Celebrate Pride Month with PBS NC

Honoring LGBTQIA+ Stories, Power and Diversity

June is dedicated to honoring the LGBTQIA+ community, the history of LGBTQIA+ rights and their ongoing fight for equality. We commemorate the Stonewall Uprising, a pivotal moment in 1969 that ignited the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement. Pride is more than just a parade—it’s an amplification of LGBTQIA+ voices to raise awareness and work toward a more inclusive future. 

Shedding light on some of these stories, Always Looking: Titus Brooks Heagins, a new film presented by PBS North Carolina, explores the Durham photographer’s work with trans and other marginalized communities. 

Stay tuned throughout June as we explore the power of pride, unpack LGBTQIA+ history and celebrate the beautiful diversity of this community on PBS NC and the PBS app. 

Always Looking: Titus Brooks Heagins 

Always Looking: Titus Brooks Heagins explores the work of photographer Titus Brooks Heagins and the challenging questions his photos pose. Humanizing, reverent and confrontational, Titus’ photographs document the overlooked. A large body of his work focuses on trans people, whom he has photographed in the U.S. and Cuba since 2016. The film examines a complex, talented, passionate and compassionate figure.

Watch Always Looking: Titus Brooks Heagins, premiering Tuesday, 6/10, 10 PM on PBS NC & the PBS app. 

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence 

Discover the life of singer-songwriter Janis Ian and how she rose as a folk icon and gay rights advocate. She broke ground with “Society’s Child” (1966), a bold take on interracial love, and “At Seventeen” (1975), a searing anthem about bullying. 

Watch American Masters’ “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence,” premiering Friday, 6/20, 9 PM on PBS NC & the PBS app. 

POV: Break the Game 

After coming out as a trans woman, world-record-holding gamer Narcissa Wright loses her massive fanbase. To win them back, she attempts to set a new record in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, livestreaming every minute of her quest. “Break the Game” is a moving exploration of gamer culture, the realities of online harassment and the mental health implications of living a digital life. 

Watch POV’s “Break the Game,” premiering Monday, 6/30, 10 PM on PBS NC & the PBS app. 

Chef J Chong 

Meet chef J Chong, an Asheville-based chef of mostly Cantonese cuisine. J’s passion is bringing authentic flavors and experiences of Cantonese food to western North Carolina. From steaming dumplings at farmers markets to private feasts and cooking classes, J uses food to connect people and celebrate heritage. J is also a proud LGBTQ+ and AAPI activist, using their platform to fight for social justice. 

Proper Pronouns  

There are 30 transgender, ordained ministers in the U.S.; six are in North Carolina. Follow four of them as they navigate life in North Carolina as both transgender and transgender ministers.  

Watch Proper Pronouns on the PBS app.

Aging Matters: Aging with Pride 

LGBTQIA+ older adults face unique social, economic and health challenges. Organizations and individuals are working to address loneliness and access to competent, affirming healthcare and assisted living communities. We shine a light on what many in the Stonewall Generation have had to endure and fight for in the hopes of effecting positive community change in the ongoing pursuit of equality. 

Watch Aging Matters’ “Aging with Pride,” Wednesday, 6/25, 10 PM on the NC Channel. Streaming now on the PBS app.

Prideland  

Follow queer actor Dyllón Burnside on a journey to discover how LGBTQ Americans are finding ways to live authentically and with pride in the modern South. 

Watch Prideland, streaming now on the PBS app.

The Committee 

The Committee is a documentary film about the little-known Florida Legislative Investigation Committee of the State Legislature from 1956 to 1965. Florida Senator Charley Johns chaired the committee, and its aim was to root out communist and homosexual teachers and students from state universities. It was successful in either firing or expelling more than 200 suspected gay and lesbian citizens. 

Watch The Committee, Wednesday, 6/25, 10:30 PM on the NC Channel. Streaming now on the PBS app.

American Problems, Trans Solutions 

In the U.S., Black trans people are among the most marginalized of marginalized Americans. Award-winning journalist Imara Jones shares the stories of trans leaders Kayla Gore, Breonna McCree, and Oluchi Omeoga who, despite the record-breaking number of anti-trans bills passed in 2023, are addressing critical issues surrounding economic empowerment and human dignity with heart and vision. 

Watch Local USA’s “American Problems, Trans Solutions,” streaming now on the PBS app.

What Happens When a Queer Muslim Meets a Lesbian Reverend? 

Set in Toronto, Ontario, this episode of Brave Spaces brings together two dynamic faith leaders to talk religion. Summeiya, the founder of the newly formed Queer Muslim Network, and the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, which just celebrated their 50th anniversary, share space, worship, and have a radical and powerfully candid conversation about reconciling queerness and faith. 

Watch Brave Spaces’ “What Happens When a Queer Muslim Meets a Lesbian Reverend?” streaming now on the PBS app.

POV Shorts: Jardines 

Jardines is an intimate portrait of the experiences and trajectories unique to displaced queer folks as they flee violence and persecution in their home countries. The film introduces us to people from all over the world as they contemplate the uncertainty of a future in the United States at a time when asylum legislation and LGBTQ+ rights are under legal duress. 

Watch POV’s “POV Shorts: Jardines,” streaming now on the PBS app.

Embracing Queer Asian Joy at a Dim Sum Drag Brunch 

Devin-Norelle visits Sky Dragon restaurant, where the Queens of Dim Sum host a monthly drag brunch. This episode, directed by Lulu Wei, a Toronto-based filmmaker and co-founder of New Ho Queen, celebrates queer Asian joy. In the face of assimilation and gentrification, these groups strive to preserve queer culture and Asian heritage and provide a chosen family for those in search of belonging. 

Watch Brave Spaces’ “Embracing Queer Asian Joy at a Dim Sum Drag Brunch,” streaming now on the PBS app.

Jared Dawson Is the Church of Lavonia Elberton 

After Jared Dawson’s family forced him out of his childhood home because of their staunch religious convictions, he discovered his alter ego as a radical drag performer. As “Lavonia Elberton,” Jared navigates a new sense of belonging and family within the LGBTQIA+ community of Atlanta. 

Watch Reel South’s “Jared Dawson Is the Church of Lavonia Elberton,” streaming now on the PBS app.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution 

From the basement bars of ’70s New York to the peak of the global charts, this is the story of disco: its rise, its fall ... and its legacy. Reveling in iconic tracks and remarkable footage, this is a powerful, revisionist history of the disco age. 

Watch Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution, streaming now on the PBS app only with PBS NC Passport.

Breaking the News 

Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy. 

Watch Independent Lens’ “Breaking the News,” streaming now on the PBS app only with PBS NC Passport.

Who I Am Not 

Sharon-Rose Khumalo, a South African beauty queen, faces an identity crisis after discovering she’s intersex. Her path crosses with Dimakatso Sebidi, a masculine-presenting intersex activist, as they both navigate a journey marked by society’s stigma and inner struggles. Intertwining raw reality with poetic beauty, Who I Am Not captures the heart-wrenching fight for acceptance in a binary world. 

Watch POV’s “Who I Am Not,” streaming now on the PBS app only with PBS NC Passport.