''State of Pride'' is a 2019 American

YouTube original YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service that provides advertising-free streaming of all videos hosted by YouTube, offline play and background playback of videos on mobile devices, access to advertising-fre ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Jeffrey Friedman and

Rob Epstein Robert P. Epstein (born April 6, 1955), is an American director, producer, writer, and editor. He is known for directing numerous documentaries, several of them focusing on the LGBTQ community and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, an ...

. YouTuber and LGBTQ activist Raymond Braun explores the

LGBT rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBTQ people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBTQ people and their ...

by traveling to

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

, to meet with young LGBT people who share their opinions about what

Pride Month Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a List of month-long observances, month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender a ...

means to them. The film stars

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with Universal Music Australia, EMI Australia in 2013 and ...

, Raymond Braun and

Heklina Stefan Grygelko (died April 3, 2023), known professionally as Heklina, was an American actor, drag queen, LGBT rights activist and entrepreneur. Born near Minneapolis, Minnesota to an Icelandic mother, he lived in Iceland for several years in ...

. It was the first in a series of three documentaries hosted on the YouTube site for

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

2019. It had its world premiere on March 8, 2019 at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

, and later released on YouTube on May 29, 2019.

Synopsis

LGBT activist Raymond Braun examines the

by touring the country with stops in Utah, California, Alabama and Washington D.C., where he meets with young LGBT people who share their experiences and opinions about what Pride Month means to them. Notable highlights include interviews with trans women of color in Alabama, a young trans woman attending her first Pride event in San Francisco, where he also interviews American actor and drag queen,

. In Utah, he talks with a young gay disabled man who shares his experiences about his Mormon family accepting his sexual orientation, and also talks about how people in the LGBT community with disabilities are often de-sexualized. And in D.C. Braun talks with Australian singer and activist Troye Sivan.

Cast

* Raymond Braun *

Production notes

Braun said that it was in 2017 when the project first began to develop after meeting with executives from Portal A Interactive. After being asked what a dream project would look like to him, Braun pitched the idea of touring the country to meet with young LGBT people who would share their experiences and opinions about what

meant to them. As soon as the project was greenlit, he brought on Rob Epstein and Jeff Friedman, two experienced filmmakers who had a successful history of making LGBT films. Braun also said that producer Mari Rivera hired an all-female crew who in turn made sure to hire a team that represented the diversity of the LGBT community.

Critical reception

Christopher Cappiello wrote in the ''Los Angeles Blade'' that Epsteins and Friedmans directing was impressive, and the film is "illuminating even as it entertains". Cappiello also noted that the film gives due consideration to the history of the LGBT movement, "and the importance of recognizing how far we’ve come since Stonewall fifty years ago". Richard Schneider wrote that for old-timers who have attended these Pride parades and events for years and years, these "declarations of 'Pride' can seem a little hokey", but we shouldn't dispute their sincerity and honesty. He also said the film "reminds us that the adoption of this word

ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a comedy film by Millicen ...

is the opposite of shame and homophobia".

References

External links

* * *
State of Pride
' at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

Interview with Raymond Braun
at ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...