Mattachine and “The Deviant’s War” |

“Fighting Back” video featuring Dr. Eric Cervini Released by Mattachine

(May 20, 2020) Dr. Eric Cervini and his forthcoming history of the early gay rights movement “The Deviant’s War, the Homosexual versus the United States of America” is featured in a new video—“Fighting Back” —produced by the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.

“The Deviant’s War” (2020, Farrar, Straus and Giroux) tells the forgotten, often secret or erased, history of the fight for LGBTQ civil equality that began a generation before the Stonewall Riots, led by Dr. Franklin E. Kameny.

“Kameny”, says Cervini in the fast-paced video was “the grandfather of the gay rights movement”. This history is not just about Kameny, however. “It is about how he and others invented what we now know as PRIDE”, according to Cervini in the video. “Above all”, Cervini concludes, “The Deviant’s War is the story of fighting back.”

“Fighting Back” was created and directed by Patrick Sammon, the Producer and Director of the forthcoming documentary “Cured”, the untold story of the campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove in 1973 homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. “Cured” portrays Kameny as one of the key gay and lesbian leaders who fought the APA. Previously, Sammon was the creator and Executive Producer of the drama-documentary “Codebreaker” about the life of English codebreaker Alan Turning.

The video, one and a half minutes in length, was produced by The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., an LGBTQ history society formed by Charles Francis and Pate Felts, named for the original Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. “It is of critical importance for a new generation of LGBTQ Americans to become educated about our history and the shoulders we stand upon. The “Deviant’s War” is a riveting account of how our team fought back,” said Mattachine President Charles Francis.

“Fighting Back” will be released on social media networks, YouTube, and supported by Mattachine paid online advertising.

Links to purchase the book:

Bookshop.org (10% discount)