AMERICA YOU KILL ME
A feature documentary about gay rights warrior Jeffrey Montgomery,
and the ongoing struggle for equality in the midwest.
Who was Jeffrey Montgomery?
July 18, 2016, marked the day we lost our brother, friend, a leader, activist, and steadfast warrior for social justice and LGBTQ equality. In his life, he touched countless souls with his fierce intellect, and abundant sense of humor,
Jeffrey's story, the focus of the upcoming documentary “America You Kill Me” , due out this autumn, was a man of many facets.
Although his awareness as a gay person began when he was very young it was a pivotal moment that changed him into a fierce warrior for LGBTQ civil rights and protections in America.
In 1984 his partner, Michael, was shot to death outside a Detroit gay bar, prompting Montgomery to engage in LGBTQ advocacy. He started work on LGBTQ anti-violence issues upon learning that the police were not spending many resources on solving the murder, "just another gay killing".
In 1991 Montgomery became the founding executive director of the Triangle Foundation and served until September 2007. Initially engaging in victim advocacy around LGBTQ violence and to improve the handling of LGBTQ-related cases, the foundation's work expanded to LGBTQ civil rights and advocacy, with projects for anti-violence, media activism, and legislative education on LGBTQ civil rights.
Within the movement, he was a staunch advocate for inclusiveness knowing that to create progress for LGBTQ civil rights the fight would need to include all sexually discriminated groups such as transgender people as well as black and brown members of the LGBTQ community.
Montgomery was widely quoted in media outlets on LGBTQ issues and high-profile LGBTQ-related crimes, such as the murder of Scott Amedure in 1995, and the murder of Matthew Shepard. Montgomery to attend the trials of Shepard's killers. In 2001, Montgomery was a featured participant in an A&E Network documentary about the Matthew Shepard case.
According to Cathy Renna, a friend of Jeffrey’s and communication director of the National LGBTQ Task Force in an ADVOCATE July 25th, 2016 article about Jeffrey’s passing:
“Without His (Jeffrey’s) involvement helping to unravel the “gay panic defense” I do not think we would have seen the important progress we did in the years that followed if not for Jeffrey’s hard work and dedication to the truth”.
“Jeffrey knew that our movement was one based on freedom and love, not fear and hate. He was a role model in his confidence and pride in who he was, in every way. He was fearless and honest about his own struggles with loss and addiction and quietly helped so many others deal with their struggles”.
Jeffrey Montgomery’s activities and honors over the years always were intertwined in his unceasing effort for LGBTQ civil rights right up to his untimely passing from a heart attack on July 18th, 2016. He was 63. Here, in part, are a few key moments.
- Montgomery was the co-chair of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), for which he was also a national spokesperson.
- He was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crimes, the Bias Crime Response Task Force of the Michigan Commission on Civil Rights, and a board member of the ACLU of Michigan.
- He was one of the founding board members of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (also known as the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance) in 2003 and remained active with the organization until his death.
- He was also an inaugural member of the WikiQueer Global Advisory Board and served as Strategic Counsel to the wiki's parent organization, The Aequalitas Project.
- Montgomery was among a group of LGBTQ activists, representing NCAVP, invited to Washington, D.C. for meetings beginning in 1997 with senior policy officials at the White House.
- In 2000, he delivered the inaugural Matthew Shepard Memorial Lecture at Brown University. That address, "America...You Kill Me," was dedicated to Matthew Shepard.
- In 2002, Montgomery was invited, with other LGBT leaders from across the country, to meet with and inform United States Senators about the issues and challenges facing the LGBTQ community.
- In 2004, he helped organize opposition to Michigan's same-sex marriage constitutional amendment, passed later that year.
Honors for Montgomery include:
- The Detroit City Council honored Montgomery with the "Spirit of Detroit" award three times.
- The Michigan Legislature twice commended Montgomery with special tributes.
- In 1997, he received a Golden Apple Award from the Roeper School.
