Vito Russo (July 11, 1946 – November 7, 1990) was an American

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book ''

The Celluloid Closet ''The Celluloid Closet'' is a 1995 American documentary film directed and written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. The film is based on Vito Russo's 1981 book ''The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies'', and on lecture and film clip ...

'' (1981, revised edition 1987), described in ''The New York Times'' as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985 he co-founded the

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals i ...

, a media watchdog organization that strives to end

anti-LGBT rhetoric Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from the ...

, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.

Life and work

Vito Russo was born 1946 in East Harlem, Manhattan. Growing up Russo was disturbed by the stereotypical portrayals of gay people in media. After witnessing the

Stonewall riot The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the LGBT community#Terminology, gay community in response to a police raid that began in t ...

in 1969 and hearing about another raid the following year, Russo became avidly involved in the emerging

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 s ...

. Russo obtained his undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and earned his Master's in film at New York University. While earning his Master's, Russo also worked with the film departments at a Gay Community Center and New York's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

. It was his interaction with these communities that led to the synthesis of his politics and works. Russo developed his material following screenings of

camp Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

films shown as fundraisers for the

. He traveled throughout the country from 1972 to 1982, delivering ''The Celluloid Closet'' as a live lecture presentation with film clips at colleges, universities, and small cinemas such as the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco and the Hirschfeld Biograph in Dublin. In both the book and in the lecture/film clip presentation, he related the history of gay and lesbian moments – and the treatment of gay and lesbian characters – in American and foreign films of the past. In 1983, Russo wrote, produced, and hosted a series focusing on the gay community called ''Our Time'' for

WNYC-TV WPXN-TV (channel 31) is a television station in New York City, airing programming from the Ion Television network. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on Seventh Avenue in ...

public television, that was co-hosted by Marcia Pally. This series featured the nation's first

GLBT ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...

hard news and documentary video segment produced and directed by social behaviorist D. S. Vanderbilt. Russo's concern over how LGBT people were presented in the popular media led him to co-found the

(GLAAD), a watchdog group that monitors LGBT representation in the mainstream media and presents the annual

GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

. The Vito Russo Award is named in his memory and is presented to an openly gay or lesbian member of the media community for their outstanding contribution in combating homophobia. Russo was also actively involved in the

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

direct action group

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

. Russo appeared in the 1989 documentary '' Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt'' as a "storyteller," relating the life and death of his lover Jeffrey Sevcik. The film won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

at the

62nd Academy Awards The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1989 and took place on March 26, 1990, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p. ...

. In 1990, Vito Russo spent a year in California at the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching a class, also titled "The Celluloid Closet". He enjoyed being a professor, spending lecture breaks smoking and joking with his students. Also in 1990,

Merrill College Merrill College is a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The theme of the college, and the name of its freshman core course, is "cultural identities and global consciousness." Location Merrill is located at the far n ...

at UC Santa Cruz established Vito Russo House to promote Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender awareness and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for queer, straight-supportive and all students who value and appreciate diversity. The house tailors its programming to meet the needs of LGBT students and offers all an opportunity to build understanding and tolerance.

Death and legacy

Russo was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, and died of AIDS-related complications in 1990. His work was posthumously brought to television in the 1996 documentary film ''

'', co-executive produced and narrated by

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the vari ...

. His memorial was held at a Congregational Church. He appeared in the film ''Voices from the Front'', a feature-length documentary in 1991 on AIDS activism in America created by the video collective Testing the Limits. After his death there was a memorial in Santa Cruz put on by students and colleagues. There were testimonials about how inspirational he had been and en masse, the group sang " Over the Rainbow" in his memory. Russo's papers are held by the New York Public Library. A family-approved biography of Russo's life, written by

NYIT The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island, and one in Manhattan. Additionally, it has a cybersecur ...

professor Michael Schiavi, titled ''Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo'' was published by the University of Wisconsin Press in April 2011. A two-volume Vito Russo reader was published in July 2012 by White Crane Books titled ''Out Spoken: The Vito Russo Reader - Reel One'' and ''Out Spoken: The Vito Russo Reader - Reel Two.'' Reel One presents his film writings; Reel Two collects his political/social commentaries. The documentary film ''

Vito Vito is an Italian name that is derived from the Latin word "''vita''", meaning "life". It is a modern form of the Latin name Vitus, meaning "life-giver," as in San Vito or Saint Vitus, the patron saint of dogs and a heroic figure in southern ...

'', had its festival premiere within the 2011

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it is ...

went on to screen at the

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...

, and had its television premiere on HBO on June 23, 2012. It is directed by

Jeffrey Schwarz Jeffrey Schwarz is an American Emmy Awards, Emmy Award-winning film producer, director, and editor. He is known for an extensive body of documentary work including ''Boulevard! A Hollywood Story'', ''The Fabulous Allan Carr'', ''Tab Hunter Confi ...

of the Los Angeles production company Automat Pictures. In 2013, GLAAD named the "

Vito Russo test The Bechdel test ( ), also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, is a test to measure the representation of women in film and other fiction. The test asks whether a work features at least two female characters who have a conversation about somethin ...

" after him, a set of criteria intended to analyze the representation of LGBT characters in films. In 2016, Russo was inducted into the

Legacy Walk The Legacy Walk is an outdoor public display on North Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois, United States, which celebrates LGBT contributions to world history and culture. According to its website, it is "the world's only outdoor museum walk and y ...

. From 1969 until his death, he lived at 401 West 24th Street in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northern b ...

. In June 2019, Russo was one of the inaugural 50 American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the

National LGBTQ Wall of Honor The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is an American memorial wall in New York City dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes." The wall is located inside of the Stonewall Inn and is a part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U. ...

within the

Stonewall National Monument Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including ...

(SNM) in New York City’s

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 ...

. The SNM is the first

U.S. national monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments prot ...

dedicated to

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, and the wall’s unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of 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 ...

. Season 1, episode 10 of the podcast ''

Making Gay History ''Making Gay History'' is an oral history podcast on the subject of LGBT history, featuring trailblazers, activists, and allies. Most episodes draw on the three-decade-old audio archive of rare interviews that the podcast's founder and host Eric ...

'' is about him.

References

UCSC Teaching & Memorial

External links

"Vito" Facebook Page

"Vito" Official Website
* *
Finding Aid: Vito Russo papers, 1969–1990, New York Public Library.

GAZE TV Interview October 1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Vito 1946 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) Activists from New York (state) American film historians American male non-fiction writers American people of Italian descent Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni Gay men HIV/AIDS activists Historians from New York (state) LGBT rights activists from the United States American LGBT writers People from Chelsea, Manhattan People from East Harlem Stonewall Book Award winners Tisch School of the Arts alumni University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Writers from Manhattan