San Antonio QFest-LGBT International Film Festival

Barbara Gittings Memorial Award: Best Character Portrayal

Barbara Gittings is often referred to as the mother of the gay rights movement. She organized the New York Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, a gay rights organization in the 50’s, and was editor of its newsletter, The Ladder, in the 60’s. She promoted literature that showed homosexuality in a positive light to be showcased in public libraries. Organizing some of the first gay rights marches in the United States, she worked with multiple people to shed the stigma of homosexuality and have it removed from the DSM as a mental illness.

Robert Spitzer Memorial Award: Best Documentary Feature Film

Robert Spitzer is one of the most pivotal LGBTQ advocates of the 20th century. In 1973 Robert was part of the American Psychiatric Association’s drafting board that created the Diagnostic and Statistics Manuel III, the manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists alike to diagnose disorders. Robert was instrumental in removing the pathological diagnosis of homosexuality, thus no longer allowing medical professionals to diagnose LGBTQ people as sick. Without this change the LGBTQ community would have never been able to gain the rights we now currently enjoy.

Lily Tomlin Memorial Award: Best Comedy Feature Film

Lily Tomlin is a prolific comedy actress creating some of the most memorable characters in television history. She started on Laugh-In and is prolific in production on both small and silver screens. Lily met her future wife, Jane Wagner, in 1971 and lived with Jane throughout her career. Lily often inserted ambiguous jokes about being homosexual in her work. Today she is a Tony award winning actress with more than 40 years of comedic gold. She narrated The Celluloid Closet, a documentary about being gay in Hollywood. She also is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.

Christopher Marlowe Memorial Award: Best Drama Feature Film

Christopher Marlowe, or Kit, was the foremost dramatist in London during his time. Baptized in the same year as William Shakespeare, his early experiments achieved critical prominence for his use of blank verse leading to some of the most enduring plays of all time. His play, Edward II was the first English play to deal openly with homosexuality. In May 1593 he was arrested for “blasphemy.” 10 days later he was murdered by repeated stab wounds to the head.

Matthew Shepard Memorial Award: Best Student Film Official Nominees

Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming in 1998. One night at a bar two men pretended to be gay and offered him a ride home. On the way they brutally beat him and left him tied to a post to die. He was discovered 18 hours later by a cyclist. The brutality of the attack incited his mother, Judy Shepard, to become a fierce LGBTQ advocate. She worked tirelessly to get ratified Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act which was signed into law in 2009. She also created the Mathew Shepard Foundation which funds anti-violence education, outreach, and advocacy programs.

Jose Sarria Memorial Award: Best Drama Short Film

Jose Sarria was a drag queen that led the fight for gay rights from the night club stage. He fought against the corrupt police departments that was extorting bribes from gay clubs and jailing gay men. His acts, normally arias, were tweaked to shed light on this struggle. In 1961 he ran for the SF Board of Supervisors and is thought to be the first openly gay candidate to run for an office anywhere in the world. His most enduring legacy was his establishment of the Imperial Court System. The system celebrates drag activism which is pivotal to LGBTQ+ rights development. It operates worldwide.

Frank Kameny Memorial Award: Best Comedy Short Film

Frank Kameny, known as the father of the gay rights movement, served during WWII. In 1957 he was fired from the Army Map Service due to his homosexuality. Frank appealed the ruling all the way to the president and legislative branches, to no avail. Frank founded the Mattachine Society to pursue the fight against discrimination and coined the slogan “Gay is Good.” Franks activism predated Stonewall by a decade and created the environment which allowed the gay rights movement to begin.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Memorial Award: Best Documentary Short Film

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, or Miss Major for short, attended drag balls in her youth in the 1940s. She came out as a transgender woman in the late 1950s. At the start of her transition, she relied on black market hormones. She is a veteran of the Stonewall Riots. She runs the House of GG, a retreat center for trans and gender non-conforming youth in Arkansas. She worked closely with the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project to advocate for incarcerated trans women of color. In 2008 she was asked to address the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.

Barbara Jordan Memorial Award: Grand Jury Prize

Barbara Jordan was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Southern African American woman elected to the US House of Representatives. The US Nation Archives described her as the first LGBTQ+ woman in Congress. She gave the eloquent opening statement at the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Jordan’s long-time speechwriter, Nancy Earl, was her “longtime companion”. Earl wrote the speech given at the impeachment proceeding that is listed at #13 in American Rhetoric’s top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century. She is the first African American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery close to Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas.

Mr. Jenny McCall Memorial Award: Best Texas Resident Filmmaker

Mr. Jenny McCall is a beloved San Antonio and Texas icon. She started her entertainment career as a DJ. She delighted in being female impersonator and worked various clubs throughout Texas raising money for multiple charities. Mr. Jenny McCall was always most attentive to the new performers coming to the stage. She ran the Tuesday night amateur nights and considered each of the performers she touched along the way as one of her kids.