Queerguru’s Andrew Hebden reviews “Freedom: 50 years of Pride’

There couldn’t be better timing for this documentary. Not because it’s being released over Pride weekend in London but because it reminds everyone, as Channel 4 TV  faces privatization, that powerful, passionate work is driven by purpose, not profit. If that sounds a bit whole grain for your gluten-free palate don’t worry, it’s also full of laughter, tear-filled side-eyeing and shameless outfits.

The 50 years are tackled in a broadly chronological order but with lots of rich dives into the big issues that transcend history, anchored in the faces and stories of those who lived them. Notably, it individually respects all the letters of the UK LGBTQ+ spectrum whilst still weaving the singular thread that nobody is equal until everybody is equal. The politics is real, and there is a heartfelt statement that merely partying for Pride is premature until our whole alphabet has equal reason to celebrate.

Starting with the first London Pride, a few years after the Stonewall riots, it explores the things that brought the community together as one and the ways their light was splintered into the rainbow. While cis white gay men were focused on achieving an equal age of consent at the initial London Pride Marches, Lesbian Strength grew into an event about visibility, female empowerment, and family status. The AIDS crisis and Section 28, the law that stopped positive discussion about homosexuality within school environments, brought people back into a shared sense of urgency for joint political action. Over time Queer People of Colour mobilized to tackle issues of race and create the space for Black Pride. In the UK QPOC reenergized the movement as a counterpoint to big brands diluting Pride into a business rather than a progressive political project.  And, throughout, the constant battle to overturn the lie that trans people are a danger to society, while actually being the people who are most in danger from society.

In this record of the battle for Pride one weapon is shown to work above all others. Humour. The kind of humor that defies ridicule, belittlement, and shame.  At the Lesbian Strength marches, the women serenaded the policemen with ‘She will be cumming with a woman when she cums’. When one drag queen was arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail for assault because his seven-foot wide wig entangled a policeman he asked for a hairdresser rather than a lawyer. Despite the many dark times in this documentary, and the inevitable tears of both regret and nostalgia, it proudly proclaims LGBTQ+ activists are better than brave, they are brilliant.