During our Virginia Outlaws Tour last October, WVTF's Sandy Hausman interviewed director Drew Emery in Charlottesville. Listen here.

400!

Congratulations Pete-e, Jane, John, Frank, Dayna, Tammy, Leslie, Heather, John, Susan, Aubree, Laramie and the rest of our fearless Outlaws! Much to our delight, your stories are still going strong, still empowering communities, still enriching congregations, and still very much moving the ball forward inch by inch in our effort to change hearts and minds across the country.

What's also exciting is that we have a pretty good idea of where the next 400 screenings are coming from:

Introducing our Equality Deal, a fantastic way to let anyone screen the film for free — while raising a little money for their own efforts to create change. In a nutshell, any activist, school, congregation, non-profit or Equality organization can buy a reduced price package of DVDs, sell them at their screening for full price, make back all their money and keep the difference for their cause.

Oh, and we give them the screening license for free.

We think it's a pretty cool way to empower the grassroots while making sure our stories get told to even more audiences.

If you know someone who can host an Inlaws & Outlaws event, share this on Facebook or Twitter or email. They can get all the details here.

We're excited. It has been a long, long journey to get to this point — much longer than any of us realized it would be. But the rewards are best measured by the way the film continues to bring people together to celebrate love. So, from the storytellers to our fearless crew to our army of supporters, sponsors, volunteers and screening hosts — you all deserve to take a bow.

Want to screen Inlaws & Outlaws for free? We figured out a way to offer you just that — plus a way to earn your organization money in the process. Our new Equality Deal is designed to give you an easy, affordable and accessible way to empower your community with an Inlaws & Outlaws event.

• First, choose an Equality Deal package that fits the size of the screening you'd like to have. They come in Small (up to 75 people), Medium (up to 200 people), Large (up to 350 people) and X-Large (up to 750 people).
• Each package comes with reduced price DVDS - and a voucher for a free license for a commensurate size screening.
• Register your screening with us and we'll set up a web page for your event and give you access to free customizable posters and flyers, etc to promote your event.
• At your screening, sell the DVDs at full price. Your screening will be free, your DVDs paid for — and you can keep the difference for your cause.

Example 1: Host a Small Screening

Say you want to raise awareness with a small screening at your school, church or temple. You could purchase the small screening license for a screening of 75 people or less for $100.

OR you could buy the 12-DVD Equality Deal package for $175. We sell the DVDs to you at a reduced price and your small screening license is free. At the screening you just need to sell 9 of your DVDs at full price to make back all of your money. And every DVD you sell after that earns $20 for your organization. Simply put, instead of spending $100, you could be earning money for your group.

Example 2: Have a Fundraiser for Your Organization

Let's say you want to raise money for your local equality organization, PFLAG chapter, GSA or other non-profit. You could purchase a large screening license for a screening of 350 people or less for $300.

OR you could buy a 50-DVD Equality Deal package for $550. Each DVD is just $11 and your screening license is free. At the screening you just need to sell 33 of our DVDs at full price to make back all of your money. After that, every DVD earns you $20 for your organization. Instead of spending $300, you could be earning up to $600.

Better yet, let's say you charged $10 admission. That money's yours too. For example, you could charge admission to cover all of your costs - and then offer DVDs as thanks to those at the event who donate money to your cause. We've done it and it works.

Example 3: Build an Outlaws Posse

Perhaps you want to collaborate with other groups to create change. You're inspired to organize a local Outlaws Posse! (What's that? Check out this video.) Your Posse decides to host 5 small screenings in 5 local schools or congregations. You could buy small 5 small screening licenses for $500.

OR you could buy a 100-DVD Equality Deal package for $1000. It comes with a $500 voucher good for one screening for up to 750 people. But you could also use it towards 5 small screenings for free! Each DVD is fully half price. At your events, you'd need to sell only 50 DVDs to make all of your money back. After that, each DVD sold at full price earns your effort $20. Instead of spending $500 on licenses, you could be raising up to $1000 for your cause.

