Vito Russo

Life and work

Vito Russo was born in 1946 in Italian Harlem (East Harlem), Manhattan. Growing up, Russo was disturbed by the stereotypical portrayals of gay people in media. After witnessing the Stonewall riot in 1969 and hearing about another raid the following year, Russo became avidly involved in the emerging Gay Activists Alliance.

Russo obtained his undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and earned his Master's in film at New York University. While earning his Master's, Russo also worked with the film departments at a Gay Community Center and New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was his interaction with these communities that led to the synthesis of his politics and works.

Russo developed his material following screenings of camp films shown as fundraisers for the Gay Activists Alliance. He traveled throughout the country from 1972 to 1982, delivering The Celluloid Closet as a live lecture presentation with film clips at colleges, universities, and small cinemas such as the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco and the Hirschfeld Biograph in Dublin. In both the book and in the lecture/film clip presentation, he related the history of gay and lesbian moments – and the treatment of gay and lesbian characters – in American and foreign films of the past.

Russo worked for a time for The Emerald City on Channel J, where he interviewed public figures including John Waters.

In 1983, Russo wrote, produced, and hosted a series focusing on the gay community called Our Time for WNYC-TV public television, that was co-hosted by Marcia Pally. This series featured the nation's first GLBT hard news and documentary video segment produced and directed by social behaviorist D. S. Vanderbilt.

Russo's concern over how LGBTQ people were presented in the popular media led him to co-found the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a watchdog group that monitors LGBTQ representation in the mainstream media and presents the annual GLAAD Media Awards. The Vito Russo Award is named in his memory and is presented to an openly gay or lesbian member of the media community for their outstanding contribution in combating homophobia. Russo was also actively involved in the AIDS direct action group ACT UP.

Russo appeared in the 1989 documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt as a "storyteller," relating the life and death of his lover Jeffrey Sevcik. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 62nd Academy Awards.

In 1990, Russo spent a year at the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching a class, also titled "The Celluloid Closet". He enjoyed being a professor, spending lecture breaks smoking and joking with his students.

Also in 1990, Merrill College at UC Santa Cruz established Vito Russo House to promote Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender awareness and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for queer, straight-supportive and all students who value and appreciate diversity. The house tailors its programming to meet the needs of LGBTQ students and offers all an opportunity to build understanding and tolerance.