Trans, Two-Spirit, and Non-Binary Resources

These four short documentaries explore the varied identities of trans and gender expansive youth and young adults. In Tomgirl we meet Jake, a gender expansive seven-year-old who invites us into his world of hockey playing and skirt wearing to explore the transformative power of support from adults. Next, experience the story of a young Hawaiian girl who aspires to become the leader of her school’s boys-only hula troupe, and an inspiring teacher who uses traditional culture to empower her in A Place in the Middle. Monica’s Story traces the journey of resilience and self-acceptance of Monica Rose. Finally Passing explores what life is like living as a black man, and how each man perceives his own journey with gender after many years of being presumed as a cisgender man.

When Johanna, a 16-year-old transgender Latina, begins her transition and gets kicked out of her home and school, she finds a foster family who loves her and a supportive school principal who helps her graduate and thrive. Becoming Johanna is a compelling story that follows the struggles transgender teens face every day. In the end, Johanna refuses to let her mother's rejection define her life and she continues the journey toward becoming comfortable in her own skin. Johanna's story is as beautiful as she is, and will leave you hopeful that we can build communities that accept all of our children just the way they are.

Pink or blue. Male or Female. Mommy or Daddy. Categories that we all take for granted are broken apart in transparent, a documentary about 19 female-to-male transgender individuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, gone on to raise their biological children. Transparent focuses on its subjects' lives as parents, revealing the diverse ways in which each person reconciles giving birth and being a biological mother with his masculine identity. Traditional views of gender are further re-examined through the variety of genders the children use to conceive of their parents. The first-person stories in Jules Rosskam's in-depth documentary explain how changing genders is dealt with and impacts the relationships, if at all, within these families. On the surface, this is a story about the perceived anomaly of transgender parents. However, the film's true stories are those of typical parents, regardless of gender, as they deal with issues like single parenthood, teen pregnancy, and their children's emotional and physical development. Through these extraordinary men, the film challenges the ways that people relate to one another, particularly within our immediate families, based on gender.

Thy Will Be Done follows Male-to-Female Transsexual Sara Herwig in her journey to ordination in the Presbyterian Church. The Church’s conservative groups do not recognize Sara as female and challenge her fitness and eligibility to be a pastor. In addition, it is crucial to Sara’s success that she has support from friends and family. The documentary explores the way in which alternative lifestyles and permanent choices of identity have the power to tear a family completely to pieces, only to bind it back together again, more closely but differently, than it has ever been before.Thy Will Be Done highlights that point of tension where gender, family relationships and faith intersect as contextualized in the Presbyterian Church in particular, and in the broader religious community in general. At issue is the organized Christian Church, with all its political and financial power, as one of the fiercest battlegrounds for LGBT rights and gender recognition. And as for Sara, she actively seeks not only to participate in the Ministry as an openly transgendered person, but as an activist she seeks to transform a world – spiritual and otherwise – that operates by conventional notions of sex and gender. Sara’s journey weaves an absorbing story of struggle, hope, and the celebration of the human spirit.

The majority of the victims of hate violence homicides in the United States are transgender women. Transgender people of color are six times more likely to experience physical violence from the police. Shelly "Treasure" Hillard, a young African American transwoman, died violently in 2011. She is one of many, and this is her story. Director Dream Hampton does not shy away from the gruesome reality of Treasure's murder, but heart-wrenching interviews keep the focus on Treasure as a friend who conveyed "24-hour realness," as part of a vibrant local trans community and as a sister and daughter loved by a family that supported her living her truth. But Hampton's deft hand also shows the viewer affirming safe spaces within the desolation of the city, such as the Ruth Ellis Center, where trans justice advocates and outreach workers teach classes and rally around each other to promote healing in the aftermath of a tragedy. Treasure's murder isn't merely a hate crime; on a broader level, it is a travesty that displays the interworking consequences of society's failings: racism, transphobia, the exploitation of sex workers, classism, systematic oppression, government indifference, and the continued criminalization of Black bodies.

