GLAAD’s funds will help cover promotion, media outreach and visibility assistance, Deadline reports, all of which will be crucial to the success of a film being released at a time when the Trump administration is trying to ban trans service members altogether:
“With an administration fixated on removing rights from trans Americans and banning them from military service, it is more important than ever to amplify the experiences of trans service members,” said Zeke Stokes, VP of Programs at GLAAD, a veteran of the fight to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. “The powerful stories in ‘TransMilitary’ are vital to fighting against Trump’s proposed military ban and ensuring full equality for all service members, who wish to do nothing more than serve the country they love and keep their commitments to the military.”
The movie was directed by Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson, creators of the 2015 New York Times short opinion documentary Transgender, at War and in Love, on which the forthcoming film is based. According to TransMilitary’s website:
We are now on track to release our full feature length documentary, right around the time in early 2018 when Secretary of Defense Mattis must report to the President on if and how he will implement the new policy. But in truth, our film is not about this ban, nor about the President, nor the military. It’s about how we treat people differently based upon their gender. It’s about humanizing transgender people through the lens of the military. Right now we see transgender celebrities, actors and athletes but we don’t know the transgender Americans who have less privilege and yet put their lives on the line to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You can watch Transgender, at War and in Love online here. TransMilitary will be released in 2018.
