Slow Burn - Season 9 Trailer: Gays Against Briggs
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2024
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
In 1978, state senator John Briggs put a bold proposition on the California ballot. If it passed, the Briggs Initiative would ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools—and fuel a growing backlash against LGBTQ+ people in all corners of American life.
In the ninth season of Slate’s Slow Burn, host Christina Cauterucci explores one of the most consequential civil rights battles in American history: the first-ever statewide vote on gay rights. With that fight looming, young gay activists formed a sprawling, infighting, joyous opposition; confronted the smear that they were indoctrinating kids; and came out en masse to show Briggs—and their own communities—who they really were. And when an unthinkable act of violence shocked them all, they showed the world what gay power looked like.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming soon from Slate Podcasts. |
| 0:02.8 | So, first it was Dave County. |
| 0:05.2 | Voters in the Miami area repealed civil rights for gay people by a two-to-one margin. |
| 0:10.3 | In the late 1970s, cities around the country began rolling back anti-discrimination laws that protected gay people. |
| 0:17.3 | And then it was Wichita, St. Paul, Eugene. |
| 0:21.5 | Successful campaigns against a gay community which shocked us all. |
| 0:25.1 | A state senator from California watched the laws fall and saw an opportunity. |
| 0:31.1 | Homosexuality is a most repulsive lifestyle. |
| 0:34.8 | His name was John Briggs, and he wanted to deliver the anti-gay movement its biggest |
| 0:40.1 | prize yet. California realized that they were coming for us. I'm Christina Cotarucci. This season on |
| 0:49.2 | Slow Burn will explore how a nationwide backlash against gays and lesbians led to a massive showdown in California. |
| 0:56.7 | Now it's something called Proposition 6, the Briggs, initiative. |
| 1:00.4 | It would call for firing any teachers in California who practice homosexuality. |
| 1:05.0 | Your life, as you knew, it would be destroyed. |
| 1:07.2 | We've got to fight back. We can't let this happen in California. |
| 1:13.8 | The Briggs Initiative would be the first statewide vote on gay rights. |
| 1:20.3 | With so much at stake, young people became activists. |
| 1:24.3 | We were all coming out all day long every day. |
| 1:29.4 | And activists became leaders. |
| 1:40.6 | My name is Harvey Milk, and I'm here to me crouture. Slow Burn, season nine, gaze against Briggs. |
| 1:47.9 | Out May 22nd, wherever you listen. If we lose here, it'll be 50 years before we ever get back up again. Like the drag queens say, take out the earrings, sharpen the nails. There ain't |
| 1:55.1 | no going back. |
... |
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