Throughout the summer of 1979, William Friedkin's production became the target of an unusually aggressive series of protests from New York City's gay community. Journalist Arthur Bell, whose reporting on unsolved murders of gay men had helped inspire the project, urged people to disrupt the filming because activists believed the movie would portray gay men—and particularly the leather and S&M scene—as inherently violent and pathological. Protesters pointed mirrors from rooftops to spoil the cinematographer's lighting, blasted whistles and air horns near locations, played loud music, and persuaded gay-owned businesses not to cooperate. Roughly one thousand people marched through the East Village demanding that New York withdraw support for the production.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
The 1979 Gay-Rights Siege That Tried to Shut Down Cruising
Cruising / 1970s
Throughout the summer of 1979, William Friedkin's production became the target of an unusually aggressive series of protests from New York City's gay community. Journalist Arthur Bell, whose reporting on unsolved murders of gay men had helped inspire the project, urged people to disrupt the filming because activists believed the movie would portray gay men—and particularly the leather and S&M scene—as inherently violent and pathological. Protesters pointed mirrors from rooftops to spoil the cinematographer's lighting, blasted whistles and air horns near locations, played loud music, and persuaded gay-owned businesses not to cooperate. Roughly one thousand people marched through the East Village demanding that New York withdraw support for the production.
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