[00:08] editorial Spotlight events love and fair a journey to safety I'm salima Hussein and I'm a senior video producer here at Insider news on the news and documentary team thank you everybody for joining us today for coming joining virtually
[00:22] um we're here today in honor of pride month and we're focusing on stories that highlight the triumphs and the challenges of the lgbtq plus community specifically the challenges facing the transgender Community across the country
[00:39] um there have been several policies pieces of legislation targeting the transgender Community particularly in Texas where Governor Greg Abbott has
[00:52] introduced anti-trans legislation last year there was a directive that sought to investigate parents of transgender kids for child abuse and
[01:04] transgender kids for child abuse and this directive sparked chaos theory and anxiety for many many families many different emotions different emotions um one of these families was Violet
[01:16] Augustine and her transgender daughter Issa who lived in Dallas at the time of this directive because of the uncertainty around this directive and around everything else going on Violet made the tough but the
[01:32] important decision to move from Texas to California in search of a better life for her and her transgender daughter Issa so we wanted to start off this conversation by sharing a clip from our upcoming film moving Issa
[01:48] upcoming film moving Issa that depicts a very intimate scene with Violet and Issa getting ready for bedtime so we wanted to go ahead and bedtime so we wanted to go ahead and play that clip
[02:08] to be our last night in this house no you don't think it's weird I mean we have had a lot of days here I spent a lot of
[02:22] days and nights in this house I sure have that's true you don't want to deal with um
[02:35] or not you just don't in this house it's okay we can have complicated it's okay we can have complicated feelings that's true
[02:51] brush the front you're welcome
[03:04] is it yep everything about this is scary she told me that she doesn't like her penis she asked me like do girls without
[03:16] penises understand girls with penises if she decides she wants gender reassignment surgery that is not an easy road to take if she wants to present
[03:28] more masculine that is not her easy road to go down but that doesn't matter to me because my only job as her parent is to support her
[03:41] only job as her parent is to support her but it's hard
[03:54] well as activist Aaron Reed who tracks anti-lgbtq plus legislation around the world Aaron was also one of the first people to share a Violet's story on social media I'm also joined by Insider senior cinematographer Adam Miller who
[04:11] spent days in Texas with me filming this story so welcome everybody thanks for being here um I wanted to start off by having everybody introduce themselves so Violet let's kick off with you
[04:24] how are you connected to this story well well um I mean I'm issa's mom and I'm a writer too but but mainly racism on writer too but but mainly racism on these days
[04:40] us a little bit about you and your work of course um I am a transgender journalist covering all of the lgbtq legislation as it moves all over the United States I've been covering this for around three to
[04:54] four years now and I was first made aware uh Eason Violet's story um in the immediate aftermath of the Attorney General Kim Paxton mutter that targeted trans parents or trans kids with child abuse investigations
[05:09] and so that's that is my connection to um to Violet in particular thanks Erin uh and finally Adam can you tell us about your role with this film
[05:23] uh yes uh so my role was to be a fly on the wall during this difficult time in violating niece's life and uh at the same time develop a relationship with Issa that allowed her to just forget about the camera and be yourself
[05:43] awesome so thank you everyone buddy so as we just saw in that clip moving Issa is a film that touches on both love and fear and that is the love that she's surrounded by with her family like her mom Violet who's here and also the fear
[06:00] mom Violet who's here and also the fear of leaving relationships behind so I of leaving relationships behind so I think that scene depicts love very very clearly and Adam I wanted to ask you what was your experience filming this in
[06:13] an intimate scene yeah um yeah my experience was really the same as whenever I'm lucky enough to be granted the type of access that Violet
[06:26] and Issa gave us which is really just a type of kind of gratitude of being able to document such precious moments that document such precious moments that otherwise get lost to time so
[06:49] from the from the bathtub first scene as a journalist you know as a video journalists sometimes to capture those moments we have to go to you know
[07:01] get really creative right yes yeah I mean thank you to Violet for allowing me to wear her my shoes in her bathtub that was such a tiny bathroom so
[07:14] yeah not much Choice exactly but um yeah I mean for that scene really um yeah I mean that scene needed to work you know we we really needed that in the