Example 4: Partner with Us

Let's say you're already in the equality biz. Like us, you are in this for the long haul. You know that real change takes commitment, outreach, money and education. But to spark it all, it takes passion.

We'd love to give you passionate supporters one audience at a time. In fact, we'd love to give you our film for unlimited free screenings in your state! Imagine partnering with dozens of community organizations large and small to host events that spark dialogue, build bridges, and raise money for your organization. We believe our true stories can be the ultimate tool for building broad support for full marriage equality.

If you'd like to partner with the Hearts + Minds Campaign, then contact us and we'll figure out a way we can win/win together.

The possibilities are endless. The bottom line is that we want you to succeed at creating change in your community — so we're committed to making Inlaws & Outlaws as affordable and accessible as possible.

The Fine Print: We have a few rules of the road to keep us from going bonkers and to keep our prices low. Read our Community Screening License.

Need more info? Download our Screenings and EQ Deal FAQ. Questions? Ideas? Give us a call!

This is a film with a mission: to show that love is neither gay nor straight — it's human. If this sounds akin to your mission, then we've got the movie for you.

In the years since he told his story in Inlaws & Outlaws, my friend Chuck Lazenby shared his humor, wisdom and good spirit with many thousands of people.

On Thursday, September 17th, Chuck Lazenby passed away after a long illness. He was 78 years old.

I first met Chuck in 2002 at an open call for The Bridge, an inter-generational oral history project I was working on with the as-yet-unopened Seattle LGBT Community Center.

Still, however modest he seemed, something obviously compelled Chuck to step forward and out of his comfort zone. I would find out just what that was when, one week later, we spent an hour together at the Center putting it to tape.

When we began the interview, Chuck seemed the same self-effacing mumbler with the hangdog expression. But as his narrative unfolded, so did he. There's nothing quite like being heard to build trust. And there's nothing quite like bottling up one's story for seventy years to build a sense of urgency.

You see, Chuck had been in the closet for nearly his entire adult life. Until this point, he had been managing two storylines: one for the public, and one for only a trusted few.

Over the course of that hour, Chuck gradually knit together the disparate pieces of his life and, in doing so, he shrugged off his reserve. Indeed, the joys and pain of his journey became animated in the telling and I was able to see him for who he really was. I felt myself drawn into his world and couldn't help but be humbled by the challenges he faced being out for the first time in his seventy years. While I could see that he was beginning to reap the benefits of a new life of openness, I was also aware how hard it would be for him to find a role in a community that didn't always have open arms for its own elders.

I needn't be too troubled though. Before my eyes, Chuck was carving out a role for himself; here was a masterful storyteller both willing and able to bear witness to a history of oppression most of us can barely imagine.

Two years later, my own role as storyteller taking hold, I spent a hot August afternoon taping a fuller version of Chuck's oral history for Inlaws & Outlaws, my first feature documentary.

Our interview was as relaxed and open a conversation as one can have with production lighting bearing down on a stifling set and a crew of eight lurking in the shadows. I already had an inkling of the power of his tale — as well as the subtle charm of the man. But even I hadn't realized that Chuck had come fully prepared to lay himself bare in a manner I had never witnessed before.

This time we got the full story, starting with his humble beginnings on Queen Anne, the youngest of five, a child of the Depression. Chuck told us of running away at 16 to escape the frequent beatings of his alcoholic father, and catching a bus to LA with no friends and little money. He allowed that he'd spent a few "wild" years figuring out how to survive on his own before returning to Seattle at 18. He told us of working at a coffee shop at 4th and Pike, and meeting David Asplund, a WWII US Air Force veteran and the man with whom he would spend the next fifty years.

Their relationship had its ups and downs like any other but Chuck and David devoted themselves to making it work. When Chuck spoke of the pride he felt in building a happy home life that contrasted so starkly with his own growing up, his love for David was palpable. And as he related the indignities of closeted life circa 1950s — the twin beds and the alibis — he didn't shy from the shame or absurdity of it all.

