In honor of Pride Month, join LPAC for a free screening of Julio of Jackson Heights. After the film, there will be a talkback with filmmaker Richard Shpuntoff and Queens Pride founder/former Council Member Danny Dromm.
About the film:
On July 2, 1990, Julio Rivera was brutally beaten to death in the P.S. 69 schoolyard in Jackson Heights by three young men looking to “clean up” their neighborhood by “stretching out a gay guy”. The initial reaction to the murder was typical of murders of gay men in Jackson Heights: no coverage by the media, a low priority investigation from the police, and no protest from the community at large.
This time though, things would be different. A handful of Julio’s friends formed a coalition with members of Julio’s family and seasoned LGBTQ activists from groups like Queer Nation, ActUp! and the New York City Anti-Violence Project, and committed to changing “business as usual”.
Julio of Jackson Heights tells the story of the political awakening of New York’s largest and, up to that moment, most closeted LGBTQ community.
