Over the Rainbow: a documentary about LBGTQ youth

To the passersby at the Calgary Zoo, the four-year-old boy perched on rocks windmilling his arms must have looked like a child dreaming of flight.

But when his mother, Carmen, asked what he was doing, the young Chad replied, “I want to kill myself.”

Shocked by his answer, Carmen asked the inevitable question, “Why?”

Chad’s reply was simple, yet revealing. “I want to talk to God. I want to ask God why he put me in the wrong body. I’m a girl.”

That revelatory moment forced the family to focus on gender identity and what it means to live in a society that can be outright prejudicial – even violent – to whoever fails to meet the quote-unquote normal standards.

For the past two decades, the transgendered Chad, now Marissa, has walked a path of endless exclusion, pain, loneliness and depression.

Her story along with that of three other transgendered youth is part of the documentary film Over the Rainbow screening on Saturday, Oct. 22 at St. Albert United Church.

“We want to show people what is happening in the LBGTQ community and in particular to transgender youth,” said Betty Mackey, chair of the church’s affirming committee.

The United Church affirming committee works towards promoting inclusiveness and removing barriers of age, gender, race, ability, class, economic status, and in particular sexual orientation and gender identity.

Right from the get-go Chad faced barriers. He attended school during the day as a boy, but in the evenings and weekends he would be his true self – a girl.

“She was distressed endlessly not acting like a girl, but trying to act like a boy should act,” Carmen explained.

Working with a gender identity clinic and regular visits to a psychiatrist eased some of the stress. By Grade 7, with the psychiatrist’s permission, Chad began transitioning into Marissa, a name borrowed from the Pixie Tricks Series.

Marissa also changed schools to start as a girl only to find certain ironclad rules in place.

“We were told she was setting a precedent. She wasn’t allowed to use student washrooms. She was told to use the staff washroom and only if she was escorted by a teacher. And if any parents complained they would end the experiment. It was a difficult way to proceed, but there wasn’t any other way,” Carmen said.

After graduation, Marissa received gender reassignment surgery, but she never fully came out.

“She became extremely depressed and very suicidal. Her psychiatrist suggested she attend Camp fYrefly. The girl I dropped off was a very different person than the one I picked up. The acceptance she received outside the family was extremely important and made all the difference in the world to her,” Carmen said.

Over the Rainbow’s creative director Micheal MacEachen was also profoundly affected by how Camp fYrefly saves and changes lives within the LGBTQ community.

Originally from Montreal, MacEachen attended an Edmonton conference of the United Church’s affirming committee where the keynote speaker spoke about Camp fYrefly’s successes.

A few years ago, MacEachen moved to Calgary and immediately joined the camp’s fundraising arm. The committee was eager to make a five-minute promotional video and approached MacEachen’s marketing company, MSquared2 Productions, to film it.

After hearing four young people’s searing stories, MacEachen suggested scrapping the promotional video in support of a documentary to be circulated for educational purposes. His goal was straightforward – demystify LGBTQ individuals.

During the pre-production stages while mapping out the concept, MacEachen adopted a parallel Wizard of Oz focus.

The major stories centre on Marissa (Dorothy), Ezra (Tin Person), Chase (Scarecrow) and Austin (Lion).

Not only is a rainbow the LGBTQ symbol, but MacEachen also noted that the documentary’s interviewees were searching for home in the same vein as Dorothy.

And Dorothy’s companions, the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Person were also searching for courage, wisdom and heart; qualities they felt made them complete.

“Their (Marissa, Ezra, Chase, Austin) lives were truly in black and white. They went through different situations and when they found Camp fYrefly, they found they could bloom and their lives were in colour,” MacEachen said.

The 50-minute, no-budget documentary filmed in 2014 was completed over a one-year period. Several partners including the Fairy Tales Film Festival and EMMEDIA stepped up to provide studio time and student filmmakers that ran lights, sounds and cameras.

The documentary premiered at the Fairy Tales Film Festival in May 2015 and later debuted again in October of that same year at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

“It’s so powerful. Every time I watch it, I’m so affected by it because the stories are so raw,” said MacEachen.

As an LGBTQ youth growing up in Montreal MacEachen faced a great deal of ostracism including having his school locker set on fire.

In looking back he said, “If we had had an organization like Camp fYrefly, our lives would have been so different. Just seeing this resource is a part of the healing we’re doing so they don’t have to.”

Edmonton Vocal Minority Choir kicks off the evening followed by the screening. A panel discussion with MacEachen, members of the cast including Marissa and Carmen, local fYreflies and Jan Buterman, a former St. Albert teacher employed by the Catholic School District, conclude the event.