Rhode Island International Film Festival 2009

It has been said, "Gays have a past but no history." Gays and Lesbians don't grow up immersed in gay history, it is something they must search for. For those coming of age in the 1950's, much of significant American gay history is their personal history -- the Mattachine Society, Stonewall, the gay rights movement, psychiatric redefinition of homosexuality, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Romer v. Evens, AIDS, civil unions, marriage -- it's all in the last 50 years. Swimming with Lesbians is a film that explores an upstate New York community's efforts to create an LGBT historic archive - led by the extraordinary Madeline Davis.As the film opens, viewers are instantly transported into 68-year old Madeline's life and world as she sets the needle on a well-worn and a bit warped vinyl recording of the first gay anthem, "Stonewall Nation" - a song that she wrote and recorded. Soon we are "swimming" with Madeline though an ocean of memories - some turbulent and gray, some clear as placid water, many seminal to the gay rights movement - and all pure Madeline. Viewers are immediately aware that Madeline has not sat on the sidelines of LGBT history; she is a person that has been making waves for decades. In addition to writing and recording "Stonewall Nation," produced by the Mattachine Society, she was the first openly elected lesbian delegate to speak at the Democratic National Convention, she taught the first Lesbianism course ever offered at a major American university, and she co-authored a seminal history of blue collar lesbian life, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold. This archive is more than just the documentary proof that the raw material of history exists. It is for many an important acknowledgement of a struggle to be seen; acknowledged, known. For Madeline, it is a story of passion and power -- for within the individual stories found in the archive, the past takes shape and forms the history of gay civil rights. Buffalo, New York is a conservative blue collar city, and perhaps for some, an unlikely and surprising home for an archive of this scope. The last half century has not been kind to Buffalo. The social change that made gay rights possible was not always welcomed in Buffalo. Swimming with Lesbians asks the viewer to consider that much credit is due to people like Madeline and others in the film -- people in places like Buffalo, New York -- who moved Gay rights out of the Castro and the Village and onto Main Street. Without them, today might look much different. Approach:Swimming with Lesbians is shot cinema verite in intimate settings associated with the lives of the individuals associated with the archive. The film is non-narrative and told without the use of voice-over; based on the archive collection from which interesting stories and compelling characters emerge. These stories are interwoven with scenes of Madeline at work, often frustratingly so, to build the archive. Madeline is both guide and subject; the collector and the keeper. She is the story and the storyteller. .Peggy, David, Camille, Tangara, and Vicki are all characters introduced by Madeline. Born David Dietrich in 1927. When Peggy had her surgery in 1975, her family declared her dead. There are very few pictures of Peggy, her family destroyed them - but fortunately, a vast store of letters contributed to the archive by her friends paint a vivid picture of her life. Although this is Peggy's story, it is emblematic of the lives of many others. Peggy knew she was a girl from the age of six, and what's more, she knew she was a Lesbian. Her decision to have surgery and make a life in the same small Buffalo suburb where she grew up and raised her family ended tragically. Peggy was incredibly strong and determined; she would not be driven out. Portions of her letters are read by Camille, a transgendered woman who found hope in Peggy's story. "She was a warrior, a fighter, trying to live an authentic life." Camille transitioned in 2001 and has tried ever since to remain in Buffalo at her job in city government. It has not been easy and Camille has come to realize she is not Peggy, she is not willing to wait for acceptance she is leaving Buffalo her job, home and family for the west coast. "I want someone to grow old with. I'm 56. I want someone to hold me. I can't find that here." Tangara is a 92 year old drag queen and a Buffalo institution. He has left all of his material to the archive. Madeline and Vicki Vogue (a 70 year old drag queen) introduce us to Tangara. "Tangara was the first drag queen we knew of," Madeline tells us. "He offered Straight Buffalo a glimpse of what gay life had to offer." For Vicki and his two gay brothers, Tangara was an inspiration. "He wasn't a great dancer but who cares; he's up there in a dress, who could ask for anything more." He remembers working for Mae West and traveling the USA in a Gay Boy Review in the 1930's. He hopes some day that we won't have to be afraid any more. Vicki Vogue was married to protect him from ridicule. "I know she would have been happier married to a straight man," Danny tells us. "If I am honest with myself she was shortchanged, and I'm the guy that shortchanged her."Madeline poignantly summarizes both her personal goal and the film's goal when she says, "We are ephemeral. We will be gone. This is for the ages." Madeline is determined to see this archive installed in a library or university in Buffalo, but will the straight gate keepers validate her life work? For Madeline, a life long librarian and keeper of the past, much hangs on that decision.