REEL GENDER Film Series presents "Out in the Cold" - 11/03
Join us for the best in transgender film! Our REEL GENDER Film Series continues with the documentary Out in the Cold, a compelling exploration of vital, unaddressed issues for homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual youth.
An estimated 1.3 million American young people are homeless, dying at a rate of 13 per day. It is further estimated that about 500,000 of these young homeless are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Experts assert that within 48 hours of leaving home, 42% of these kids, straight or gay, turn to prostitution to survive.
In a straightforward, talking-heads format, Out in the Cold introduces about a dozen young people who either have been thrown out or driven out of their homes when they came out to their families, and they all have horror stories. Much of the documentary was shot in Indianapolis, which means that Out in the Cold plumbs the depths of homophobia in America's heartland--and unsurprisingly finds it virtually bottomless.
According to the documentary, all the parents who cast out their children, who had already endured harassment at school, did so out of a conservative religious conviction so strong it outweighed any consideration as to how their offspring are going to survive.
Such parents, says Rhea Murray of Seymour, Ind., an inviting-looking rural community right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, probably had always regarded their children as property rather than individuals. She should know, for she had to struggle to accept that her own son, Bruce, is gay. In accepting him, she has paid the price of being ostracized by her church and neighbors, but she has also become the only person many youngsters in the area can turn to for help and guidance.
Another rural Indiana youth describes how lucky he was that his grandmother took him in after his father cast him out, telling him he hoped his son would die of AIDS. His grandmother stood by him when her minister told her not to shelter her own grandson.
Directed by Martin Bedogne and Eric Criswell.
The first film project funded by the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the 51-minute film received the Best Documentary Feature Award, sponsored by Alizé.
The film is FREE and refreshments are provided. Stick around after the film for thought provoking discussion.
