Movie traces how filmmaker became an activist with a camera

Rachel Lack hopes her documentary will show the straight community what they can do to help make marriage equality a reality.

The film, The Activist Within, will have its premiere on June 4 at MADCAP Theaters in Tempe.

Lack, 33, of Tempe, used her own experience as a straight ally to tell the story of three events that promoted LGBT rights, including the Arizona Right to Marry Walk.

Lack married her husband in October 2008, just weeks before the passage of Proposition in 8 in California and Proposition 102 in Arizona, measures that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

With the news of the election results, Lack remembered thinking “as a newlywed myself, what if someone told me I was no longer married to my husband. As a filmmaker, I was upset about it. I wanted to do a film about the gay marriage issue.”

During her research, Lack found the organization One Struggle, One Fight, which was involved in the Proposition 8 battle in California. She made three trips to Sacramento to film as the group was mounting protests to Proposition 8.

By 2009, Lack had learned about the Arizona Right to Marry Walk. She filmed that summer’s second annual walk through metropolitan Phoenix — 97 miles that year, one mile for each year the state hasn’t offered marriage equality.

Later the same year, she went to Washington, D.C., to film the National Equality March, a trip that included an interview with Cleve Jones, one of the organizers of the march who also is credited with establishing the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

“It was the best interview we had,” Lack said of the conversation with Jones, which was scheduled for five minutes, but stretched into 15. Lack said that it may have helped that Jones grew up in Scottsdale.

“When I started I had no idea what I was doing,” Lack said. “I just knew I needed to go out to film what was going on.” But as the research was completed, Lack faced the task of structuring the film.

At first she said she resisted the idea of using her own story as part of the film. But when people asked why she would want to produce the documentary about gay marriage she explained how her feelings on the issue had developed. “A lot of people kept saying, ‘Well, that’s your story.’”

Rachel LackLack narrates the film’s events, weaving in her personal story of being a friend of the LGBT community to becoming an ally and then an activist.

“All you have to do is go out and talk to people,” Lack said of activism. That’s something she did in 2010 when she participated in the Right to Marry Walk — this time as a walker.

Lack moved to Arizona 10 years ago to attend Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, then transferred to Scottsdale Community College, where she graduated with a degree in film studies.

She had worked as a producer on films in school, but Lack said she considers the 61-minute An Activist Within to be her first film.

For the project, she had help from two former film school classmates, also straight allies. Miguel Cordova did much of the cinematography that resulted in about 500 hours of video. Anna Maria Stewart worked as an editor and writer. Lack financed the project herself.

Lack and Stewart are working to market the film by submitting it to film festivals. It will be screened in June at the Breckenridge, Colo., Film Festival.

Lack also would like to arrange screenings, including showing the film in Tucson when this year’s Right to Marry Walk is in that city. The walk itself is an event Lack won’t be able to participate in this year because she’s expecting her first child.

Lack is hopeful that her film will one day be outdated after marriage equality is secured. “I hope people will look back at this and think ‘Why was it such a big deal?’”

At the Tempe screening, about 10 Arizona activists featured in the film are expected for a question and answer session after the film. Proceeds from the event will go to the Right to Marry Walk. -E

Right to Marry names participants for 2011 walk in southern Arizona

The Right to Marry Walk will have its most participants ever when 15 walkers and two support personnel make a stand for marriage equality during the fourth annual event this summer.

The 99-mile walk Aug. 4-14 will be staged in towns in cities in southern Arizona.

Among those named are 10 new participants, three couples, two straight allies and two sets of siblings.

New walkers are:

Billy Bradford, of Castro Valley, Calif.
Marlee Tyler, of Mesa.
Christopher Hall, of Phoenix.
Karon Bolender, of Tucson.
Lilana Montya, of Phoenix.
Seth Frazier, of Phoenix.
John Taylor Sterling, of Phoenix.
Abby Sneed, of Phoenix.
Emily McLinden, of Tempe.

Returning walkers are:

Mandee Rowley, of Scottsdale.
Melissa Halverson, of Phoenix.
Paul Roark, of Phoenix.
Alex Gannon, of Tempe.
Meg Sneed, of Phoenix.
Jimmy Gruender, of Phoenix.

New in a support role is Monica Casillas, of Phoenix. Returning in a support role is Delfin Bautusta, of Washington, D.C.

Meg Sneed, who designed the walk and is its co-director, is the only person to have walked in all three previous events. Gruender, walk co-director, and Roark have participated in the last two events.

Among this years walkers, the couples are Gruender and Roark, Meg Sneed and Rowley and Fraizer and Sterling. The siblings are Rowley and Tyler and Meg and Abby Sneed. The allies are Montoya and Abby Sneed.

Walkers will be transported between cities and towns, where they will walk one mile for each year Arizona has been a state without offering marriage equality. Along the way, the walkers will share their stories with city officials, civic groups and passersby.

Cities and towns to be visited this year are Parker, Yuma, Casa Grande, Arizona City, Eloy, Tucson, Nogales, Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Tombstone, Safford, Thatcher, Pima, Clifton, Duncan, Florence and Queen Creek.

As in previous years, the walk will end in Phoenix with a “last mile” to Arizona Capitol, where there will be a rally.

Previous walks have had six to 10 participants. Walks in 2008 and 2009 covered metropolitan Phoenix. The 2010 walk was staged in northern Arizona.

For more information, visit www.righttomarryaz.org. -E