About the Film

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

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

"A picture to make you scream" (The Nation), BALLOT MEASURE 9 offers terrifying inside views of a divisive gay-rights battle and the brutal incivility it provoked across the state of Oregon. A “Yes” vote on measure “9” would mandate teaching that homosexuality is “abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse” and would revoke any civil-rights protections based on sexual identity. The inflammatory rhetoric led to the inevitable surge of anti-gay harassment, physical attacks and even murder. Local activists feared for their lives, families were torn apart and neighbor set against neighbor. 

Director MacDonald ducks behind the headlines to bare the passions and strategies that drove both sides. Culled from hundreds of hours of material shot over the nine months leading to the election, BALLOT MEASURE 9 tells a story of driving urgency. As the violence escalates, the documentary acquires the tension and suspense of a fiction film.

Winner of jury and audience awards internationally, including the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, and frequently named one of the best films of the year, "this just might be the next training manual on how to rescue the soul of America." (B. Ruby Rich)

“One of the year's outstanding documentaries.” 
-Seattle Times
"Burns with energy." 
–Bar Area Reporter
“Riveting ... emotionally sizzling.”
 –San Francisco Chronicle
“Chilling portrayal of the epidemic of racial and anti-gay hatred.” 
– Toronto Globe & Mail

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    “Easily one of the best movies of the year, positively simmers.” 
    –LA Weekly
    "Remarkable portrait of modern politics in dramatic action."  
    – Toronto Star

    "Unnerving." 
    –The New Yorker
    "Breathlessly paced." 
    –Newsday
    “Chilling and suspenseful.”  
    –New York Post
    “Incisive and deeply troubling account.” 
    –Los Angeles Times
    "Cuts to the heart of the current political climate.” 
    –The New York Times