Word Is Out

Word Is Out (1977) was directed by Nancy Adair, Andrew Brown, and Rob Epstein. This film is an outstanding documentary about the lives and experiences of LGBT people, who look back on their past and look ahead to their future. The directors chose to show us interviews with about two dozen "ordinary" people, all of whose lives were greatly affected by their sexual orientation.

The film was made less than ten years after the Stonewall Rebellion, and equal rights for the lesbian and gay community appeared then to be moving forward in a linear fashion. This belief in progress to come gave the film a hopeful quality. The movie also has a poignant quality, because so many of the people interviewed had suffered terrible discrimination, especially those who had been in the military.

Now, over 30 years later, we know that LGBT rights have moved ahead at a two-steps-forward-one-step-back pace, and almost all LGBT people are still facing discrimination, especially, of course, in the military.

Word is Out can stand on its own as an excellent documentary. If you care about the rights of LGBT people, it's a must-see film.

We saw the movie at the Dryden Theatre, as part of the splendid ImageOut: Rochester Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The festival had obtained a newly restored 35mm print. Word is Out will work well on DVD and, apparently, the DVD version of the restored film is now available. Be sure to find it and watch it--it's an excellent film.

Times have changed and movies like this are why. It's a very important movie historically rather than because it was particularly great. But it celebrates and humanizes people who weren't at that time and is a valuable time capsule. Would like to see some kind of update on what happened to those in this movie. I'm sure a few died tragically during the AIDS epidemic.

Far from a "clunker," "Word Is Out" is a beautifully edited collective portrait of a moment in gay and lesbian history in the US. The film captures the optimism of the late 1970s after the early headiness of the g/l movement and before the horrors of HIV/AIDS. Most documentaries focus on a small number of subjects, but "Word" manages to weave together the stories of 26 men and women of different ages and backgrounds, primarily from the SF Bay Area and the Northeast, but with some reference to the Southwest and the South. The effect is to demonstrate that no single narrative of g/l life is adequate.

Displaying humor, tact and candor, the film is a "must see" for younger g/l/b/t people for whom 1977 is ancient history. Rumor has it that the film will be released on DVD with updates on most of the participants this fall.

I remember when "Word Is Out" came out in 1978. Acquaintances kept stopping me on the street to ask if I'd seen 'the movie.' As if there were no other. As soon as I saw it, I started asking people the same question.

It wasn't until I saw this film that I realized my whole life I had been trying to relate to straight romances, conflicts, comedies, and life experiences in general on the screen. When the film was done I wanted to see it all over again—immediately—to memorize the people and their stories. Every one of them said something that spoke to me very directly and strongly. I cannot explain or express my feelings after I watched, for the first time in my life, gay people—honestly and beautifully—tell what it's like to live in this country. I finally knew I belonged to a culture. I didn't feel as though I had to hide. I was not sick. I was not alone.

My story is not an anomaly. It is impossible to count the number of lives this film has changed by publicizing positive images of gay Americans for the first time ever. For thousands of people—gay and straight—it broke down stereotypes. It makes gay people identifiable even for those buried in the heartland of homophobic America because it's really about the universality of love and discovering who we really are. Everyone should see this movie.

Clunky, earnest early document of the gay movement, pre-AIDS. A lot of unintentional humor--and a few scenes that, in retrospect, have an equally unintended horror. Briefly celebrated when it was released, the film seems to have vanished entirely.