The recent drama “Stonewall,” focuses on the 1969 Stonewall riots that kicked off the LGBTQ rights movement but strays from the historical facts that give the event significance.

The film, which hit theaters last Friday, diverts attention from the historically black, Latina and transgender leaders of the Stonewall riots. This is because the version of events revolves around Danny Winters, a fictional, cisgender, white gay teenager who runs away from his Midwest home to join the queer community of New York City.

In opting to maintain this gay archetype with a fictional character, the writers of “Stonewall” further silenced the already unheard voices of the LGBTQ community — whereas sticking to the facts could have challenged all of those institutions of privilege.

When a Hollywood film or TV show calls for a token queer character, it’s usually a white, cisgender, gay male. Because mainstream media perpetuates this stereotype, people who fit this description are considered the sole face of the LGBTQ community.

The fact that “Stonewall” negates the contributions of transgender women of color, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, is ironic. Stonewall Inn was all about rejecting systems of entitlement. The Greenwich Village bar was a haven for members of the LGBTQ community who felt sidelined, including transgender people, drag performers, sex workers and homeless, queer youth.

As double minorities, queer people of color are often tasked with finding the balance between cultural obligation and queer expression. As fearless trans women of color, Johnson and Rivera are icons in the queer black and Latina communities and their stories should have been told truthfully.

The film’s failure to represent the trans community has tangible consequences. This exclusion contributes to a culture in which violence against trans people is normalized. Trans women of color have been dying at disproportionate rates. At least 17 trans women have been killed this year with the deaths of India Clarke and Amber Monroe gaining the most national attention.

Kylar Broadus, founder of Trans People of Color Coalition, said that the media has a duty to fairly portray all members of the LGBTQ movement.

When asked about transgender erasure in “Stonewall,” Broadus said in an email, “I think that the narrative has to be expanded to be as fair, true and accurate as possible about all of our history, but especially the Stonewall riots. If we aren’t including everyone in history, then how can we say that we’re inclusive as a movement? Our history should be reflective of everyone’s work, not edited to only glorify a few.”

In response to the film’s whitewashing and transgender erasure, The Gay-Straight Alliance Network started a petition to boycott the film, which has since garnered over 24,600 signatures. Likewise, Twitter users have voiced their disdain with #NotMyStonewall, expressing anger and sadness that a crucial part of trans and ultimately LGBTQ history has been neglected in a film supposedly about LGBTQ history.

Making matters worse, Roland Emmerich, the director of “Stonewall,” has largely failed when it comes taking constructive criticism. Not only has he dismissed assertions of ciswashing and whitewashing, but he has also adamantly defended his version of events.

In a recent Buzzfeed feature story, Emmerich said that his research showed trans women of color to be a minority in the Stonewall riots. To add further insult to injury, Emmerich concluded by expressing his belief that directors ought to put themselves in their films.

As is anyone who tackles a historical event or bygone era, Emmerich is entitled to creative license. But by choosing to project himself through the character of Danny Winters, Emmerich eclipsed the actual trans women who led the Stonewall riots.

If the objective of “Stonewall” had been to celebrate the role of trans women of color in the LGBTQ movement, the film would have been an empowering work of art for the trans community, rather than a box office joke.

Caroline Colvin is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at ccolvin@syr.edu and followed on Twitter at @fkacaro.

Published on October 1, 2015 at 12:09 am