When We Rise chronicles the real-life personal and political struggles, set-backs and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women, who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today.
E1
In the two-hour premiere, as these idealistic social-justice fighters come out or are outed, they are forced from their jobs, their movements and their homes, and must escape to San Francisco in hopes of finding safe harbor. When their hopes turn to disappointment, they join the fledgling LGBTQ movement and together, locked arm in arm, set out to change the world.
E3
It is 1978, and Cleve Jones, Ken Jones and Roma Guy work together to fight Proposition 6, which would ban gays, lesbians, and their allies from working in California public schools.
E5
A decade has passed, it's the early 90s, HIV/AIDS continues to ravage the gay community, and Cleve, Ken and Richard now know they have this deadly disease.
Ken relies on Cecilia Chung's support as he struggles with addiction at a VA hospital. Cleve visits the Human Rights Campaign in D.C., where Richard Socarides lobbies for Bill Clinton to do better than "don't ask, don't tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act.
E7
It's 2008, and in the face of California's Proposition 8 stripping away the right of gays and lesbians to marry, a newly energized Cleve inspires a younger generation to organize a massive march on Washington D.C. to demand full, federal LGBTQ equality in all matters.
Cleve takes the battle against Prop 8 through the federal courts all the way to the US Supreme Court. Ken works with Cecilia Chung to get support for his church.