Educational Media Reviews Online

In the post-Stonewall gay movement, the phrase ‘we are everywhere’ was used to indicate the reality that homosexuals existed in all walks of life and are an integral part of every community. But in 1955 in Boise, Idaho there was little to no level of awareness of homosexuals in the community. When young men who had sold themselves to older, mostly married men in the community leaked some of their tales to the authorities, Boise exploded. This documentary pulls together details of the story from the young men who prostituted themselves, to the police and prosecutors, to the health professionals consulted, and to the men arrested and families ruined by all that occurred in the community.

The original concern of authorities was a fear for the well-being of the community’s youth. However within a short period of time, fanned by the media and within the social context of the 1950s, it became an effort to rid the community of the perversion within its boundaries. Eventually those efforts fail, leaving a shattered community. Because of the recent nature of the story much of it is told from interviews with people who lived through the experience. The film provides heavy documentation through print transcripts, court cases, newspapers articles and historical photographs. The strength of its documentation is sometimes also its weakness when the viewer can seemingly be overwhelmed by too much detail related to incidences. Despite that the film stands as an excellent starting point for the historical context of homosexuality in contemporary America. And it creates a platform for discussion of broader questions related to community standards of morality verses individual rights.