Lesbian/Gay TV: Produced in Rhode Island

A pink triangle in the Rhode Island Desert?

Imagine flipping channels in the 1990s. Infomercials, old sitcoms, made-for-tv movies. Suddenly, flash!—a group of people standing in the West Greenwich sand dunes of the colloquially named “Rhode Island Desert” hold a large pink triangle together. Flash!—a person in a gorilla suit throws sand while surrounded by half-buried televisions that show static and pink triangles. Flash!—LGTV: Lesbian/Gay TV Rhode Island.

Television at that time had become what the internet is to us now. In spite of efforts to control, censor and suppress the pervasiveness of television, the medium now belonged to everyone. There was no bigger indicator of this than the advent of public-access television, where any Rhode Island citizen could create a television show that would be broadcast throughout the state. Like shortwave radio before it and YouTube after it, with public-access TV, broadcasting companies allowed anyone who had something to say to be able to say it to the world. 

During the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, communication and community building were crucial for LGBTQ+ people as traditional media intentionally suppressed information about the virus. Furthermore, it was very rare for LGBTQ+ people to see themselves portrayed favorably—or portrayed at all—in any medium. At the time, the pink triangle, a symbol for gay men in Nazi Germany, was reappropriated to honor our queer ancestors and used as a way to show who you were in a way that the average cis-hetero person may not notice. The pink triangle in the Rhode Island Desert was a flashy 1990s eye-catcher, but it was also a bold statement: We are here, and we will speak out for ourselves in Rhode Island.

Taking cues from MTV, traditional news sources, and PBS, LGBTQ+ volunteers came together in the early 1990s to create television for their community in Rhode Island through public access. LGTV, or Lesbian/Gay Television Rhode Island, was a compilation show of 5-10 minute segments, each looking at the lives of LGBTQ+ people from a different perspective. These segments included reviews of film and books; updates on pertinent issues; information about helplines and social events; and footage from events like Beyond Right Now, an international conference of queer elected officials, the Barons and Baroness Ball, and the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in 1993. Bravely representing their people and speaking their minds, the creators of LGTV made Rhode Island a place where LGBTQ+ people didn’t have to be alone.

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