REVIEWS--GAY PRIDE MONTH JUNE 2021







As a gay man I have been puzzled about transgender people because, in spite of what was said about gay men 70+ years ago, I never wanted to be a woman nor have I been exactly PC with drag queens. I did at one time, in the 1950s, have a relationship with Paul who I thought was a crossdresser but now that I think of it he might have been transgender though little was known about it at the time. This was just before Christine Jorgensen, an army veteran, who in 1951-1952 had sex reassignment surgery and made headlines when she came home from Sweden. (As an aside she went to Christopher Columbus High School which I, also, went to 2 years after she graduated but she is never mentioned there.) It wasn't until 22 years later that Renee Richards, a tennis champ, came out as transgender and battled to play in the women's division!

Due to "Changing the Game" and "Growing Up Trans" I have become more understanding of transgenders and though we have many things in common regarding being 'different' and 'coming out' they have a much harder time and looked at differently than gay people, even from those of us who should know better.

The more I learn about them--and I have a lot more to learn--the more I admire their tenacity, their struggle and their bravery.
"Changing the Game" (HULU) follows 3 high school athletes and how they navigate, fight to stand/play where they belong. "Growing Up Trans" (Prime Video) focuses on children and how they are handling their sexuality, mainly before puberty, of who they know they are and how the parents deal with it, in most cases with the father having the hardest time. It also emphasizes how doctors and researchers acknowledge the kids are pioneers.

For the record "The results included the following LGBTQ suicide statistics: LGBTQ youth were 3.5 times as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers Transgender teens were 5.87 times more likely Gay and lesbian youth were 3.71 times more likely Bisexual youth were 3.69 times more likely to attempt suicide than teens who identified as heterosexual." (https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/lgbt-suicide-statistics/)

PLEASE WATCH "GROWING UP TRANS" AND "CHANGING THE GAME" AS A DOUBLE BILL.

"Adam" (HULU) is a 'Hollywood' satirical look, and not too good, at the above problems!


Renee is still alive and active as a doctor--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards