Writer-director Dustin Lance Black said
this week that his miniseries on the LGBT rights movement says
together we are stronger.
When We Rise, broadcast in
February on ABC and currently on Hulu, features an all-star cast in
an eight-hour miniseries that “chronicles the personal and
political struggles, set-backs and triumphs of a diverse family of
LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the
U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th
century to the once unfathomable successes of today.”
Black made his comments at Deadline's
The Contenders, an Emmys event held on Sunday.
“We had never had an LGBTQ movement
or history told in this kind of popularized fashion,” said
Black. “It broke my heart every day that we didn’t have that.
It’s hard to be a people without a history. It’s hard to be
inspired as a young person or have hope out there in the country if
you don’t know you have forefathers and foremothers. The whole
point of this was to finally bring that history to the screen … in
order for it to feel truthful and connect.”
“I’ve never had anything so well
received in my career,” Black, an Oscar winner, said of the
response.
“This show, at its root, says we are
stronger together, that we can beat the backlash together. Not just
LGBTQ people together but all of our social justice movements locked
arm and arm, pushing back against backlash to get us moving towards
progress for all people,” Black added.