[07:28] um it was the night before the move and it was it's really when you watch the film it's kind of that Turning Point like everything kind of builds to that moment and then we go into the kind of final
[07:42] part of the film and those moments before bed I think are really the most intimate moments that maybe a parent has with their child and
[07:54] um it was just I think really important for the film for the audience to see the bond between Issa and violet and then also just feel that they're in it together going into that last part and I saw I see the door creaking open besides
[08:09] oh look who it is oh hey Isa you remember these people
[08:22] had a camera remember we were planning to swing in the backyard
[08:37] know that this was the night before the move and those moments are very intimate and violet uh what was it like for you uh sharing this story publicly
[08:50] um why did you feel it was important to share this story well I mean I I think the title love and fear is appropriate because it was very fear is appropriate because it was very it was a scary thing and then
[09:04] um just to share some of issa's private some of issa's private moments in her life and her gender especially at that age when she didn't fully understand you know
[09:18] um what that meant to be sharing with people and I had to you know kind of grapple with am I outing my child before she's ready to consent um so there was a lot of fear um you know Adam was really great and so
[09:32] I never like felt like Adam you were like so good at going with the flow and in those moments it was like so stressful so when I was like no get these boxes packed and you're just like hey I'm just a flat on the wall
[09:47] that you know you we were great but um so Adam made it super comfortable as comfortable as it could have possibly been considering how stressful how scary how emotional the situation was um
[10:00] and you know part of the reason that I chose to chose to um be candid about our story is because the amount of misinformation that is just rampant everywhere right now when
[10:15] just rampant everywhere right now when it comes to transgender people is it comes to transgender people is is terrifying and and I wanted to try to is terrifying and and I wanted to try to have a little bit of an impact on like
[10:27] maybe earlier maybe um you know trying to to squash some of that and also for solidarity because like we're not the only ones in this situation and you know
[10:44] when Greg Abbott and Ken former right Ken Paxton like publish those things they make it seem like the whole state of Texas is on their side and that's not so right kind of overcame the fear for for
[11:01] love because of Love really well thank you for again Violet for sharing your story with us and like you said you're just you know this uh directive it affected many many families um in Texas and you made the move you
[11:18] made the move from Texas to California so kind of wanted an update like what's changed in your life since moving to California how is it different well Aaron's hand in that because we would have made the move either way but Aaron
[11:35] just made you know by um sharing our story just made it like eternally so much more easy because we had the funding that we needed to make it as smooth as possible because it was traumatic for both of us regardless it
[11:49] would have been way more traumatic had we not had that extra funding so I want we not had that extra funding so I want to say that first but um it's our lives have changed in practically every way you can think like
[12:01] I mean obviously we change residents and she changed schools but I also like changed careers and um I didn't really realize how like the stress was affecting my health until I watched this documentary and I'm like oh
[12:17] my God like look at me I I am clearly really unhealthy I mean my skin is dull I'm breaking out it's just clear that and I'm a kind of a biochemistry metabolism nerd so I won't get into that but it's like obvious how the stress was
[12:30] but it's like obvious how the stress was just destroying my body and now that we've been in in California I honestly didn't even notice how just that lifting of the stress made such a great great change without me even
[12:47] having to do anything honestly except just driving out of the state of Texas because I even remember when we like hit the border and just this this tension just kind of like melted and I was like we're we're doing it we're on our way
[13:01] we're almost out and um so you know things have changed for ISSA and the fact that she's got more um representation like she sees more people like herself now which is so amazing um her school is super supportive but
[13:17] not just supportive they're like vocally supportive and you know I've had like meetings with other parents in her class and the um principal at her school where
[13:29] we just talk about like how can we support Isa do we need to have experts come talk to the teachers and the parents do we need to have a an assembly to inform people and you know it's gotten to the point where Issa has