And when, in unsparing detail, Chuck recounted what it was like to watch his lover die in bed beside him, to be widowed while in the closet — no condolences, no memorial, no community rushing in to support him, the full measure of his grief was self-evident. He told of his consequent fall into despair, of the indignity of having a funeral home director deny him the veteran's flag from his partner's casket because although he had lived with David for fifty years, "he wasn't family."

Chuck then told how isolation and grief led him to give up on himself. With the one person who truly knew him suddenly gone, Chuck resolved to end his life. One rainy night, drunk and despondent, he headed toward Mukilteo where he intended to drive off the pier. To steel his nerves, he pulled into a parking lot on the way and downed more liquor. It happened to be the First Congregational Church of Everett, a welcoming church, and, a chance encounter with those there saved him. For the first time in his life, Chuck became aware of a part of the world that didn't judge or reject him for his sexual orientation.

From there, a slow road to recovery began — a road that eventually led back to Seattle, into a community he had only been vaguely aware of and finally, here before us, into the role of proud elder and storyteller.

When he finished his tale, the room was hushed with reverence. I can honestly say it had been the most privileged two hours of my life.

A year later, Inlaws & Outlaws premiered, and my brother was in the audience. Sometime during the film, he had a startling realization when he noticed that the powerful forty-foot talking head on the screen was the mild-mannered elderly man sitting in the seat in front of him. Afterwards, he confided that Chuck's story had affected him the most; indeed, he identified with Chuck.

I was taken aback. Here was a gay man in his seventies, and my brother, a straight truck driver and jock from rural New Mexico was identifying with him. The explanation wasn't all that complicated; Peter told me that he loved his wife so much that he could understand how hard it would be to lose her after fifty years. Chuck had not only made that real for him, it gave him perspective on what mattered most — the love we allow ourselves in the here and now.

Such is the power of story — the true story we are each living out and which only some of us have the courage of living out loud.

When more and more people heard Chuck's story, strangers would come up to him on the bus or at the supermarket to thank him or shake his hand. Many offered words and deeds of kindness that profoundly moved him. He was often embarrassed — though I occasionally caught glimpses of him being secretly tickled by the phenomenon. One day he said to me, "I don't understand how people can be so kind to a total stranger." Retaining his humility to the end, Chuck didn't seem to be aware that for many of us, his sharing his story with strangers was also an act of kindness — and one of great courage.

In 2007, we began a theatrical run of Inlaws & Outlaws that happened to begin on Flag Day. At the Cinerama, many of the film's storytellers were present, including Chuck. Also in the audience was Grethe Cammermeyer. She had arrived in civilian clothes but during the closing credits, she peeled them off to reveal a full dress uniform underneath. We had acquired a flag from Senator Patty Murray's office that had flown over the US Capitol one year prior. On behalf of all of us present, Colonel Cammermeyer presented Chuck with the flag — to honor the service of his partner, David, and to recognize, at long last, Chuck's own sacrifice. For all of us, it was a moment to reclaim some dignity from the cruelty of institutionalized discrimination — but also a chance to embrace one of our own for his quiet heroism.

I will miss Chuck dearly for his warmth, humor and shameless manner of flirting. I will be ever grateful for all he shared with us, both by way of telling his story and by the example of his life. He had faced more pain and indignity than I could ever imagine but, eventually, he was able to rise above it all, his heart fully intact.

Chuck Lazenby is now laid to rest at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, next to his beloved David. It's only a few short blocks from where he grew up on Queen Anne Hill, but a long and remarkable journey to a place where he can truly rest in peace.

— Drew Emery

Chuck is survived by his sister Lucille Hillis, nieces and nephews, his good friends George & Cory Glisson-Munier, and his good friend and caregiver Michael Santovec.

Donations in memory of Chuck Lazenby may be made here to the True Stories Project through our fiscal sponsor Three Dollar Bill Cinema.