Ballot Measure 9

A Long Struggle for LGBT Rights

"A far-ranging expose of hate politics that crosses lines of race, religion and sexual identity." - B. Ruby Rich

BALLOT MEASURE 9 is the chilling true story of the unprecedented violence unleashed by an anti-gay campaign in Oregon, when activists slept with guns under their beds and had full-time police protection.

Winner of jury and audience awards internationally, Sundance-winner BALLOT MEASURE 9 offers terrifying inside views of the struggle state-wide. Inflammatory rhetoric led to a surge in anti-gay harassment, physical attacks and even murder. Activists feared for their lives, families were torn apart, neighbor set against neighbor. Director MacDonald ducks behind the headlines to bare the passions and strategies that drove both sides, telling a story of driving urgency. As the violence escalates, the documentary acquires the tension and suspense of a fiction film.

The chasms that tear this country are no less divisive today. The film's vivid illustration of both the politics of intolerance and a successful broad-based civil rights campaign remain instructive for a new generation of voters and educators, placing in context the long road to equal rights. "This just might be the next training manual on how to rescue the soul of America." (B.Ruby Rich)

"A picture to make you scream" - The Nation

"Mandatory viewing for those who are still fighting to make America a true democracy." - Los Angeles Weekly

"A chilling portrayal of the epidemic of racial and anti-gay hatred." - Toronto Globe & Mail

"Incisive and galvanizing." - New York Times

"Easily one of the best movies of the year, it positively simmers." - L.A. Weekly