''Equal'' is an American docuseries produced by

Scout Productions Scout Productions is a film and television production company owned by Michael Williams and David Collins. David Collins created the groundbreaking television series '' Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'', which revolutionized reality television and ...

Berlanti Productions Berlanti Productions is an American film and television production company founded by screenwriter, producer and filmmaker Greg Berlanti and producer Mickey Liddell. History The company was founded in 2000 as Berlanti-Liddell Productions by ...

, Raintree Ventures,

That's Wonderful Productions That's may refer to: * ''"That's"'', a brand name used on recordable media by Taiyo Yuden and its subsidiary ''That's Fukushima Co., Ltd.'' * Several English-language listings magazines in the People's Republic of China **''That's Beijing'' **''Tha ...

, and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. The four-part series chronicles landmark events and leaders in LGBTQ history, and consists of a mixture of archival footage and scripted reenactments. ''Equal'' stars several actors including

Samira Wiley Samira Denise Wiley (born April 15, 1987) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series '' Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian dr ...

Jamie Clayton Jamie Clayton (born on January 15, 1978) is an American actress and model. Clayton is best known for starring as Nomi Marks in the Netflix original series ''Sense8'', Sasha Booker in the third season of '' Designated Survivor'' and Tess Van De B ...

, and

Anthony Rapp Anthony Deane Rapp (born October 26, 1971) is an American actor and singer who originated the role of Mark Cohen in the Broadway production of ''Rent''. Following his original performance of the role in 1996, Rapp reprised it in the film version ...

. The series premiered on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

on October 22, 2020.

Plot

Episode 1

This episode explores the rise of the

Mattachine Society The Mattachine Society (), founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, perhaps preceded only by Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collection ...

and the

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to lesb ...

. Dale Jennings and

Harry Hay Henry "Harry" Hay Jr. (April 7, 1912 – October 24, 2002) was an American gay rights activist, communist, and labor advocate. He was a co-founder of the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights group in the United States, as well as ...

were both married to women before they founded the Mattachine Society. Dale has twice married women.

Kinsey Reports The Kinsey Reports are two scholarly books on human sexual behavior, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'' (1948) and ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' (1953), written by Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, Clyde Martin, and (for ''Sexual Behavi ...

on male sex is first published in 1948. Del Martin was married and divorced from a man. In the 1950s, gay people were prohibited from working for the US government because of Executive Order 10450; this loss of employment became known as the

Lavender scare The "lavender scare" was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign wh ...

. ONE magazine was first published in 1953. Mattachine Society members sought to outlaw

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent provo ...

The Ladder (magazine) ''The Ladder'' was the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the United States. It was published monthly from 1956 to 1970, and once every other month in 1971 and 1972. It was the primary publication and method of communication for ...

was first published in 1956. In the 1950s, Ernestine Eckstein says, "The negro cause is widely accepted. The homosexual cause is not yet accepted." Gays and lesbians were seen as "immoral" and "sick." The Council on Religion and the Homosexual was set up in the 1960s to win religious support for the civil rights of gay people; Evander Smith and

Herb Donaldson (lawyer) Herbert Donaldson (February 12, 1927 – December 5, 2008) was an openly gay San Francisco lawyer and judge who gained national attention for his efforts to legally block San Francisco police from harassing attendees of a fund-raising ball for the ...

were its leaders.

Episode 2

This episode focuses on the 20th-century transgender movement, including the 1966 Compton Cafeteria riots in

Tenderloin, San Francisco The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encom ...

. Even earlier, masquerade laws were used to arrest trans men and women. The FBI goes after

Lucy Hicks Anderson Lucy Hicks Anderson (; 1886–1954) was an American socialite and chef, best known for her time in Oxnard, California, from 1920 to 1946. Assigned male at birth, she was adamant from an early age that she was a girl. Her parents, based on advice ...

because she was receiving the extra pay allotment as the married wife of her husband Reuben Anderson. She faced a "federal fraud case" since the authorities didn't accept her female gender.

Episode 3

This episode highlights contributions from the Black community to the growing LGBTQ civil rights movement.

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

praises

Lorraine Hansberry Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', highlig ...

's ''

A Raisin in the Sun ''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chi ...

'' on his television show. Hansberry and her husband become active in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

José Sarria José Julio Sarria (December 13, 1922 – August 19, 2013), also known as The Grand Mere, Absolute Empress I de San Francisco, and the Widow Norton, was an American political activist from San Francisco, California, who in 1961 became the fir ...

performed at the

Black Cat Bar The Black Cat Bar or Black Cat Café was a bar in San Francisco, California. It originally opened in 1906 and closed in 1921. The Black Cat re-opened in 1933 and operated for another 30 years. During its second run of operation, it was a hangout ...

in San Francisco, California. In 1961, Sarria becomes the first gay person to run for

public office Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

. In Los Angeles, police arrest hundreds of gay people at the

Black Cat Tavern The Black Cat Tavern is an LGBT historic site located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1967, it was the site of one of the first demonstrations in the United States protesting police brutality against LGBT people, pre ...

in 1967.

Episode 4

This episode tackles the

Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

and the beginning of the Pride movement."

Craig Rodwell Craig L. Rodwell (October 31, 1940 – June 18, 1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967, the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors, and as the prime mover ...

does janitorial work on

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long ...

. Later, he opens up a book shop on

Mercer Street (Manhattan) Mercer Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs north to south through Greenwich Village and SoHo neighborhoods, from East 8th Street past West Houston Street to Canal Street. The street was previously called Firs ...

Marsha P. Johnson Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) also known as Malcolm Michaels Jr., was an American gay liberation''I've been involved in gay liberation ever since it first started in 1969'', 15:20 into the interview, Johnson is quoted as ...

became known as "the mayor of

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

" in the 1960s. Billy Porter says that the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

opened up the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the s ...

; in the 1960s, it was illegal to serve liquor to gay and trans people in public bars in New York City. The

Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada. The GLF provided a ...

(GLF) is founded in June 1969 after the Stonewall Riots. While the Gay Liberation Front sought to form coalition with racial and feminist groups, the

Gay Activists Alliance The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance ...

(GAA) focused more on gay rights. Gay activists in 1969 sought end of police arrests for same-sex

public displays of affection Public displays of affection (PDA) are acts of physical intimacy in the view of others. What is an acceptable display of affection varies with respect to culture and context. Some organizations have rules limiting or prohibiting public display ...

(PDA). They also clamored for end to firings and employment reprisals for being gay. In 1973,

Sylvia Rivera Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag q ...

gives a speech saying, "I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation."

Cast and characters

* Billy Porter as narrator Episode 1 *

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginni ...

as Dale Jennings *

* Shannon Purser as

Del Martin Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists. Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...

Heather Matarazzo Heather Christina Marie Matarazzo (born November 10, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was Dawn Wiener in the film '' Welcome to the Dollhouse'' (1995). She played Lilly in ''The Princess Diaries'' (2001) and '' The Princess Di ...

as Phyllis Lyon *

Sara Gilbert Sara Gilbert (born Sara Rebecca Abeles; January 29, 1975) is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner on the ABC sitcom '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and ...

as J.M. from Cleveland *

Anne Ramsay Anne Elizabeth Ramsay is an American actress best known for her role as Lisa Stemple on ''Mad About You'', for which she shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Ensemble in a Comedy series. Early life Ramsay was raised in La H ...

as The FBI Agent *

Hal Call Harold Leland "Hal" Call (September 1917–December 18, 2000) was an American businessperson, LGBT rights activist, and U.S. Army veteran. He served as president of the Mattachine Society and in the 1950s, was one of the first gay activists to ...

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was a prominent American activist for LGBT equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladd ...

* Ernestine Eckstein * Frank Kameny Episode 2 *

Alexandra Grey Alexandra Grey (born January 4, 1991), also known by her stage name Alexa Grey is an American actress, singer, songwriter and producer. She is best known for her roles as Melody Barnes on the Fox music drama series ''Empire'' (2015–2020), E ...

Theo Germaine Theo Germaine is an American actor, best known for playing James Sullivan on the Netflix television series ''The Politician''. Personal life Germaine is originally from Illinois; they worked at a coffee shop in Chicago before temporarily reloca ...

as Jack StarrHere's What We Know About the LGBTQ+ Figure Jack Starr Featured on Equal
/ref> *

Christine Jorgensen Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was an American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. She had a career as a successful actress, singer and rec ...

Isis King Isis King (born October 1, 1985) is an American model, actress, and fashion designer. Most widely known for her role on both the eleventh cycle and the seventeenth cycle of the reality television show ''America's Next Top Model'', she was the ...

as Alexis Episode 3 *

Jai Rodriguez Jai Rodriguez is an American actor and musician best known as the culture guide on the Bravo network's Emmy-winning American reality television program ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He has also co-authored a book with the other ''Queer ...