[13:43] gotten so comfortable that she has started to share her her on her own like her gender identity with her friends and you know what we talked about when this documentary came out I'm like are you okay with people knowing that you're a
[13:57] trans girl and she's like yeah so she's starting to get proud of who she is and so it's affected both of us in ways that are that are obvious but also in ways that I absolutely didn't expect and I've gotten better at brushing
[14:11] and I've gotten better at brushing issa's hair um thanks for that update I think that was you know it's
[14:24] it's after you watch the documentary I think it's really nice to know how much your life has changed since moving um and also like you were saying before um and also like you were saying before Aaron uh you were you know one of the
[14:39] Aaron uh you were you know one of the first people to share this the GoFundMe account that alerted me to this story and I wanted to ask you Erin why are stories like esa's important to share and what can we learn from it
[14:54] and what can we learn from it you know issa's story and and that scene that you captured there it's very powerful seeing tearjerker um it's also one of the earliest scenes of the current wave of several of those
[15:08] scenes playing out across the United States you know there are similar conversations happening in bathrooms now every day every day I've seen since sharing uh that
[15:20] I've seen since sharing uh that particular GoFundMe and that thread um numbers showing that 130 to 260 000 transgender people and families have already flood their home state eight percent of all trans people have already
[15:33] additional 40 of all trans people considering and so being there for that conversation being there capturing that so that it can be played now so that people can see what that looks like now
[15:48] I think humanizes it in a way that the numbers can't necessarily do um and and so you know watching watching that scene and watching that interaction um I'm so
[16:02] um I'm so just happy and thrilled that Violet and Issa were able to leave and I remember on that very same thread I shared uh a similarly have have left their states and report it very similar results of
[16:17] finding themselves feeling healthier finding themselves in school districts where their kids are Affirmed I I live in Montgomery County Maryland and I'm a parent of a seven-year-old kid and I love my kid to death and I see you know
[16:34] Violet and Ethan and that interaction and I think about my own interactions with my own son but also I I'm part of local parent groups Facebook groups and I see people in my local parent Facebook groups now saying
[16:47] Florida I've moved from Alabama I have a trans kid is it safe here and the answer here is yes the answer in so many places needs to be yes and and I'm very happy that
[17:02] um that Ace's experience is is what it is now it matches to what I've seen I've recent months um I've gone to various Pride events and
[17:14] uh with my partner representative Zoe Zephyr out of Montana and and Florida the number of people that come up to me and come up to her and talk about you know the positive impact on their own lives around the coverage of these bills
[17:27] and and I'm just her story is why I do what I do so thank thanks Aaron yeah you know you mentioned the bills right and you know you said the bills right and you know you said that you you cover the bills that have
[17:42] changed so many people's lives causing them to make moves like violet um so as a journalist and or someone who covers this legislation um can you can you talk about why do you think there's been such a spike in these
[17:57] types of policies over the past couple of years and even legislation like this directive that affects you know kids families this is one of the most common questions that I get asked anytime I give
[18:12] want to know why now what's going on now and the reality is is that targeting lgbtq people is not necessarily a new thing it has been repeatedly done throughout United States
[18:27] history it is emerged every couple decades in a new way each time you know we talk about the drag bands that got passed in the 1950s and 60s that led to the Stonewall Inn uprisings that's the reason we have
[18:41] pride we think about the 1980s and the AIDS and HIV epidemic and the act up era where people formed organizations called act up and stood in courthouses in legislatures on streets demanding that their lives are worth saving we think
[18:57] about the 90s in the early 2000s where we had the ex-gaze and the Constitutional Amendments against gay marriage they're still 32 Constitutional books right now the only reason they're not in effect is because the Supreme
[19:10] Court decision and we look at 2016 and the bathroom ban and we look at 2016 and the bathroom ban of 2016 in North Carolina you know there has always been a faction of the American populace of of people
