Too Queer and Too Communist

In 2023 Netflix produced a sanitized biopic of Bayard Rustin, one of the great political organizers and strategists of the civil rights movement. Because he was both gay and a former member of the Communist Party, he was forced to operate in the shadows of Martin Luther King and other civil rights luminaries. Skip the Netflix biopic and go directly to the 2003 documentary, “Brother Outsider,” which gives the lowdown on Rustin’s life and accomplishments. Patricia Kullberg reads a review of the documentary by Robert Kuttner, titled The Real Bayard Rustin, published on November 22, 2023 in The American Prospect. You can rent the DVD at the Multnomah County Library or stream it for free on Kanopy.