Pride Month 2024: Documentaries to watch on KERA TV

A man with a mustache, red shirt, and white cowboy hat smiles and holds a sign at a demonstration in D.C. in 1979. — ^{A still from the 2000 KERA production Finding Our Voice: The History of Dallas’ LGBTQ+ Community.}

June is Pride Month 2024! Celebrate LGBTQIA+ contributions, history and friendships with these 7 documentaries airing on KERA TV. (Feel like dancing instead? Jump to the end for a Pride Power playlist.)

🏳️‍🌈 Some of the documentaries below can be streamed in full on our PBS video website or on the PBS app. Some are free to watch and others are available using the Passport member benefit.

Tuesday, June 18 & 25 at 8 p.m.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution

From the basement bars of ’70s New York to the peak of the global charts, this is the story of disco. Revelling in iconic tracks and remarkable footage, enjoy this powerful, revisionist history of the disco age.

Friday, June 21 at 10 p.m.

Finding Our Voice: The History of Dallas’ LGBTQ+ Community | KERA

This 2000 KERA documentary explores the memories and experiences of those who helped develop a thriving gay and lesbian community in the heart of the Bible Belt – Dallas, Texas. This 2023 update includes a special with KERA News 90.1 FM’s Justin Martin and activists discussing what’s changed over the last two decades since the film first aired.

Monday, June 24 at 10:30 p.m.

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket | American Masters

Using rarely-seen archival footage from nine different countries, this film melds intimate interviews and eloquent public speeches with cinéma vérité glimpses of Baldwin and original scenes from his extraordinary funeral service in December 1987.

Tuesday, June 25 at 10 p.m.

Prideland

Follow queer actor Dyllón Burnside on a journey to discover how LGBTQ Americans are finding ways to live authentically and with pride in the modern South. You can stream extra clips and profiles here at KERA Video.

Wednesday, June 26 at 10 p.m.

Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll | American Masters

Experience the meteoric rise and enduring legacy of Little Richard. This portrait of the king and queen explores his far-reaching influence as well as his advocacy for the rights of Black artists in the music industry.

Thursday, June 27 at 10:15 p.m.

Casa Susanna | American Experience

In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves.

Friday, June 28 at 10 p.m.

Stonewall Uprising | American Experience

On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a Greenwich Village Mafia-run gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. For the first time, patrons stood up against the authorities, setting off a three-day riot that launched the modern American Gay Rights Movement.

🏳️‍🌈 Watch anytime!

Check out PBS’s Pride Month collection of videos, like these:

Why Gender Neutral Pronouns Are Nothing New | Above the Noise

When it comes to pronouns to identify a person, we get into identity and that’s where things get complex – and, often political. Why do they matter?

How Is the Gay Rodeo Different? | Subcultured

Host Josef Lorenzo talks to Cowboy Frank about the origins of the gay rodeo and how it was formed out of necessity. Today the gay rodeo’s challenge is bringing young folks in.

If Cities Could Dance: LGBTQ+ Choreographer Amit Patel

Dancer Amit Patel – who teaches “Bollywood Heels,” a mix of Kathak gestures and jazz performed in 5-inch heels – is reinventing Bollywood dance and making space for queer expression in the South Asian community.

🏳️‍🌈 Listen!

Check out this playlist of songs picked by staff at our sister station KXT: