Amazing trans movie experience today...

[SugarMagnolia]

I attended a showing of the film "Man Made" today at the local theater in the small town in which I grew up and currently reside. The event was a fundraiser for Prism Q, a new org in our area whose mission is to bring resources to our rather conservative county to support LGBTQ people, family, friends and allies. I didn't know too much about the movie but was aware that it had won some awards so I was looking forward to it.

The movie is a documentary of several trans men body builders and delves into their lives, family,  and experiences, but focuses on their paths to compete in Trans FitCon, the only all-transgender bodybuilding competition in the world. I've posted a link to the movie site and if you ever get the chance to watch it, do it! It's really amazing to hear these guys stories. Though I'm trans feminine I connected with the trans men in SO many ways and I was brought to tears many times by their struggles and their victories. It's a very powerful movie.
http://www.manmadedoc.com/

What I really didn't expect, though, was how much the experience of going to see the movie in my home town would mean to me. Our town has a population of around 12,000 and when I graduated from high school here in 1985 (I know...I'm old! ?), the idea of event like this here was not something I could have ever imagined. I was working a table outside the theater to promote our local PFLAG group, a sponsor of the film, and so I got to see everyone come and it just made me SO happy! We had folks from the queer community in Sacramento that made the drive, young trans men still in high school, older trans women who work with the VA to make transgender care accessible, and tons of family, friends, allies and members of the LGBTQ community of every age, race and ability. It was just incredibly heartwarming. ❤️

After the film was shown, we had a small panel and some Q&A featuring one of the body builders from the film that grew up here and some other trans men from the region. They were wonderfully thoughtful, well spoken and caring and it just made me proud to see them sitting there out, visible and speaking their truth!

Finally, a non-binary person who's a guitarist/singer closed the event with a song that they'd written for this event and for the transgender day of remembrance. It was beautiful, very powerful and included a sing along at the end that left everyone feeling wonderful. 

I'm sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share how great today was and encourage everyone to keep their eye out for this movie. It's worth watching!

Hugs, Julie

[VickySGV]

A special time for us, and people make it that way!

 

[Carolyn Marie]

Thanks for the heads up, Julie.  If I hear about it in this area I'll check it out.  Vicky and I keep each other informed of such events.

 

Carolyn Marie