Leftist! Gay! AIDS Activist! Let me Introduce you to My Friend the Mayor, featuring Sean Strub

With the political climate being what it is today, it is time for a change within our Nation and as we know change can begin anywhere!

When a liberal, openly gay/HIV+ man tells Dutch journalist Max Westerman he is running for mayor in a conservative Trump-supporting town in Pennsylvania, Westerman wants to know if his friend is crazy or if there is something about small-town America he doesn’t understand. The result is a funny and inspiring film showing how democracy can work at the local level in the age of Trump.

Max Westerman, who was the U.S. correspondent for the largest commercial television station in the Netherlands for 20 years, met Sean Strub when he first moved to New York in 1979.

You may be familiar with Sean’s LGBTQ and AIDS activism. He founded POZ magazine, produced the hit play The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, was the first openly HIV-positive person to run for Congress and heads the Sero Project, which combats HIV criminalization.  His book, Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival, was published by Scribner in 2014.

When Sean told Max he was running for mayor of a small county seat in Pennsylvania, in the heart of Trump country, Max didn’t think he had a chance.

But when Max visited during the campaign, he was struck by how Trump supporters—including Sean’s campaign chair—disconnected the ideology of national politics (Sean is an outspoken leftist) from the practical realities of local politics.

The resulting documentary, “My Friend, The Mayor; Small-Town Politics in the Age of Trump,” was selected to premiere at the Palm Springs Documentary and now is available on Amazon Prime.

Trailer My Friend the Mayor from Max Westerman on Vimeo.