Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride is a 2009 award-winning documentary directed by Bob Christie, where he examines relevance of Gay Pride celebrations internationally, against the backdrop of opposition to such events in a number of countries. The documentary tries to portray Gay Pride as more than just a parade, but rather an important step on the road to equality and fight against homophobia and discrimination. It was produced with Transmission in association with Border2Border Entertainment and Nomadic Pictures.

Synopsis
Over the course of a year, film follows Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen to various international Pride events, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Sri Lanka and others where there is great opposition to pride parades. In North America, Pride is complicated by commercialization and a sense that the festivals are turning away from their political roots toward tourism, party promotion and entertainment. Christie documents the ways larger, more mainstream Pride events have supported the global Pride movement and how human rights components are being added to more established events. In the New York sequence, leaders organize an alternative Pride parade, the Drag March, set up to protest the corporatization of New York Pride. A parade in São Paulo, the world's largest Pride festival, itself includes a completely empty float, meant to symbolize all those lost to HIV and to anti-gay violence.