Keiynan Lonsdale Keiynan Lonsdale (; born 19 December 1991) is an Australian actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. He is known for roles such as Oliver Lloyd in the ABC series ''Dance Academy'' (2012–2013), Wally West/Kid Flash in the CW series ''The Flash'' ...

Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin (; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, in 19 ...

Episode 4 * Hailie Sahar as

Scott Turner Schofield Scott Turner Schofield is an American actor, writer, producer, and speaker. He is a transgender activist, and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. He was the first out transgender actor in Daytime television, and the first out trans man to earn a ...

* Cole Doman as

Mark Segal Mark Allan Segal (born 1951), is a social activist and author. He participated in the Stonewall riots and was one of the original founders of the Gay Liberation Front where he created its Gay Youth program. He was the founder and former presiden ...

Elizabeth Ludlow Elizabeth Faith Ludlow is an American actress known for her portrayal of Arat in the AMC postapocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2018); she is also known for her role as Mona in the USA Network TV series '' Satis ...

Stormé DeLarverie Stormé DeLarverie (December 24, 1920 – May 24, 2014) was an American woman known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to Stormé and many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall uprising, spurring the cro ...

Gale Harold Gale Morgan Harold III (born July 10, 1969) is an American actor, known for his leading and recurring roles on '' Queer as Folk'', '' Deadwood'', ''Desperate Housewives'', ''Grey's Anatomy'', ''The Secret Circle'' and '' Defiance''. He also starre ...

as Howard Smith *

Sam Pancake Sam Pancake (born May 10, 1964) is an American actor, improviser, writer, and comedian. He began his career with small roles in TV and film, such as ''Wings'' in 1990 and '' Pizza Man'' in 1991. Early life Sam Pancake was raised in Romney, Wes ...

Dick Leitsch Richard Joseph Leitsch (May 11, 1935 – June 22, 2018), also known as Richard Valentine Leitsch and more commonly Dick Leitsch, was an American LGBT rights activist. He was president of gay rights group the Mattachine Society in the 1960s. He co ...

Martha Shelley Martha Shelley (born December 27, 1943) is an American activist, writer, and poet best known for her involvement in lesbian feminist activism. Life and early work Martha Altman was born on December 27, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of ...

Production

Development

On October 16, 2019 it was announced that

had commissioned an LGBTQ+ historical docuseries consisting of four hour-long episodes from Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. It is the first production from the company's documentary series unit. The show's executive producers are

David Collins David Collins may refer to: Persons * David Collins (Hampshire cricketer), 18th-century cricketer * David Collins (New Zealand cricketer) (1887–1967) * David Collins (Scottish footballer) (1912–?) * David Collins (Australian footballer) ( ...

, Michael Williams, Rob Eric, and Joel Chiodi (

);

Greg Berlanti Gregory Berlanti (born May 24, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer and director of film and television. He is known for his work on the television series ''Dawson's Creek'', '' Brothers & Sisters'', ''Everwood'', '' Political Animals'', ...

and Sarah Schechter (

);

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead A ...

and Todd Spiewak (That's Wonderful Productions);

Jon Jashni Jon Jashni is an American media investor and advisor. Work In 1999, Jashni and Kevin Burns formed Synthesis Entertainment, which develops and produces content based on properties of the Irwin Allen estate such as ''Poseidon'', ''Voyage to the ...

(Raintree Ventures); and

Mike Darnell Michael H. Darnell (born 1962) is an American television executive and former child actor. He is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as president of alterna ...

and Brooke Karzen (Warner Horizon Unscripted Television). Diane Becker and Melanie Miller are also producers. The series premiered on October 22, 2020, in observance of

LGBT History Month LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the List of LGBT rights by region, gay rights and related civil rights movements. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high- ...

Crew

''Equal'''s showrunner is Stephen Kijak, who also directs episodes one, three and four. Kimberly Reed directs episode two.

Casting

On August 25, 2020 the casting of Samira Wiley, Cheyenne Jackson, Anthony Rapp, Sara Gilbert, Alexandra Grey, Shannon Purser, Heather Matarazzo, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, and Gale Harold was announced.

Reception

The show received positive critical reception. It holds a 83% on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Inkoo Kang wrote for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', "In celebrating a movement whose foremothers and forefathers’ names have yet to enter the common lexicon, ''Equal'' is a valuable if glossy resource."

References

External links

* * {{HBO Max HBO Max original programming Television series by Warner Horizon Television 2020 American television series debuts 2020s American documentary television series 2020s American LGBT-related television series Transgender-related television shows