st. petersburg, florida –
Florida teenagers see what it feels like to see a movie set debut at a festival as transgender people around the world celebrate recognition and lawmakers across the country seek to limit their rights and care. I have recorded.
Nineteen-year-old Carys Mullins, who is gender nonconforming and uses she and they pronouns, describes their experiences in the documentary You’re Loved. It will premiere on Friday at the Gender Film Festival.
“That’s the big part of this festival,” Mullins said. “Watch us for a big part of the Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival.”
“You’re Loved” debuted at a time when transgender and nonbinary youth’s access to gender-affirming care is under attack across the country. Florida, Missouri, and Texas have regulations banning the use of hormones that delay puberty and gender reassignment surgery for minors. At least 11 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and West Virginia—enforce gender-affirming care for minors. It is prohibited by law.
Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly 20 states are considering bills to limit or ban healthcare this year.
Mullins makes a lot of comparisons when describing what it feels like to be a gender nonconforming person in your home country.
“I feel like I’m under a microscope.”
“I feel like we’re all in the circus.”
“For people who don’t know that you’re transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, you feel like a kind of guinea pig. They don’t see us as human beings.”
Mullins weaved the perspectives of three young transgender people from Florida, Texas, and Illinois with mental health providers, advocates, and allies. They sent participants a series of lists of questions according to their role in the documentary and compiled the recorded responses together.
Topher Malone, a black transgender high school student in Round Rock, Texas, said participating in the documentary gave him a place to be himself.
“I could share my story,” Malone said. “And, as you know, those opportunities don’t come around often, especially for black transgender youth.
Malone spoke at a Texas House Commission hearing on Monday about the measures to try to limit care. I was.
“I’m a young man. I go to public school. I’m supposed to get support from the government,” Malone said.
The bill will have a measurable impact on the well-being of transgender youth. According to The Washington Post, half of transgender adults between the ages of 18 and 34 say they have considered suicide in the past year, and nearly a quarter have suffered from self-harm, eating disorders, He said he had a history of alcohol and drug abuse. – KFF Poll on Transgender Adults in the United States
Nearly eight in ten transgender adults overall say that living as a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth has made their lives more satisfying, according to polls.
But polls also show that transgender adults are less satisfied with their lives than the adult population in the United States as a whole.
Transgender adults are particularly likely to report feeling anxious, depressed, or lonely in the past year. About two-thirds say they have faced discrimination based on their gender identity or expression. And 78% said they experienced serious mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety, when they were growing up.
Jonah DeChanz, senior research scientist at The Trevor Project, said:
But as grim as the numbers are, DeChants doesn’t want to be the sole focus of the conversation about transgender youth. He also notes that polls and research show that access to adult role models and identity-affirming communities can play an important role in lowering suicide risk.
“Especially for me, as a scientist and a former youth worker, it is really exciting to see data that firmly shows that being on the side of young people is important.
Florida-based psychologist Dani Rosencrantz, who also participated in the documentary, sees herself as part of this larger support system for the young transgender and nonbinary people she works with. Despite the challenges she faces working as an LGBTQ2S+ therapist in Florida, Rosenkrantz hopes to provide a space for her clients to not only process their grief, but find joy in their identities. increase.
“Our lives are not just about these terrifyingly sad real-life statistics that are really important to know and resist, but also beautiful and thriving people,” said Rosencrantz.
Mullins hopes their documentary will resonate with transgender people and the community at large. They consider love messages universal.
“At the end of the day, stripped of those labels and identities, the whole point of this movie is that you are loved and seen, no matter what your experience is,” Mullins said.
In Texas, Malone finds joy in many places. Underground ballroom events, online communities, and even Monday after the hearing. Malone said there was a rally when they left the state capitol after midnight, with people screaming, laughing and dancing.
“There was a sense of community,” Malone said. “In that moment, there was a sense of transgender joy.”
