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Deep Dive: Murder on Middle Beach (2020)

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Murder on Middle Beach
In 1995, Kelli Peterson starts a gay and straight club at her high school in Salt Lake City, facing opposition from school authorities. The documentary connects her contemporary fight for acceptance with historical accounts, including the diary of 17th-century Puritan cleric Michael Wigglesworth, which offers a glimpse into the past attitudes towards sexuality. The film also covers significant figures in LGBTQ+ history, such as Henry Gerber, who worked to establish a gay-rights organization after World War I, and Barbara Gittings, who challenged the American Psychiatric Association's classification of homosexuality as a mental illness. It examines the contributions of Bayard Rustin to the civil rights movement and the long-term relationship between authors Sarah Orne Jewett and Annie Adams Fields, emphasizing the need to understand history to shape the present.

Why Watch

  • •Meet Kelli Peterson and her fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
  • •Find out about Henry Gerber's gay-rights organization.
  • •See Barbara Gittings challenge psychiatric views on sexuality.

Did You Know

•Kelli Peterson started a gay and straight club in 1995.
•Michael Wigglesworth was a Puritan cleric in the 17th century.
•Henry Gerber founded a gay-rights organization after World War I.
•Barbara Gittings challenged the APA's view on homosexuality in the 1970s.

Perfect For

LGBTQ+ history enthusiastsCivil rights advocatesHigh school activism