[19:24] do see lgbtq people as as worth putting pushing aside that faction's not large it really isn't but they're they're very vocal about it and often they have the ears of government officials
[19:40] um in this particular iteration of it it's the same organizations the alliance Foundation focus on the family the same ones that were behind the 2000 to 2005 gay marriage pushed the same ones that were behind the 2013 to 2016 push
[19:55] against gay marriage same ones behind the attacks on bodily autonomy and reproductive Healthcare and abortion and I think it's important to recognize that bigotry and hate is something that does
[20:08] exist within society and it is up to all of us to continually push back on it because it always seeks a way in I think that stories like this one movies like this one documentaries like
[20:21] this one I think that that's one of the ways to push back to show the humanity because I don't think that the majority of you know people in the United States or the world for that matter truly functions on this level of hate
[20:34] but yeah I think that's what we're seeing thanks Erin um you know like you said uh documentaries like this one they do show
[20:46] you know very like how this type of legislation affects a family unit right and um not just Violet Anissa but also through the lens of um issa's her
[21:00] grandfather and it explores the concept or the or the thought of changing generational perspectives so we wanted to go overhead and roll a clip featuring Gus issa's grandfather
[21:15] grandfather so let's go ahead and roll that clip
[21:46] mmm that's a good one let me think I'm thinking maybe it's when you share your pancakes
[21:59] or when you made me pizza when you made me pizza or when you play Minecraft with me or when you play Minecraft with me and you use all your arrows up
[22:16] that's what I thought I didn't want to say that but I don't I didn't want to say that but I don't miss that too much
[22:29] sad day I don't see her but probably once a year from now on so
[22:41] your friends yes you have to leave you have to leave all your family
[22:58] yeah [Music]
[23:15] who wants to pitch in you want to talk about how watching that scene made you about how watching that scene made you feel it just it reminds me of how how
[23:28] it wasn't like overnight um easy it is a really only like in the past couple months kind of like adjusted and was made new friends and felt like
[23:41] that she might kind of like LA because she still says that she you know wants to to move back to Texas and we were really she was really close with my mom and dad and so she misses them all the time and and she still has
[23:57] little breakdowns where she'll get really angry at me and tell me that she you know she hates me for taking her away from her family and
[24:11] I think that's why you know kind of like building up on or piggybacking on what stories are so important to share because these politicians are just using our lives as fodder for their agendas they get elected and get reelected and
[24:29] There's real people's lives behind these these these um and you know my child's life is going to be
[24:41] better in L.A but my Mom and Dad they are losing their grandkid and they live in Texas and if these people represent Texans that that's not
[24:53] in the best interest of my parents you know because they were very close before know because they were very close before so but this is why we have to because it's real it's really happening it's not a
[25:09] hypothetical thing and at the end of the day we all love each other and that's why we make hard decisions and that's the other reason that I I share the story is
[25:22] because and I I think my dad says it in a different clip but like my parents were not really super wasn't and it wasn't until I I shared you know
[25:37] the the literature with them but with love I lovingly shared them like this is I'm doing this for my child out of love and then once it's communicated with love they understand at the end of the day we all feel the same way about each
[25:52] other and I agree with Aaron I think it's also in the statistics that like it's not a majority of Americans that are anti-trans they're just overrepresented in politics and so it sends this message that like this whole
[26:05] country hates trans people and lgbtq people and that's not true most people I think just like my parents and my family really just want to have decent lives and love each other and if we can
[26:18] and love each other and if we can communicate and educate with love communicate and educate with love anyways I'm getting ahead of myself think that I want to piggyback off of that you're right it's not the majority
[26:32] people individually might not understand trans issues often because you know a with it they don't know the individual issues that trans people face
[26:44] they do understand political attacks on people they do understand love and and I think that every single person has to move from their home state doesn't just affect that one person it affects so many people around them it
