There is no doubt about it, the world is changing. A new wave of LGBT icons, like Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox and Ruby Rose are ushering in a new area by redefining how we see human sexuality and gender.
However, while great steps are being made there are still some major hurdles to overcome. The stigma attached to many in the LGBT community doesn’t just wash away. Hate doesn’t fade out over night and justice doesn’t just rise up with the morning sun. Many LGBT youth are still struggling everyday, not just with their own identities but with how the world see’s them.
That is why Emmy Award winning director, Elizabeth Rohrbaugh, made Dylan. Based on interviews with Rohrbaugh’s real life friend, Dylan Winn Garner, this new short film aims to help the LGBT community and their allies to take pride in who they are. The amazingly talented Becca Blackwell plays the film’s titular character, and takes on us a heartfelt journey into the life, memories, struggles and victories of a transgender man.
Part of having a conversation is having the right vocabulary. Some people choose to disrespect a transgender person by not acknowledging him/her/them with the proper pronoun. However, many people are just confused, and genuinely mean no disrespect.
The truth is even some transgender people struggle with what to call themselves, as Dylan details in one section of the film:
“I started dating Kelly, a F to M, that’s a female to male tranny. And he was my first significant steady sweetheart, or I say boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever. We hung out and we dated for like four months.
“He wasn’t on hormones, no chest surgery or anything. He was just really trying to figure out what he was doing with his life. So I was super, super supportive of him. And he totally overcompensated he would be like, ‘I’m the boy, I’m the boy,’ sort of thing. So I would play the girl to his boy.
“I’d ask him, ‘Kelly do you want to me use boy pronouns or girl pronouns,’ and he would be like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.’ He was so unsure of himself. So I for a while would say he and she, and it felt to associate either pronoun with him.
“Than I would start hanging out at his house and his housemates would say she, so that ingrained for me. And I never really saw Kelly as a girl. I definitely saw Kelly as his own gender, kind of like a tranny gender. He has a gender that he is, you know, just the way that you have a gender that is you and I have a gender that is me. I don’t know, I guess it is hard to explain.”
It is this kind of honesty that fills the just over eight minute long monologue. When Becca is speaking as Dylan, you can really feel the emotion and heart of the character. You don’t see a woman on the screen, or a man but a human being. An honest and heartfelt human being with stories like everyone else. With memories, emotions, love, hurt, pain, joy, blood and tears the same as everyone else.
“I hope that this film will ring true and feel real for many people, both in the community and not,” Rohrbaugh says in a press statement. “This is a true story developed into a performance piece, but is all real and from a very formative time in a person's life. This is how this person came to his identity and hopefully can help inspire others to embrace their own journey of self-identity.
“While this process is a challenge, this story has a happy ending and I hope to show that despite the struggles that come with transition, the evolution and end result are beautiful and truthful” the director adds, while defining the stories moral. “I hope that it can show transgender people (particularly youth) who may be struggling that they are not alone in this process and that what is waiting for them on the other side is worth it.”
Do yourself a favor and take nine minutes to get to know Dylan. You will be glad that you met him.
www.dylanmovie.com
www.facebook.com/dylanshortfilm
www.outerboroughpictures.com
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