,” an upcoming documentary series on the LGBTQ+ pioneers who helped change the course of American history through their activism. Episode Two: “Transgender Pioneers” (directed by Kimberly Reed) charts the events of an August night in 1966 when trans people rose up against police harassment in San Francisco’s Tenderloin: Compton’s Cafeteria. We meet Christine Jorgensen (Jamie Clayton), the 1950s global phenomenon and first transgender celebrity who turned media attention into a tool to educate and entertain. Her visibility laid the foundation for the Compton’s uprising a decade later. We will also delve further back in time to meet the lesser-known but no less important figures of Lucy Hicks Anderson (Alexandra Grey) and Jack Starr (Theo Germaine), turn-of-the-century folks who boldly and defiantly lived as they chose amidst a society that criminalized their lives.

Episode Three: “Black is Beautiful, Gay Is Good!” (directed by Stephen Kijak) chronicles Lorraine Hansberry (Samira Wiley)—who became famous for her groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun—was a queer revolutionary hiding in plain sight. She was a radical voice for Civil Rights, who fiercely confronted a society that oppressed her by race, gender, and sexuality. While not on the frontlines of the gay rights movement, she wrote extensively about her homosexuality under pseudonyms. We present her story framed as if by a play—looking at the collision of the personal and the political in her complex and intersectional life. Against the backdrop of The March on Washington, the event’s intrepid organizer Bayard Rustin (Keiynan Lonsdale) stands slightly in the shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. aware that his homosexuality is a constant threat to the stability of the Civil Rights Movement, yet he lives openly and proudly at a time when it was dangerous to do so. While in San Francisco, José Sarria (Jai Rodriguez) makes a run for county supervisor, years before Harvey Milk.

EQUAL is executive produced and led by Scout Productions’ Emmy Award-winning team - Academy Award® winner Michael Williams (The Fog of War), Joel Chiodi, David Collins (Queer Eye), and Rob Eric (Queer Eye)  along with Emmy nominated Berlanti Productions’ Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon, Arrow, Riverdale, The Flash) and Sarah Schechter (Supergirl, Riverdale), Emmy and Golden Globe® winner Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, The Normal Heart, The Boys in the Band) and Emmy nominee Todd Spiewak (Special, Young Sheldon, A Kid Like Jake) as well as Eric Norsophfrom That’s Wonderful Productions, Jon Jashni (Lost in Space) from Raintree Ventures, and Mike Darnell and Brooke Karzen, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. Diane Becker and Melanie Miller of Fishbowl Films serve as producers.