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WKAR Special Events

May 21 | Community Cinema: Limited Partnership

Limited Partnership

FREE – Thursday, May 21, at 7 p.m. | Preview the film and join the conversation around this look at the issue of gay marriage.

Community Cinema, presented by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Independent Lens, and WKAR and Project 60/50 at Michigan State, is excited to offer an advance screening of Limited Partnership, a film by Thomas G. Miller and Kirk Marcolina. The new film chronicles the 40-year love story of one of the first gay couples to marry, and their decades-long fight for legal status.

The WKAR Community Cinema event takes place Thursday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at WKAR in the Communication Arts and Sciences building on the Michigan State campus. The event is free, but online reservations are required.

The evening begins with a screening of an excerpt from the film and continues with conversation addressing the issues as they play out in Michigan. The panelists are Susan Reed, supervising attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center; Penny Gardner, president of the Lansing Association for Human Rights; and Doak Bloss, Health Equity and Social Justice Coordinator with Ingham County Health Department.

Reed will talk about the legal aspects of gay marriage and particularly immigration issues. Gardner and Bloss will be commenting on the film through their own experiences and perspective, and how it relates locally.

This screening and conversation is a free presentation in partnership with Project 60/50 at Michigan State University.

Free with Reservation

This event is free, but registration is required. |  RESERVE SEATS HERE

Where

WKAR Community Cinema takes place in the Communication Arts & Sciences Media Auditorium (Room 145), 404 Wilson Road on the campus of Michigan State University. Parking is free (after 6 p.m.) in the Trowbridge Road parking ramp, near the South, Main Lobby.

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More About 'Limited Partnership'

Limited Partnership uncovers the often untold history of the activism that has led us to a historical point, as the Supreme Court imminently is set to rule on same-sex marriage. The film chronicles the 40-year love story between Filipino American Richard Adams and his Australian husband, Tony Sullivan. In 1975, thanks to a courageous county clerk in Boulder, Colorado, Richard and Tony were one of the first same-sex couples to be legally married in the world. Richard immediately filed for a green card for Tony based on their marriage. But unlike most heterosexual married couples who easily obtain legal status for their spouses, Richard received a denial letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service stating, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.” Outraged at the tone, tenor, and politics of the letter, and to prevent Tony’s impending deportation, the couple decided to sue the U.S. government, initiating the first federal lawsuit seeking equal treatment for a same-sex marriage in U.S. history.

On the Air

Limited Partnership airs on Monday, June 15, 2015 at 10 p.m. (check local listings) on WKAR and PBS.

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