'Out in India': Film about 2 dad family Sandip Roy, Special to The Chronicle Monday, June 16, 2008 In a country like India, where men often walk around holding hands, gay men can get away with a lot without explicitly coming out. But that was never an option for David Gere and Peter Carley. They went with their two young children. "It was a mixed-race gay family," Tom Keegan, whose film "Out in India: A Family's Journey" documents their passage to India, says by phone. "In a country where families are so stratified in terms of gender roles, this was breaking every pattern." Gere fell in love with India in the '80s, when he studied classical Indian dance there. Then he received a Fulbright scholarship to return in 2004, to work with artists working on HIV/AIDS. "Until he actually got the Fulbright, it was all abstract. I was like, 'Sure, sure,' " remembers Carley on the phone from their home in Los Angeles. "But then I was like 'Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into.' " He remembers landing in Bangalore. The airlines had lost their double stroller. "It was really hot and humid," says Carley. It was only January. "I was shocked at the loudness of India," he says. It was 2 a.m. Booming Bangalore, India's information technology capital, is one of India's most cosmopolitan cities. But no one knew what to make of this unusual family. "There's simply no context for two men raising children together," says Gere by e-mail. "In that sense we were like Martians." Even supportive people were uncomfortable. Was it fair to the kids? Should they let their son, Christopher, wear bangles? Were they pushing him into gayness? "We honestly didn't know how people felt about our family until Tom started interviewing people," says Gere. "When we saw the footage we were really shocked." Keegan, who is also a gay dad, was less so. "I think I'm pissing people off just walking around as a gay family in America every day," he says. In India, people just seemed more honest about it. That is when they got it. At least once a day, Carley says, he'd get asked "Where's their mother?" "I would say we were a two-dad family," he says. "And they would smile and nod and say, 'Where's the mother?' " For Carley, the fish-out-of water experience was compounded by the fact that he suddenly became the 24/7 dad. Gere got increasingly busy organizing a convening of artists in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta. Gere also spoke Tamil so people would interact with him more. "His head would start wobbling just like an Indian," says Carley. "I'd become invisible." Gere, who was in Mexico City at the time of this interview, says, "As a non-Spanish speaker, I'm finally getting a taste of what Peter must have been feeling. It's terrifying." As Gere got more excited about his project, meeting more than 60 artists in six months, Carley who'd put his career as a psychotherapist in Los Angeles on hold, felt increasingly alone in a country of a billion people. "I never had a phone in India," he remembers. "I didn't need a phone because I had no one to call and no one to call me. "I think I came as close as I've ever come to leaving the relationship," he says. "But in the end, it ultimately became stronger." Carley says he finally felt he belonged when he went to the Kolkata convening. Gere's celebrity brother, Richard, showed up. There were journalists, singers, scroll painters, dancers. They all made T-shirts with the logo "HIV Positive" and marched through the city. "I looked at the sex workers, out gay people, artists, activists and finally felt I fit in," says Carley. Photographer and activist Sunil Gupta, who attended that convening, writes in an e-mail that "India is undergoing a massive change. Cities like Delhi have fast-growing commercial and activist gay scenes." There are clubs with gay nights, queer festivals and social groups. But Carley says it was hard to find their gay niche in Bangalore. "We were two guys with two kids. We couldn't hang out in pubs late at night." On his last week there, he says he stumbled on a gay cruising spot. "I found the Bangalore version of New York's Rambles," he chuckles. "And I was walking in the park with Christopher!" Now the family is back in Los Angeles. But India is still a part of their lives. Keegan says for him the film "symbolizes a new stage of activism for men who've lived through AIDS and become fathers." The artists Gere met are now part of his Make Art/Stop AIDS touring exhibition. Christopher's class raised the money to rebuild the shadow puppets of a puppeteer whose home was wiped out by the 2004 tsunami. The woman who had been perturbed by Christopher's bangles just visited them in Los Angeles. Carley hasn't been back to India since the trip. "But I would do it again in a second," he says. "I'd do some things differently. But I'd do it again. I really would." Out in India: A Family's Journey: Part of Frameline32, the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. 6 p.m. Sat. Roxie Film Center, 3117 16th St., San Francisco. Call (415) 703-8655 or go to www.frameline.org Video: Watch a trailer of "Out in India: A Family's Journey" at sfgate.com/ZDUA |
| Mr. David Gere ~ HIV/AIDS Activist |
| Richard Gere Attends Symposium on AIDS in India July 6, 2004 Actor Richard Gere (R) poses with his brother David Gere, during a symposium held in New Delhi. AIDS workers and doctors were able to explain in detail how they spread awareness of the disease and urge people to use preventive measures. David Gere coordinates Richard's AIDS projects |
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| INTERACTIVE SLIDE SHOW: |
| "My boss David Gere, my co-worker Cathryn, Richard Gere (my boss David's brother), and me. David brought his brother over to say, HI. I was a bit star struck, I admit. I've always been impressed with Richard Gere's work with Tibet." ~ Noel Alumit |
| Make Art/Stop AIDS — Chancellor and Mrs. Block enjoy opening night of the Make Art/Stop AIDS exhibition at the Fowler Museum with Curator Robert Sember, Fowler Museum Director Marla Berns and Curator David Gere. (February 2008) |