[26:59] affects their their grandparents their friends their Community you know this is not these laws don't just Target trans people like they have spider web effects that go outward and they hurt the community as a whole and trans people
[27:13] are part of these communities we are often so integrated into our communities we have friends we have jobs we contribute to society and so you know I just I see that and that was a powerful clip I cried
[27:27] um I think that one last thing like you know just to give support to what Violet was just saying you know a recent data for Progress poll showed that seventy percent of people agreed with the
[27:39] statement there are too many attacks on trans kids this is a political wedge issue in a Fox News poll 84 percent of people answered that um political attacks on trans kids are a major problem or a problem and so like
[27:53] while we don't people don't understand like the individual issues around care and stuff like that um it changes you know like whenever you talk about the kids themselves and attacking those kids with politics
[28:07] yeah thanks Aaron you know I I wanted to touch on what you were saying about the spider web effect because like you said uh a move like this it doesn't just affect Violet Anisa but your communities
[28:21] um uh your issa's grandmother her grandfather Gus and you know like you were saying Violet Gus through love you know through sharing information with him he actually had a changing perspective and Adam I wanted to ask you
[28:39] um why why is Gus's perspective important to show in this documentary and what was it like for you filming that scene that scene uh yes well I mean that scene in
[28:54] particular uh we needed a we kind of needed a scene that took place out in the world not you know most of what we filmed was around the house obviously because that's where everything was happening
[29:07] could see Esau in the world playing with other children you know something that other children you know something that showed that politics aside he says just a kid whose primary purpose is to play you know like every other kid and I
[29:21] think we really see that uh in that scene as far as Gus goes uh his character was extremely important to the film uh because it really helped bring some clarity to a very complex issue and there's a line in the film
[29:36] where Gus tells us that he was you know brought up judgmental and homophobic brought up judgmental and homophobic which you know connects with what Violet was saying about um this topic and her parents
[29:49] um this topic and her parents uh so we see him say that in the film um but you know we also see that those walls are not enough to keep him from loving his granddaughter which which gets at like a the big question
[30:04] answers and I hope connects with everyone again kind of what Violet was saying is that like the big question for me here is you like the big question for me here is you know do you love your child yes okay
[30:17] let's build from there you know I think that's the thread that everyone can connect to and so his character basically just really clarifies like
[30:29] that point so that's why he's important to the film thanks Adam thanks so much for that um perspective uh you know you're talking a the different emotions that a move like this has you know we were talking about
[30:45] this has you know we were talking about fear but I also wanted to talk about the fear but I also wanted to talk about the future and love and you know pride month and I just wanted to kind of ask since we're doing this
[30:57] during Pride uh what does pride month mean to each of you and what does the mean to each of you and what does the future look like
[31:10] um you know I've spoken at so many part events this year and this is the first time that you know I've been invited to been sort of a chance for me to collect my
[31:23] own thoughts on pride and you know Pride itself like the the celebration is also historically a protest and it's it's a statement against
[31:35] the way in which lgbtq people have been targeted historically throughout American history as well as world's history and yet in being a protest it often is also a celebration and I I find that going to so many of these events
[31:50] there's room for both of those to coexist in the same place and and I coexist in the same place and and I think that where I land is that Joy itself queer joy in and of itself is our resistance it is our way of changing
[32:05] our resistance it is our way of changing the world I see the way in which you know trans people living their lives authentically it changes the people around them and changes how people view the world society and gender and
[32:18] the world society and gender and themselves around them I see how stories like Aces change people around them and and it is in that joy that we find the tools for protests the tools for changing
[32:32] the world and for changing the United States and for changing acceptance and for fighting back against the hate that we've seen and so I think that for me pride is a dual recognition of the fact that we
