It’s Pride Month and here at Picture Motion we are joyfully celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and the people who have paved the way, including Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera - two leaders of the gay rights movement and participants in the Stonewall Riots.

We also mourn the atrocities happening across the globe and here in the U.S. as humans are being targeted, tortured, convicted, and killed for their gender identity and sexual orientation. Queer presenting people are targeted daily with verbal and physical assaults. Last year, at least 26 trans people in the U.S. were killed from fatal violence; they were predominantly people of color.

Here are some ways to show solidarity this month:

1. Continue fighting for equal rights and policies that will protect LGBTQ+ people. Support the Equality Act by calling or writing to your senator and signing the petition urging senators to vote in support of passing the Equality Act.
2. Donate to organizations such as the Equality Federation, GLSEN, National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network, Transgender Law Center, Trevor Project, GLADD, and True Colors United.
3. Make your workplace more inclusive by using this guide to address the climate for LGBTQ+ workers nationwide. Recommendations include spotting unconscious bias, communicating inclusion values, addressing knowledge gaps in the evolving vocabulary of LGBTQ+ inclusion, and utilizing partners to bolster comfort and respect.
4. Use inclusive language in everyday conversations and avoid the use of gendered language or the use of outdated and potentially offensive terms and/or slogans in reference to gender roles and trans identity.

Best,
Team PicMo

---

5B Sheds Light On The 1st AIDS Ward Unit in the U.S

5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes, nurses and caregivers who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect, and care for the patients of the first AIDS ward unit in the United States, Ward 5B in San Francisco. The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of the caregivers worthy of renewed recognition. Picture Motion is working alongside the 5B team to highlight the incredible work of those healthcare professionals, while ensuring that we encourage leaders, activists, and audiences across the country to continue the conversation around HIV/AIDS and the role that stigma played in this epidemic. As part of this campaign, we are proud to partner with and support incredible organizations like Human Rights Watch, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, and Boston Pride who are united in the goal.

---

StartOut’s Second Congressional LGBTQ Innovation Summit

Our VP of Impact Distribution, Ellis Watamanuk attended StartOut’s Second Congressional LGBTQ Innovation Summit, a convening of queer leaders, entrepreneurs, and activists with the mission to increase our visibility in the workplace. One word seemed to define the Summit: intersectionality. Pride Month can be a celebration, a celebration of those who came before us and paved the road to the rights that we have today, but we must remind ourselves of the necessity of inclusion and intersectionality. These rights are not just for the white, or the wealthy, or the cis. Nicole Cozier, the Human Rights Campaign’s Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion said it best during her panel: “Center your voice. Educate yourself. And always ask who is not in the room.” Read more of Ellis’s takeaways on our blog.

• Watch GHOST FLEET and text GHOST to 52886 to take action against the inhumanity of slavery at sea.
• Back by popular demand: our screening tour of RIGGED: The Voter Suppression Playbook has been extended! Sign up to bring the film to your community for free.
• Host a screening of PARIS TO PITTSBURGH and inspire your community to take action against climate change. Sign up here!

• 4,370 total screenings of SCIENCE FAIR in 2,244 cities
• 115 total screenings of ROLL RED ROLL
• 105 total screenings of RIGGED
• 1,079 screenings of PARIS To PITTSBURGH across all 50 states.
• 46 digital partners engaged for GHOST FLEET, reaching a total social media audience of 5,220,384+

Alfonso Cuaron Talks Social Impact of 'Roma' in Mexico, U.S. | The Hollywood Reporter

A Short History of Trans People’s Long Fight For Equality | TED

Breaking through, pt. 2: Bing Liu on “Minding the Gap” | RealScreen

Hollywood Is Quietly Using AI To Help Decide Which Movies To Make | The Verge

Natural History Docs Aim to Fix "Climate Crisis," Raise Awareness of Endangered Planet | The Hollywood Reporter

Netflix Launches New LBGTQ+ Campaign for Pride Month, ‘Prism’ | Observer

Psychiatry, Racism, and the Birth of ‘Sesame Street’ | UnDark

Two Transgender Actvists Are Getting A Monument In New York | New York Times