More often than not, the LGB community omits and neglects the people and importance of the T in our acronym. Despite being dubbed by various news outlets as “The next civil rights frontier”, it is all too easy to misunderstand, misrepresent and misplace the transgender community. In Just Gender, director George Zuber seamlessly weaves together important statistics and personal experiences in order tell a story we all desperately need to hear.
The title—a play on the word ‘just’—points out the social injustice that many of our trans community members experience on a daily basis. As the movie demonstrates, transgendered people are more marginalized that their heterosexual and gay counterparts. This educational film explores a number of misconceptions, including the confusion between sexual orientation and gender identity, the restrictive gender binary, and the necessity for understanding. These topics are further developed as the audience is encouraged to draw connections between money and brutality, illuminating the reality that many of our trans brothers and sisters live below the poverty line and are subject to numerous deaths each year.
While Just Gender incorporates some archival footage and stills, it is mainly a compilation of interviews of transgendered persons, family members, health care experts, and community leaders. Through the stories of these individuals, their spouses and allies, the film explores the isolation, discrimination and despair felt by many transgendered people. However, it is also a film of hope, concluding with a tone of growing awareness, acceptance and activism. Tackling the journey of the individual, Just Gender highlights the ability to embrace one’s own life and identity, evoking a personal connection that will make it easily accessible to a diverse viewership. It removes the stigmas that are perpetuated by the media of the transgender community and challenges the audience to question commonly held notions of what it means to be male and female.
Narrated by Tony and Emmy-award winning actress Bebe Neuwirth, Just Gender has a multi-city launch for National Pride Month this June. It has screenings in 18 cities across the United States including San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, and Denver. It recently played to standing room only audiences in Tulsa, Fort Lauderdale and Chesterton, Maryland.
There will be a showing at the Human Rights Campaign, 1640 Rhode Island Ave NW, on Tuesday, July 17, 2014 at 6:30 p.m.