| Gere brothers gather heroes, artists to fight Aids 08 July 2004 Times News Network MUMBAI: Call it Zen and the Art of Spreading Aids Awareness, by the Brothers Gere. On Wednesday, as older brother RichardGere, Hollywood actor and activist for the Tibetan cause, unveiled his latest offering—the Heroes Project to spread awareness about Aids\HIV in India—younger brother David sat in the audience having already done his bit. A day earlier, David had presented ‘Make Arts—Stop Aids’ in New Delhi, an event at which his Hollywood actor brother made a starry appearance. Both are involved in Aids\HIV programmes, but their tools are obviously different. For Richard, activism means providing impetus to creative people,who in turn spread awareness. In other words, celebrity endorsements help. Not surprisingly then, the Heroes Project, which has been planned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Richard Gere India Foundation Trust, will feature Indian heroes (“people in whom society believes in,’’ says Gere). The first hero is cricketer Rahul Dravid, who has done two public service advertisments on the need for protection and removing stigma. The campaign will run for three years. Richard Gere’s idea is to get “India talking about things and get basic information’’ across to people so that themisconceptions about Aids disappear. “A recent study has shown that three out of four Indians still have misconceptions about the disease,’’ he told TNN. The Heroes Project will run into a three-year intensive campaign through the mass media. “We will work with the media by holding events, concerts and embedding messages in various programmes,’’ he said. “We need to involve radio, especially in rural areas, and Doordarshan in the project,’’ he added. In contrast to his brother’s high-profile campaign, David Gere has been working with individual artists across India. The work was part of his six-month research project in Bangalore with the prestigious Fulbright Foundation. According to David Gere, who is attached to the University of California, Los Angeles, “My project highlights efforts by various artists who have spoken about Aids through their media. They range from film actor OmPuri to painters in a village near Kolkata who paint scrolls with anti-AIDS messages,’’ said the 46-year-old professor. And what would the ideal Aids campaign entail? Obviously, a combination of what both brothers are doing. “If we could get all the heroes together, from the Kolkata painters to Rahul Dravid, to talk about Aids\HIV,’’ said David Gere. Well, between the two brothers, they have wrapped up both classes and the masses. |
| "One Night for India" Benefit Concert for Global Fund and its Fight Against AIDS August 21, 2004 |
| Photos show off AIDS activism Local gallery captures 20 years of actions by the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power Jenae Cohn (Contact) Published: Monday, January 7, 2008 If one picture can speak a thousand words, Chuck Stallard hopes a whole gallery will be enough to spread the word. On display in Kaufman Hall through March 14, Stallard’s photographs show the history of AIDS activism in Los Angeles. The exhibit, “Silence = Death: Los Angeles AIDS Activism 1987-2007,” focuses specifically on the actions of the L.A. chapter of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, referred to as “ACT UP.” “It was a different time,” said Stallard, a former member of ACT UP Los Angeles. “They didn’t just write letters and make phone calls; they actually went out to places and made their presence known with protests.” In the height of ACT UP’s success in Los Angeles, the organization protested AIDS drug policies outside the federal building in Westwood, negotiated the construction of an AIDS ward in the L.A. county hospital, and used art and dramatic expression to expose AIDS policies. Stallard’s photographs give an intimate look into the era of activism. “The thing that excites me about this exhibition is that it demonstrates the extent to which L.A. has been at the heart of the storm, that activists in Los Angeles have been some of the most creative participants to stop the movement in the spread of HIV and to get a governmental response at the highest level,” said world arts and cultures Professor David Gere, who teaches a class called “Make Art/Stop AIDS,” which encourages students to get involved in arts as a way to fight AIDS. Stuart Timmons, the curator for the exhibit who also recently wrote a history of L.A. gay activism called “Gay L.A.,” interviewed 20 ACT UP members for the captions. With the stories accompanying Stallard’s action shots, the exhibit gives a personal look at AIDS activism. “(Stallard) was always able to ... get really close and that was how he was able to succeed,” Timmons said. “Like the best of the World War II photographers, he captured battle.” Stallard attended nearly every ACT UP event for the years he was involved in the group. He hopes that these action shots contribute to a more complete history of AIDS activism. “I really wanted to try and make as complete a record as I could make and I had to dedicate a lot of time to it to make the compilation great,” Stallard said. Stallard and Timmons want the exhibit to inspire students to get involved in AIDS activism. “The people who founded ACT UP are all in their 50s and older now by and large, but the issues for younger people are more urgent than ever in many ways,” Timmons said. “I think that UCLA students, their best work, their best opportunity, is to be in touch with their contemporaries and their generation because part of what AIDS is dealing with is the most personal possible parts of your life: sexuality and culture. Every generation has to speak its own language for that and can only communicate effectively in that language.” Gere sees UCLA students committed to advancing AIDS activism every day. “I learn from my students all the time about what it means to take risks,” Gere said. “Many young students, undergraduates and graduate students here at UCLA, are expressing concerns not only for themselves but also for people altruistically on the other side of the world.” In Gere’s course last quarter, he saw students march from the UCLA Hammer Museum to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in pouring rain while holding hands and chanting to raise awareness for AIDS. Other groups on campus, such as Dance Marathon and the AIDS Ambassadors, also set out to raise money for AIDS programs. “I’m continually inspired by what students are capable of,” Gere said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to be HIV positive to care about this epidemic. ... All that you need is to be someone who cares about other human beings.” With Stallard’s photographs, this kind of caring is at the heart of the exhibit and Timmons argues that this caring will allow the story of AIDS activism to continue. “Social problems are never going to go away,” Timmons said. “We really need to have people stand up, get involved and fight back.” |
| AIDS activist Mark Kostopolous is dragged away by police during a protest. This photo is on display in Chuck Stallard’s exhibit “Silence=Death: Los Angeles AIDS Activism” in Kaufman Hall. The exhibit runs through March 14. Photo by Courtesy of Stuart Timmons |
A Lifetime of Giving ~ A Gere Family Tradition |
| Out in India: A Family's Journey |
| Updated 6/16/08 |