[32:48] are still struggling against so many ways in which we get attacked but also that in that struggle we have room for joy and that joy in and of itself is our joy and that joy in and of itself is our tool for fighting back
[33:05] thanks Aaron Violet if you want to go ahead yeah sure um I so I wanted to second ago and then it can it leads right into this question but it I do kind of feel bad for for asa's
[33:20] it I do kind of feel bad for for asa's school like they lost some diversity and they lost a great kid and they so they did lose an asset um like Aaron was saying that you know trans people are part of their
[33:33] communities and so Texas lost something great because Issa is great and um as far as Pride goes you know it's something new to me to even think about because for so long my main goal
[33:50] about because for so long my main goal in Texas was to hide was to you know pass to make sure that nobody had any idea about my child because it was our home and so you know even being in California
[34:07] now where it's it's definitely um more of a normal part of the culture to celebrate and and and you know be out I still am finding
[34:20] and you know be out I still am finding that I'm not fully like there yet with like I mean also it's not my information to share right it's issa's but still I just
[34:34] yeah I wasn't even I don't know there's still like a block because it's pride month but I I don't think about it because I think it's just that still that fear reaction that I'm still adjusting to
[34:51] um thank you everybody thank you Violet Adam and Erin for this heartfelt authentic and Powerful conversation I think that you know we touched on a lot
[35:04] of important things for the community to know about this film about you know what it's like to make a move like this um I wanted to say thank you to the people who made this video possible including our Deputy Deputy executive
[35:20] producer Barbara corbellini Duarte who field produced this story with us uh executive producer Erica Berenstein moving Issa wouldn't have been made possible without this team of people so thank you all
[35:35] um and on the note of Pride and on the note of Love uh we wanted to close out this event with one last clip from the documentary uh it's the moment when documentary uh it's the moment when Violet and Issa arrived in California
[35:50] um a place where for a moment love and happiness overrides fear happiness overrides fear um and as Violet said earlier forget about that so let's go ahead and roll this clip of
[36:04] so let's go ahead and roll this clip of the last clip
[36:19] affirming my transgender daughter they're lucky that their child doesn't have gender dysphoria freezing
[36:36] have like a happy loving child in the world who loves themselves who can then world who loves themselves who can then love other people instead of a child who you know feels like they can't be who they really are
[36:55] 100 perfect but I'm hoping that there's enough of a cultural acceptance or at least that we can live in an area that is more widespread ing [Music]
[37:14] final scene we wanted to share I just wanted to say in general Adam that the movie was just it was just so gorgeous I just you were great to work with in person but also when I saw what
[37:29] you created I was just so blown away um you just really captured emotionally like visually you captured the emotion and the timing and everything it was just fantastic so and I appreciate all of the work that
[37:44] y'all have done to share this story well I mean I'm sure I think we all would would agree we we thank you I mean it's so rare to get like that sort of it's so rare to get like that sort of access to to those moments so thank you
[37:59] yeah I want to jump in because I cover this often from the legislative rooms from the chambers from from the the text of the legal bills that come across my it's really important to remember that the humans that are involved in this the
[38:15] people who this effects and I think that all of you played a part in telling the story in a way that I think is going to land for a lot of people and so thank you thanks Aaron and you know uh Violet like
[38:31] thanks Aaron and you know uh Violet like Adam was saying uh thank you for sharing your story with us and thank you to everybody who tuned in the conversation doesn't have to end here you can share your thoughts using the hashtag Insider
[38:44] events and be sure to follow Insider on social media for more of our coverage on the challenges and the triumphs of the lgbtq plus community and Beyond I also wanted to invite you to join us on July 13th for the premiere of moving
[39:01] Issa the screening of the entire film it's going to be followed by an audience q a that will take place at the Henry the Henrietta Hudson in New York City the longest standing lesbian bar in the country uh thank you again everybody for
[39:16] joining and please make sure to take our event survey which will pop up on your event survey which will pop up on your screen at any moment I'm salima Hussein screen at any moment I'm salima Hussein and have a great day