- In August 1999, Montgomery was named one of the "Best and Brightest" national LGBT activists by The Advocate magazine.
- Montgomery was named, along with twelve others, a "Michiganian of the Year" for 2002 by the Detroit News, stating "He turned personal tragedy into a fight for gay equality".
- In May 2003, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm honored his work with a special tribute, calling him a "hero and living legend". The governor also noted that he was "among the most visible and accomplished advocates for safety and equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Michigan history".
- He received the Liberty Bell Award from the State Bar of Michigan at their annual meeting in September 2006.
- Montgomery accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pride Banquet and Awards Ceremony in Warren, Michigan on June 25, 2010.
- In September 2012, the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance honored Montgomery with its Vicki Sexual Freedom Award.
- In June 2019, Montgomery was one of the inaugural fifty American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn. The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
PROJECT UPDATE 4.24.21
From Daniel Land, Director, “America You Kill Me”
We know that it’s been a while since we’ve had the opportunity to update folks on the status of “America You Kill Me”, the Jeffrey Montgomery documentary. Fortunately, we have been much better at making progress than we've been at communicating about it. So, this will be a bit long – but in short, things are going very well right now!
As you know, we were gearing up to finish the film a year ago, with a premiere set for the Freep Film Festival on 4/22/2020 - before Covid changed everything. It had also been accepted at the LA Queer Film Fest, which we hadn't even announced before everything was shut down. We decided to turn this into an opportunity to re-assess the edit, rethink the structure, and improve the film. That edit was dramatically re-arranged to become leaner and more focused. The film you will see in 2021 is far stronger than the one we would have been able to premiere last year.
This brings us to some major milestones:
- Finalizing sound design
Our new edit has been officially locked, and a few weeks ago the film was sent out to LA to our sound designer, Jimmy Dixon. The final Audio Mix is now underway!
- Original Soundtrack Creation
Audra Kubat, a well-known Detroit-based singer/songwriter, and creator of our sound score is currently doing the final waves of recording and mixing for the original music. The score is going to feature a few unreleased instrumental versions of some of her most recent songs. These were originally used as placeholders, but they have worked so well that she is sculpting some of the remaining work around them. She wanted to share one of them, a song entitled 'Tear Out Your Eyes', as a download with you here:
- Upgrades for animation and visuals and more
We have been gradually upgrading animation, maps, motion graphics, and shooting new B-Roll to improve the illustrative visuals as much as possible. The licensing process is also underway, which means securing rights to use various archival photos and video.
This short video helps explain that process (we made this a few months ago as part of our last Facebook live stream event):
https://vimeo.com/496387347/c9ca7115d1
- A major visual enhancement for AYKM
With the help of an unexpectedly cool new software tool, we have also been updating the entire film timeline from 1080p/2K to 4K resolution. 4K is the current industry standard - something distributors expect nowadays - but we started this thing 8 years ago, and most of the early material was shot on older cameras. Because of this, we had been resigned to simply do a 2K Master of the film, but the new tools have made it possible to upgrade that footage to 4K in an indistinguishable way. It’s taken some additional time, but we think it dramatically improves our chances of being seen by a wider audience, both in sheer image quality and by virtue of having the current 2021 technical bona fides.
Updates will be coming faster now. Please visit this website as well as our Facebook page often for the latest developments. On behalf of the “America You Kill Me” team thank you all so much for standing with us and supporting this project with your intention, generosity and patience.
So many of the battles depicted in this film continue to rage today, and the story of Jeffrey Montgomery and the Triangle Foundation are as relevant and vital to share as ever.
The following program now available on YouTube
Special Event Announcement
We are proud to be a part of this year's Woodhull Foundation's Sexual Freedom Virtual Summit streaming event on Facebook Live. Stay tuned for more details on this important event.
View 7.18.20 Program
A great discussion about Jeffrey, his work and influences from those who worked with him as well as insight into the upcoming documentary "America You Kill Me"
Media Coverage of "America You Kill Me"
