When We Rise

Episode 1

Part I

Mon, Feb 27, 201786 mins

1972. Cleve, a Quaker living at home in Phoenix with his psychologist father and activist mother, decides to wait until he is eighteen to come out to his parents for fear that if he did it earlier that his father, who sees homosexuality as a disease, would use what Cleve considers some extreme form of therapy to "cure" him. Now at an age of majority, Cleve decides move to San Francisco to live in what he hopes is a safer environment than home with his father. He will find that San Francisco has its own hazards for a young, gay man. Turning to the activism he learned from his mother, Cleve further finds that he will have to carve out his own niche in the changing face of the city and times. Working with the Peace Corps, Roma decides to leave Togo, where outward forms of affection between two women such as hand holding is normalized, and leave her girlfriend Diane, who she knows she may never see again, to go where she feels her calling is stronger, namely working for women's rights under the National Organization for Women (NOW) at the national headquarters in Boston. Roma, not yet having come out for wanting the emotional support of her Catholic family, finds that the direction of at least the national office does not mesh with her being a lesbian, so decides to move to San Francisco to work at one of the regional offices where she will test the waters. Although there are other lesbians among the ranks at NOW in San Francisco, Roma will find that there is still a diverse range of opinions among the women activists she meet. Despite the anti-man feeling among some, Roma decides her activism should not only include others under oppression, including men, but that men can be used to their advantage. And naval sailor Ken is stationed in Southeast Asia, where he is carrying on a clandestine relationship with fellow sailor Michael. Their military plans go awry, which leads to Ken being reassigned to Treasure Island in San Francisco, where he will be involved in a program to ingrain racial tolerance into naval personnel, especially officers. Although he is comfortable being a black man, having had the support of other black people while he was growing up, he cannot say the same for being gay. He knows he cannot officially come out to the military, he searching for guidance from what he knows, namely the church. Ken will have to decide if the support he does receive from another source will be what he wants in his life, especially if that support includes facing the oppressors.