Rewriting the Script: A Love Letter to Our Families
Dublin Core
Title
Rewriting the Script: A Love Letter to Our Families
Subject
A video that focuses on how family members respond when other family members come out as GLBT.
Description
The video features, among others, Rupert Raj with his sister Amala. They and other families discuss the coming out of family members. While these families experienced minimal trauma (in the form of parents and siblings choosing to accept and adjust), some commentators note that coming out can present a spiritual crisis for all when the family is unwilling to allow a flexible adjustment.
Strict religious beliefs and social mores often dictate this rigidity. This is why a person coming out can feel great shame and believe there will be no acceptance of their gender or sexual identity. Even when the child is a cisgender gay or lesbian, they still may commit suicide upon seeing no acceptance of who they are. The video notes that suicide can be a way of not having to confess to the family that one is queer.
It was not yet known when this early film was made that the rate of suicide attempts is highest for trans people. The risk rises even higher when the trans person feels compelled to change or modify their biological sex to align with their felt gender, as Rupert Raj did.
The video makes the point that in South Asian societies coming out places one immediately at odds with culture and religion which are obstacles the survivors and their relations must navigate. As a result of the stresses generated, some who come out abandon religion altogether, and others seek to find space within their faith or create new forms of faith more suitable to them. However, the video does acknowledge how ancient South Asian religious traditions have always provided space for sexual differences and gender variance that the dominant religions do not.
Strict religious beliefs and social mores often dictate this rigidity. This is why a person coming out can feel great shame and believe there will be no acceptance of their gender or sexual identity. Even when the child is a cisgender gay or lesbian, they still may commit suicide upon seeing no acceptance of who they are. The video notes that suicide can be a way of not having to confess to the family that one is queer.
It was not yet known when this early film was made that the rate of suicide attempts is highest for trans people. The risk rises even higher when the trans person feels compelled to change or modify their biological sex to align with their felt gender, as Rupert Raj did.
The video makes the point that in South Asian societies coming out places one immediately at odds with culture and religion which are obstacles the survivors and their relations must navigate. As a result of the stresses generated, some who come out abandon religion altogether, and others seek to find space within their faith or create new forms of faith more suitable to them. However, the video does acknowledge how ancient South Asian religious traditions have always provided space for sexual differences and gender variance that the dominant religions do not.
Source
Produced and Directed by Friday Nite Productions, a Toronto-based collective of South Asians. 2001.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lMb-58MH4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lMb-58MH4
YouTube Video Item Type Metadata
YouTube ID
b2lMb-58MH4
Citation
“Rewriting the Script: A Love Letter to Our Families”, The Historical Development of BIPOC Trans-Spiritual Leadership, LGBTQ Religious Archives Network, accessed November 15, 2024, https://exhibits.lgbtran.org/exhibits/show/bipoc-trans-spiritual/item/2162.