Mother's Day Musings

Me with my two daughters, Sara and Annabelle last summer, July 2012.

It seems appropriate that I make my first blog entry about TransJourney on Mother's Day.  After all, my role in this documentary is about how a mom reacts to learning she has a transgender daughter and how being transgender impacts her daughter Annabelle's life, as well as that of the rest of the family.  I'm not going to get into all that here, as that is what we will cover in TransJourney.  

The following photo is that of me in the hospital nursery after Annabelle's birth in 1983.  She is in isolation because she was born with an unknown rash at the time that they thought might be contagious, thus the mask and gown.  It became a non-issue and she was totally fine.

As I've become more involved in the development of the TransJourney documentary, I found myself also getting more involved in LGBTQ issues.  I joined PFLAG and now I've recently been appointed to their Board.  First I was involved in President Obama's re-election campaign running phone banks from my home.  Then I was approached about helping out with RI United for Marriage to pass Marriage Equality in RI, which I'm proud to say we won!  We held meetings, phone banks and made calls to key senators to ultimately win Marriage Equality for all Rhode Islanders.  All of this has re-ignited an old interest in activism that had been smouldering deep within me for years since my early 20's.  It's a welcome feeling.  It's energizing and exciting; but I do have to remind myself it's 40 years later and my body doesn't always cooperate with my heart!

We've been working very hard to get TransJourney off the ground.  Fundraising is NO FUN!  But, we have to do it to be able to make this documentary film.  Shifting Visions Films is a very small non-profit documentary film company that gets its primary funding through donations and grants.  Production grants are few and far between; so right now we're mainly looking at donations; although we still have a couple of grants applications out there.  So, if any of you are so inclined, please check out our campaign on Indiegogo.  It's a Flexible Funding Campaign, which means we get whatever is donated.  Even a small donation helps us a few more miles down the road!  Check us out at:  TransJourney Indiegogo Campaign