Pritiken: One thing Harvey [Milk] and that era has taught us is that once you come out of the closet
There should be no reason ever to go back in the closet
I'm content
But you shouldn't be content. It's your time to battle and go forth.
I used to leave the house without knowing where I was going and I didn't know where I was going until I got there
I always had my camera with me and somehow I wound up taking a picture
that I never intended to or even knew I was going to take to take
I know nothing about photography
Narrator: Jerry Pritikin's life unfolds at the intersection of Addison and Halsted,
streets in Chicago that are symbolic of the Cubs and the LGBT community
Pritikin is known for being Chicago's number one Cubs fan
But what many people don't know is that Pritikin was at the front lines of the Gay Rights Movement
in San Francisco in the '70s—and he documented a huge part of it
Pritikin: When I was shooting back in the '70s, even to '60s, I never thought of it [that]
I was recording history
And I got a lot of collections of the early Gay Rights Movement, the [anti]war movement
San Francisco becoming a major tourist attraction... I didn't go out with any intention to find something
It found me or my camera
Historian: There weren't a lot of people taking pictures yet of this
remarkable group of
largely gay men who were getting ready to launch
a consistent and purposeful
advocacy for the LGBT community, which, of course
accelerated during the time of AIDS.
But there was Harvey Milk and there was a whole bunch of other characters who
ultimately became the founding leaders of that portion of the movement's history.
They were all in the Castro and Jerry was a young guy just down there taking pictures
That wasn't just that he took pictures of them from afar
He actually took the time to meet them and get to know them.
I remember somebody saying to me
Are you aware that there's a new camera store a block away?
He said it was gay owned, and I went over there
I introduced myself to Scott Smith and Harvey Milk.
Narrator: Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist, who soon became
one of the first openly gay politicians in the U.S.
Pritikin: From that point in time, I usually bought all my film at Harvey's store
or had it developed at Harvey's store
It just was not, just, gay people. They were very influential in the neighborhood
Narrator: Although Pritikin exhibited his photos in a few galleries in the past
thousands of his photos still remain unseen in a small makeshift museum in Chicago
...his apartment.
Pritikin: This is one of the ones I shot the early 1970s with.
Narrator: Whenever Pritikin looks at his camera
he remembers a time before the movement.
Pritiken: It's hard to believe that (laughing) so many years have gone by
Narrator: There was a time when gay bars were raided by police
a time when he had to move from Chicago to San Francisco just to be himself
Pritikin: Gays didn't get respect. People didn't wanna know them, didn't want to understand them
Pritikin: So much has happened since the '70s.
It didn't happen overnight.
Today, people don't have to move to San Francisco to be themselves
Chicago was not a gay-friendly city when I was growing up, but I can vouch for 'em now.
This is a gay-friendly city.
I'm content...
... but you shouldn't be content.
Protester: Show me what democracy looks like
Protesters: This is what democracy looks like (chanting)
Pritikin: It's your time to battle and go forth
Whether they're politicians
or religious groups. We got to be aware of what they're doing
But we also got to be able to be aware that we must make ourselves be seen
Protester: Marriage equality fails to address many major issues
It doesn't get to the root of why black, trans, non-gender conforming people
continue to suffer from some of the highest rates of poverty, unemployment,
incarceration, and hate-motivated violence
(chanting) Black Trans Lives Matter
Pritikin: One thing Harvey and that era has taught us is that once you come out of the closet
There should be no reason ever to go back in the closet
Narrator: As Pritikin arranges photos in his apartment, he does not think of selling them.
Pritikin: I am looking for repositories,
because some of it is baseball, some of it is gay, some of it is politics.
There's many different aspects, and I would like it to be seen
and people who want to know about it could find it.
Pritikin: I'd like to think that that there's somebody out there who might read something about me,
that I might have some bearing on, there, where they are happy with themselves