Standing on the Bones of Our Ancestors is a feature-length documentary that explores the vital need for elders to emerge within the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender/Inter-sexed or Queer Community. The need for people to claim the role of elder transcends sexual and gender identity. From whatever hereditary lineages we may have descended, our ancestors revered the wisdom of their elders and all older people have the capacity for awakening their untapped inner wealth to claim this critical role in community.

Prior to the June 29, 1969 Stonewall Rebellion in New York City, there was little open public expression of the lives of GLBTQ people. Stonewall galvanized a collective discontent which transformed the oppression of Queer People into a movement for pride and civil rights. It affirmed that contrary to being a mere sexual preference, queer centeredness and gender variance is important, substantial, and has significant spiritual, evolutionary, and social purpose.

The GLBTQ community is now poised at a unique threshold in history. It is unprecedented to have three generations of openly identified GLBTQ people, youths, adults, and “olders” living “OUT” in community. Storyteller and scholar of mythology Michael Meade coined the term “olders” for aged persons with no intergenerational role in their communities. Which is a central issue addressed in our documentary. How can those of us who are entering the province of old age grow in meaning and value in service to our communities? We populate urban gay districts such as the Castro in San Francisco, congregate around GLBTQ community centers, rural communes, faerie sanctuaries, and entire incorporated cities such as West Hollywood.  Not to mention the global village beyond borders linked through cyber-space. The ground has been prepared and the health of our communities depends upon fostering interdependence between the generations and calling the Queer Tribal Elder into being. The power and vitality of film and video is the ideal medium to amplify that call, promote intergenerational dialogue, provoke critical thinking, and share efforts being made to illuminate this important issue.

Against a backdrop of gay and lesbian culture hero ancestors and highlights from recent gay liberation history beginning in the 1950’s with the pioneering work of the “father” of the gay liberation movement, Harry Hay, the documentary highlights the groundbreaking Elder Work of The Los Angeles Gay Men’s Medicine Circle and includes commentary from elder Actor, Producer, Poet, Jack Larson, former editor of The Advocate Magazine, internationally acclaimed author (Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning) photographer, and historian Mark Thompson, psychologist and author of “Myths and Meaning of Same Sex Love,”  Christine Downing, Shoshone Ceremonialist, Historian, and Spiritual Teacher illuminating what is now called “The Two Spirit” tradition and the role of elders in pre-colonialist Native American Culture, Clyde Hall, poet and advocate for walking in beauty in a good way with Sacred Mother Earth “The Tranny Granny,” Finisia Medrano, veteran feminist, artist, and community activist Dr. Ivy Bottini, Episcopal Priest, author of over twenty-one books, and civil rights activist, Reverend Malcolm Boyd, Gay Liberation activist, psychologist, and founder of the first Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center in history, Dr. Don Kilhefner, Educator and author of “The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon,” Tom Spanbauer, and many others – elders, adults, and youth exploring this critical subject. Calling Queer People to the dance of survival and joy as full participants in The Circle of Life in creating our future.

 

About the Director

Taken from "A White Crane Journal Conversation with Steven Solberg." Download the article to read the full interview text.

Steven Solberg began in film in the heyday of San Francisco’s 1970s counterculture, hot on the glittering high heels of Stonewall. He co-wrote, collaborated on the artistic direction, and co-starred in the legendary 1970 counter-culture surrealist film, Luminous Procuress directed by Steven Arnold and went on to work with many of the leading artists and filmmakers of the avant garde movement.

As a scenic designer and actor in Los Angeles from 1981- 1983 his credits include the LA County Art Museum’s Leo S. Bing Theater premiere of Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II, the world premiere of Eugene Ioneso’s Tales for People Under the Age of Three at Stages Theater Center, The LA premiere of Sam Shepard’s The Unseen Hand, Murray Mednick’s The Hunter and numerous other productions. In response to the devastating toll of the early AIDS epidemic and the necessity for a more stable and dependable livelihood following recovery from his own drug and alcohol addiction, Steven moved into the field of front-line social services.     

From 1998 – 2005 Steven incorporated art therapy in HIV Education and Prevention services for The Van Ness Recovery House Prevention Division and AIDS Project Los Angeles, and co-founded the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Medicine Circle with Dr. Donald Kilhefner where he developed curriculums and taught workshops such as “Seeing In The Dark: An Introduction to Queer Shamanism.”

For the past couple of years, now, Solberg has been working on a documentary about GLBTQ elders, ageing and spirituality. Robert Croonquist a frequent contributor to White Crane and an associate producer of David Weissman and Bill Weber’s The Cockettes documentary put it this way: “It is an important movie. I want very much to see this movie come to light. Word is Out told the story of my birth as a Gay man. The Cockettes told the story of my youth. Standing on the Bones of Our Ancestors tells the story of my adulthood.”