GAYS AGAINST GUNS

Ricardo was paying for his drink when he heard the shots. One of the worst mass shootings in American history with 49 LGBTQ+ people mowed down on the dancefloor. Pulse, Orlando, 2016.

Pulse sent shockwaves around the globe, and triggered the birth of a new group - Gays Against Guns.

In New York, veteran activists from ACT UP and Marriage Equality come together to stop this happening to anyone else. In a country with more guns than people, where school children do lockdown drills, and over 40,000 people die from guns each year, this is a mammoth task.

But Gays Against Guns brings something new to the gun violence prevention movement. Fearlessness, angry determination, and a creativity not yet seen in this fight. We follow activist royalty Cathy, central to bringing gay mariage to the U.S., and Kevin, an AIDS survivor and true visionary, and John, a gay person of colour who is also a schoolteacher… and drag queen.

And we meet survivors. Their deeply moving stories are the heart of this film. Kit is mother to Bailey, a beautiful Black transgender girl gunned down at just 17. Kit describes the day her daughter was killed, her grieving, and how connecting with Gays Against Guns gave her hope in her darkest hour. Antonius is an artist who barely survived being shot. His story, and that of the man who saved him, is heartbreaking, but his transformative journey starts when he joins Gays Against Guns.

This gripping and insightful documentary follows the survivors and the activists over five years, a time of huge social upheaval in America - Trump, the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, the Capitol riots.

Amidst this upheaval, can “the gays” really take on the might of the American gun lobby? Well, they are certainly going to try.

In production with support from Screen Ireland.