DANBURY, CONN. — A founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, journalist and author Vito Russo was a forerunner during a crucial period of social change and author of “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.”

Michael Schiavi, author of “Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo,” tells Russo’s life story from his childhood in East Harlem to his living with HIV/AIDS. Schiavi, a professor from the New York Institute of Technology, will be on the campus of Western Connecticut State University at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, to discuss Russo as a man who helped define gay-rights and AIDS activism.

The event is free and open to the public and will be held in the Student Center Theater on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. The event is sponsored by the WCSU Office of Multicultural Affairs and Associate Professor of English and co-director of American Studies Dr. Don Gagnon.

Published in 2011 by University of Wisconsin Press, Schiavi’s biographical work has received critical acclaim and has been hailed as “one of the most complex and compelling historical narratives of gay male life and culture in the later decades of the twentieth century,” by Cineaste magazine.

For more information, contact Gagnon at (203) 837-8062.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.