Last night, the documentary, Trinidad, was shown as part of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival. We organized a group to go to dinner and see the film through TENTex. Prior to the film, we met up at the Spaghetti Warehouse. If you visit the Austin area, this is likely a restaurant you may want to skip. It is located right in the Warehouse district, and is reasonably priced, but it not the best Italian food in the world. Fortunately, the company was much better than the food. I don’t want to complain too much about the food, since it is a restaurant with ample space and reasonable enough to accommodate everyones budget. Dinner gave me the opportunity to meet a few people who I had not had a chance to meet, so for this it was a wonderful meal. I elected for the chicken alfredo, which was not really very tasty, but I was hungry, so it served a purpose.
After dinner, a few of us rushed ahead to the theater to make sure we got tickets for everyone, unfortunately you could not buy tickets in advance. The theater, which we were told was just a few blocks away ended up being six or seven blocks away. Half way through this walk, I figured out that my shoes, which I had only worn once before, were starting to rub on my toes. It ended up being a bit of a painful walk, not to mention I was going to have to walk this distance back to my car at the end of the evening.
Anyway, we got the theater only to find a very long line in front. This is not your average metroplex with 500 screens. It only has two screens and is an Alamo Draft House cinema. For those of you not familiar with Alamo Draft house, these are theaters in which there is full service dinning during the film, and yes that included beer, wine, and mixed drinks. Because there are tables at each row of seating, the theater probably only hold half of what a similarly sized theater will hold. When we got the front of the line, we realized the theater was going to be packed. I had to wait while they tried to figure out how many seat were left. In order to keep our group together, which numbered 15 or so, we had to sit in the front row. You know, the row where you are looking almost straight up to see the film. The last time I sat in that row was when I was ten years old and went to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with my best friend. Again those were the only seats left for us.
Were were very fortunate to at least get seats where we could all sit together. Once seated, we were introduced to the directors of the fild, PJ Raval and Jay Hodges. These are two local film makers, so even though the film was about Trinidad, Colorado, it was really kind of an Austin film, which is pretty cool.
For those of you who have not heard of the film, Trinidad is about Trinidad, Colorado, and follows not only Dr. Mari Bowers, but also two other trans women, and takes a look at the setting in which Dr. Biber began his practice, and the setting in which Dr. Bowers continues his work. One of the reasons the directors chose this location and this particular surgeon was the apparent dichotomy of GRS being done in what is essentially a frontier town.
Trinidad has a population of approximately 9,000 souls, and is very much still a part of the wild west. It is not unlike many towns you would find in West Texas. For those of you who have never ventured into West Texas, let me tell you it is probably not the most LGBT friendly part of the state, and is probably very fundamentalist is their view points. It was interesting to see in the film that despite the apparent similarities to such areas, Trinidad is really a very accepting place. When you get past all the churches and pick-up trucks, you find a town that is really at ease with the idea that Trinidad is considered such a special place for many in the transgender community.
One thing I had a difficult time with the in film was the fact that some considered Trinidad to be a kind of spiritual center for the transsexual community. This view just did not sit well with me. I can understand and appreciate the importance that this location plays in the lives of trans women who had had their GRS performed in Trinidad. This is not small even in the lives of these women. But, to say that it is more important than other locations where GRS is being performed really, to me, minimizes the importance of those other surgeons and locations to the women who travel there to have their GRS performed. I tend to take the point of view that the trans community is extremely diverse, and when we place a value on one path to transition or one surgeon over other, we minimize the experience of those women who have chosen a different path or a different physician.
Anyway, back to the film. The film also followed two trans women who planned to open a recovery center for women having their GRS performed by Dr Bowers. These women liquidated what they had, and planned to renovate a house and open it as a recovery house within six months. The renovations ended up stretching out over a year. During the course of that time, I sensed this real resentment that Dr Bowers was not helping to fund the renovation and help open the house.
This resentment really bothered me. The project, at least to my knowledge, was not started because Dr Bowers asked them to do it. Instead, it felt as though these women wanted to be a part of Dr Bowers success, and expected her to embrace their efforts fully and support them in their efforts. There were several things that went wrong along the way, and I can completely understand Dr Bowers not getting financially involved in the project.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I am still mulling over many aspects of it, and considering much of what I saw and learned. It is thought provoking. Not only does it make one consider the journey of transition, but it also makes you consider the idea that not everyone is as they may appear. Just as we ask that people not judge us for being trans, we have to realize that we cannot judge everyone else on how they appear. Trinidad, CO may appear from a distance to be a town that would not be accepting of the transgender community, and would be an unlikely place for GRS surgery to be occuring. Yet, the town supported Dr Biber when he was alive, and they welcomed Dr Bowers into the community to continue Dr Biber’s work. Dr Bowers continues her work in, of all places, a Catholic hospital in a town on the edge of civilization.
I may write more about this film later, as I reflect more on the film, the issues present in the film, and the people involved. This film really touches on many aspects of transition, family, children, acceptance, employment, prejudice, and the journey of self acceptance. If you have a chance to catch a screening I would highly recommend it.
After the film, I got a chance to go out with some friends to a bar across the street. This was an opportunity to talk more about transition and just spend time with some good friends. One topic that came up was about comfort, and being comfortable in a new gender role. This is an important topic to me and I will talk about it in my next post, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
One last thing I do have to mention, mostly because I am sure Tiana is dying for me to write about it. Last night I got hit on for the first time. As we walked into the bar, I was approached by a guy who asked me if I was 21. I said that I was. He then asked if I was really 21, and flashed a badge. I again said that I was over 21. He said we wanted me to step to the back of the bar with him. I asked him to se his badge again, he then used the line he was working his way up to. He asked me to step to the back of the bar and ,”Put you legs behind your head.” Obviously a seriously bad way to pick up on a woman, but flattering none the less. We laughed and and pleasantly declined. I think I left that interaction bright red and with a big smile on my face. Tiana teased me about it the rest of the evening. It was certainly flattering, and very much a confidence booster. Having at one time wondered if I would ever pass to being hit on in a regular bar was definitely something that boosted my confidence. And this happened well before midnight, so the guy was not even drunk yet!
All in all this was a wonderful evening and just nice to be able to go out in the middle of the week. unfortunately I am going to be missing out on some media training being given by GLADD this weekend. I was really hoping to be able to make that, but it was not in the cards this week. I hope they will offer this training again in the near future. Hope the rest of you had a great week and have a great weekend!
