A 4 minute glimpse of what this project is all about...
Riot Acts
Riot Acts is a transfabulous rockumentary representing the whole lives of transgender and gender variant musicians, through a first-hand perspective of the intersections between gender performance and stage performance, culminating with the notions that identities and bodies are undeniably political, and the trans experience isn't always one of tragedy, but one of creativity and joy. Learn more about the full movie at http://www.actorslashmodel.com/
Tags: music, trans, performance, documentary, contemporary, independent producers, USA
Feminist Legacy
Michelle O'brien (who has worked with the Third Wave Foundation and the Silvia Rivera Law Project) speaks about the complicated history of the relationship between transgender people and the feminist movement.
Tags: Trans woman, feminism, second wave, BDSM, historical overview, New York, AIDS, health care
Then It Happened to Them
Louis Mitchell, a founding member of LAGADDA (Lesbians and Gays of African Decent for Democratic Action), speaks to sectarian differences and housing issues in 1980's San Fransisco.
Tags: San Fransisco, gay & lesbian community, African American, racism, gentrification
Fenced Out (introduction)
Fenced Out is a documentary produced by homeless LGBTQ youth in a partnership between Paper Tiger Television and Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment (FIERCE). It was created as part of a campaign to fight gentrification of the Christopher Street Piere in New York City.
Tags: Queer youth, GLBT community, New York, gentrification, homless, independent media, racism
Trans Masculinity & Feminism Part
This is the first in a series of clips addressing the relationship between Transmasculinity and feminism. This features Alex Pangborn, a transgender activist, talking about addressing sexism before and after transitioning.
Tags: Feminism, sexism, transman, transitioning
Bet Power I: The Archives
Bet Power, the curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives talks about the the archive's evolution from a lesbian library and what it has taught him about transgender pride.
Tags: Northampton, Feminist wars, New Alexandria Lesbian Library, Chicago
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Below is the text written by Bet Power for the Transgender Day of Remembrance held in Amherst, MA, November 20, 2007
"TDOR"
Every November I am devastated.
I count my people pulled up by the roots.
From the gardens of their lives,
Not like harvest in the fullness of fruition
Complete,
But even in a world of abundance
Torn as if worthless weeds yanked young and helpless.
Slashed, broken, trampled, tossed on a pile, debris.
More blows than necessary to kill,
Killed many times over
So their wildness will not return
And their wisdom will not spread,
Invasive to the status quo, the way things are.
Should I be thankful this month that those of us who survive
Come together perennially,
Not to nourish ourselves at a
Thanksgiving table of life’s bounty
But to sit shiva funereal,
Eyes welling tears, wailing the names of so many
Discarded ones?
I sit again in solemn ceremony,
My mind wanders, seeking a way out,
Escapes into a hungry vision of people
In procession carrying our autumn’s best.
We bend to pick up all that have grown before,
Lift acorn squash, sweet pumpkins,
Raise rutabaga high,
Remember heirloom tomatoes,
Carry corn stalks and chrysanthemums:
Varieties diverse and complicated.
Hybrids some,
Perfect all
In their ripeness self-fulfilled.
There is an opening in the distance, both exit and entryway.
Reality returns to me:
We are angry and hopeful holding our dead like taproots
As we march towards its light.
Above two columns of unshakeable granite
We read an inscription the marble arch reveals.
Etched in blood its keystone shows one word to us now.
TDOR, both ending and beginning,
It is our door to new freedom
And the word is “Pride."
What I Wasn't Prepared for
A college student returns from summer vaction to find that more had changed than they thought.
Tags: Contemporary, New England, student, youth, affordable housing, housing discrimination, transitioning, anonymous
Bet Power II: The Legacy
Bet Power recounts what it was like meeting Lou Sullivan, founder of FTM international, and talks about the legacy Lou left for him.
Tags: gay FTM, AIDS, DSM, San Fransisco
COMING SOON...
This Time Around
This is a clip from a longer movie created by ameteaur filmmaker Molik Harvey in which he talks about transitioning later in life as someone who is HIV positive. It includes interviews with his loved ones.
Tags: Transitioning, Person of color, FTM, HIV/AIDS
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