From Nat Hentoff's new Village Voice column, An Indispensable Gay Man .

"On Monday, January 20 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), the Public Broadcasting Service (Channel 13 in New York) will air Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. This long-due tribute vividly brings back to life a man who deeply and brilliantly influenced the course of the civil rights and peace movements."

"Because Bayard never hid that he was gay, he was abandoned, for a time, by leaders of both movements in this country. He died in 1987, and late last year, hundreds of residents of West Chester, Pennsylvania, where Rustin was born, signed petitions protesting the decision of the school board to name a new high school after him."

Hentoff says the film, Brother Outsider, "is a thoroughly honest portrait of Bayard and his tumultuous times." Hentoff knew him well in those years and says Bayard was a mentor to him. Go read the whole thing and then check out the movie site. (link above.)