Celebrate Pride Month with WTTW's Programming in 2022

June is LGBTQ+ or Pride Month, and as always WTTW has plenty of programming to celebrate these too-often unheard or repressed stories. Some highlights include a music special, a look at the queer community of high-tech Silicon Valley, a touching tale of human generosity via organ donation, and a documentary about Olympic figure skater Randy Gardner. 

We'll Meet Again: Coming Out

Saturday, June 4 at 11:00 am on WTTW Prime

Join Ann Curry as those whose lives were changed by the early days of the gay rights movement reunite. Tom wants to find the childhood friend who urged him to come out, while Paul seeks a fellow student who inspired him to stand up for his beliefs.

Lavender Scare

Saturday, June 4 at 12:00 pm on WTTW Prime

Learn the untold story of how tens of thousands of homosexual federal workers were either fired or denied employment in the 1950s, stirring outrage in the gay community and starting an LGBTQ rights movement with an unlikely hero at the forefront.

Don Quixote in Newark

Sunday, June 5 at 10:30 pm on WTTW Prime

Dr. James Oleske, a pioneering pediatrician who first discovered HIV/AIDS in children, is profiled. His scientific breakthrough, the outcome of dedicated work in an underfunded community hospital, changed the profile of AIDS forever and was instrumental in the discovery of the HIV virus.

True Colors: LGBTQ+ Our Stories, Our Song

Wednesday, June 8 at 9:30 pm on WTTW

The Indigo Girls in 'True Colors: LGBTQ+ Our Stories, Our Songs.' Photo: Kevin Parisi

Celebrate Pride Month with music from Indigo Girls, Billy Gilman, Morgxn, Peppermint, Jujubee, Alexis Michelle, Trey Pearson, Breanna Sinclaire, Andre de Shields, and more, along with real-life stories of hope hosted by Jeopardy's Amy Schneider.

Queer Silicon Valley

Sunday, June 12 at 10:30 pm on WTTW Prime and Thursday, June 16 at 10:00 pm on WTTW

From its early beginnings in a 1970s vibrant bar scene through the challenges posed by AIDS and the religious right, the fight for political representation and marriage equality, to what it was like to come out in the high tech industry, Queer Silicon Valley casts a fresh lens on a not well known but significant history.

Penny: Champion of the Marginalized

Sunday, June 12 at 11:30 pm on WTTW Prime

Penny is a multi-dimensional portrait of Penny Cooper, a celebrated criminal defense attorney, art collector, supporter of female artists, and protector of the underdog. Cooper's life brims with stories mirroring the profound changes in our country from the 1940s to the present.

POV Shorts: Dreaming Life

Tuesday, June 14 at 10:30 pm on WTTW and Sunday, June 26 at 11:30 pm on WTTW Prime

Two stories of self acceptance and finding joy: as the AIDS epidemic took hold in the early 1980s, self-help guru Louise Hay created a space for healing called the Hayride; plus meet 19-year-old Hunter 'Pixel' Jimenez, a nonbinary trans boy caught between the expectations of his Guatemalan immigrant family and his dreams of living happily ever after.

It's a Match

Thursday, June 23 at 10:00 pm on WTTW

Alana and Lori were two LGBT 20-somethings looking for love online when a casual right swipe made a match that would bind them together forever: Alana is a candidate to donate a kidney to Lori, who has been waiting for one for years.

Out in Rural America

Saturday, June 25 at 10:00 am on WTTW Prime and Sunday, June 26 at 3:30 pm on WTTW

Following five stories from the LGBTQ+ community over six years, the film explores the issues of self-doubt, discrimination, acceptance, and small-town and Midwestern LGBTQ+ life from a cultural, social, familial, and religious perspective.

It is available to stream now. 

Prideland

Saturday, June 25 at 11:00 am on WTTW Prime and Sunday, June 26 at 4:30 pm on WTTW

Actor Dyllon Burnside journeys across the South to meet diverse members of the LGBTQ community.

You can stream Prideland now. 

Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story

Sunday, June 26 at 2:30 pm on WTTW and Sunday, June 26 at 10:30 pm on WTTW Prime

Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story intimately documents the life and career of two-time Olympian Randy Gardner. The film shares one man's quest to finally come to terms with his true identity so that he can be a light to others.

WTTW Passport members can stream the film now. 

Independent Lens: Cured

Thursday, June 30 at 10:00 pm on WTTW

When homosexuality was considered a mental illness to be "cured," renegade LGBTQ+ activists fought a powerful psychiatry establishment that had things dangerously backwards.