Trans is an extraordinary documentary feature film about men and women… and all the variations in between. It begins with the story of Lt. Commander Christopher McGinn, a Navy flight surgeon selected by NASA to serve on two space missions. But, upon his discharge from the armed forces, Chris McGinn would set out upon a different mission…from which he was never to return. Now Dr. Christine McGinn is able to tell her own amazing story and provide an entrée into a complex and dramatic world that is “Trans.” Some of the stories include Danaan, a 7 year old MTF who knew who she was at 2 years old and has spent the rest of her short life making believers out of her parents and the rest of her world; Cris, who has only recently come to the realization that he is transgendered and is about to break the news to his lesbian girlfriend that he is not a lesbian; Pam and Erica, who have never met before now, but they have been living the same lie for over 50 years. Now, in their mid 50s, they are undergoing transgender surgery and are about to risk everything to be able to live as their authentic selves. We learn the tragic story of Chloe, who graduated High School and left her small town with her best friend to live in a place where she could start life anew and experience the freedom and excitement of living her authentic self. There she collided with the fear that every trans person must struggle to overcome just to survive. Stories of extraordinary people who face fear, discrimination, ignorance and violence in the hopes they might one day be able to live…ordinary lives.

They came for the hormones and stayed for the healthcare. These are the pioneering patients of the first free clinic in the country for trans folks, 1993 in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. More than a film about a clinic, the filmmakers had access to the unvarnished stories of 12 courageous individuals, who share their life experiences in the "Bad Old Days" decade by decade-- from the closeted 1950s, through the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s-- all illustrated by amazing (and fun) archival imagery. The second half of the film shows what a difference the groundbreaking Transgender Tuesdays clinic made in the lives of the country's most medically underserved, misunderstood, and despised minority.

A moving documentary on what it's like to be transgender, to grow up in the wrong gender and eventually transition to a different sex. A documentary designed to record, share and celebrate the personal stories of transgender women and men and their stories of struggle, of courage and of triumph. Though they vary in age, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds, each person has fought to cast off the gender assigned to them at birth and embrace their true selves. The decision to transition from one gender to another is a life changing one not just for the transgender person but for their family and friends. Encouraging classroom discussion, this program helps students to think of the differences in each of us in a positive way, breaking stereotypes, acceptance, challenging prejudice and increasing visibility for the transgender community.

Six short films delve into the lives of transgender & gender expansive young adults appear in this collection. Narrative short Eddie tells the story of a young Latina who's just one of the boys and a VIP in the neighborhood kickball game. Eddie confronts her sexual and gender identities when an embarrassing moment forces her to step up to the plate. From climbing trees to shooting hoops, Donna Carter's childhood and adolescence was all about smashing stereotypes and glass ceilings. In the experimental short Tomboy, she explores how following her own dreams and instincts allowed her to become a college basketball star, sports writer, and the publisher of the first ever women-in-sports magazine. In the honest and compassionate documentary The Bond, the father of a transgender child shares his family's story; what it was like when his child came out, how their relationship has changed and how their bond continues to strengthen. Animated musical Bikini offers an entertaining take on finding the courage and acceptance to express one's gender with honesty and style. Finally, Two-Spirit People explores the berdache or "two-spirit" tradition in many Native American cultures, in which individuals who embody feminine and masculine qualities are understood as a third gender, beyond man and woman. Told through powerful personal testimony, archival photos, and clips from Hollywood Westerns, this ground-breaking documentary, one of the first cultural works to revive the term "two-spirit," offers a unique overview of historical and contemporary Native American concepts of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation.

Family living under one roof in New York must deal with a life-changing transformation by one that ultimately affects them all. Ray is a teenager who has come to the realization that she isn't meant to be a girl and has decided to transition from female to male. His single mother, Maggie, must track down Ray's biological father to get his legal consent to allow Ray's transition. Dolly, Ray's lesbian grandmother, is having a hard time accepting that she now has a grandson. They must each confront their own identities and learn to embrace change and their strength as a family in order to ultimately find acceptance and understanding.