Free Women’s History Month Films
Revry offers collection of queer movies all month long
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
In honor of Women’s History Month, the
queer women-led cinema platform Revry
is offering viewers a diverse slate of fi lms
with women serving as lead characters.
The streaming service curates free LGBTQ TV
shows, movies, news, series, and music.
Below we have a roundup of some of the fi lms
and shows out this month via Revry.
Out lesbian and biracial Youtube star Amber
Whittington is interviewing changemakers to help
the public understand the voting process. The series
explores why people are hesitant to vote while
encouraging others to head to the polls.
Cameron Esposito: Marriage Material
Queer comedian and actress Cameron Esposito
is letting fans in on everything from her views on
gun control to jokes about women’s locker rooms.
Seeking Dolly Parton
This romantic comedy has less to do with
the Queen of country music and dives more
➤ DEGNORE, from p.22
Convince Me
addition to his already impressive
collection of the genre. She bought
it as a gift and, with a bottle of
champagne in hand, headed over
to Wagstaff’s apartment. When she
arrived, Mapplethorpe was there
and she remembered it was his
birthday too and so pretended the
champagne was meant for him.
“Nobody believed that, but we
drank it and it was fi ne,” she recalled.
But Degnore could tell Mapplethorpe
was put off by what a
perfect gift she had found for Wagstaff.
“He was very protective of his
friendship with Sam, and with
Patti, too,” she said.
It was not long afterward that Mapplethorpe
tried to get even by challenging
her to join him at the Mineshaft,
the Far West Village BDSM den he
frequented. Degnore called his bluff,
though she admitted she wasn’t up
for staying there too long once “Robert
went off to do his thing.”
As Mapplethorpe spent more and
more time out late at night or out
of town, the romance with Wagstaff
sputtered, and, in Degnore’s
REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID
Comedian Margaret Cho is one of many queer women to watch
during Women’s History Month.
into a complicated relationship between a lesbian
couple and an ex-boyfriend who is a live-in
sperm donor.
Margaret Cho: Psycho
Out bisexual comedian Margaret Cho brings
viewers another laughter-fi lled comedy special
focused on her sexuality, women’s rights, and
account, the photographer tried to
make it up to him by “sending him
a fuck” — hair stylist Jim Nelson.
Much to Mapplethorpe’s chagrin,
Nelson proved to be more than just
a fuck — he stayed with Wagstaff.
“Robert didn’t like that,” Degnore
recalled.
Still, the chaps and whips remained
in Wagstaff’s closet.
In 1987, as Wagstaff was dying
of AIDS, he told Degnore she
would have to do something for
him when he succumbed but she
would fi nd out about that later.
When Wagstaff died, Nelson instructed
her to destroy a stash of
pictures that Mapplethorpe had
taken of Wagstaff. The photographer
himself soon phoned to make
sure she had gotten the message.
Degnore also helped Mapplethorpe
spirit a collection of fi ne silverware
out of Wagstaff’s sealed apartment.
(Mapplethorpe would come
to agreement with Wagstaff’s surviving
sister about the disposition
of his assets prior to his own death
from AIDS complications in 1989.)
Degnore made clear that the photos
were intimate and said some
included young men who shared
the same “gamine” features that
FILM
even more sensitive topics such as racism and
Boko Haram.
This fi lm takes a look at Mila Jam, a trans
New Yorker who rose to fame via YouTube. She
became a pop recording artist who went on tour
with Broadway’s “Rent” and appeared on TV
shows like “The Lilly Allen Show” on BBC.
Two transgender women in Los Angeles express
frustration about their love lives, but all
of that changes when they meet individuals
who give them some hope. Violet meets Allie, a
reporter, while Paige meets James. “Her Story”
provides a glimpse into the unique experiences
of queer women.
After two people meet at a festival, they forget
to exchange contact information. This fi lm follows
them as they search for one another — but
along the way, they navigate their careers and
society’s expectations of them as Black trans
women.
had originally attracted Wagstaff
to Mapplethorpe. Asked whether
the photos portrayed sex among
the men or if Mapplethorpe himself
was pictured, she would not elaborate.
Nor has she in a just-completed
memoir, “Me and the Man
Who Made Mapplethorpe,” that she
hopes to have published soon.
The support Degnore got from
Mapplethorpe in the wake of Wagstaff’s
death changed her relationship
with the photographer.
“I never called him Mr. Bitchy
again,” she said.
In discussing her memoir on
Medium.com, Degnore — who currently
teaches a course at FIT on the
psychology of how one’s perception
of their gender is affected by their
fashion choices — acknowledged her
anxiety that baring the intimacies
of her long friendship with Wagstaff
could in some ways be a betrayal.
Wagstaff’s involvement in the
BDSM world is known, she said,
but less so is his drug use. Her
memoir will also inevitably address
his prejudices — as well as his vulnerabilities.
In his younger days in
New York’s elite social circle, he was
often his mother’s escort — “It was
just something he did,” Degnore explained.
Mila Jam
Her Story
Missed Connections
Meanwhile, Wagstaff was
dealing with a stepfather who repeatedly
warned him, “Don’t bring
your sissy friends around here.”
Degnore also admitted to her
own “trepidation” at putting herself
in the limelight, but said Wagstaff’s
life deserves greater attention.
“Certainly he’s never gotten the
publicity that Robert and Patti have
gotten,” she said. “Sam was a maker.
He made Robert — intimately — and
he made him as an artist. It’s important
to remember what we lost.”
The timing for that story may
just be right given the ongoing interest
in Mapplethorpe’s own legacy.
On April 2, Samuel Goldwyn
Films will release the director’s
cut of Ondi Timoner’s 2018 “Mapplethorpe,”
in which Matt Smith
(the young Prince Philip in the
fi rst two seasons of “The Crown”)
plays the photographer and John
Benjamin Hickey (Tony winner for
the 2011 revival of Larry Kramer’s
“The Normal Heart”) is Wagstaff.
More signifi cantly, this coming
November 4 will mark the 100th
anniversary of Sam Wagstaff’s
birth. For Degnore, surely a century
is time enough to have the legacy
of “the great man” aired in full.
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/Medium.com
/GayCityNews.com
