Stand Up! – Don’t Stand for Homophobic Bullying
This is a great wee t.v advert i stumbled upon. it’s great when your researching something so horrible and find something like this.
I Woke Up Gay – Chris Birch
Documentry Below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00q8wcb/I_Woke_Up_Gay/
I wouldn’t change back: Rugby player who ‘woke up gay’ after stroke and now has fiance says he’s the happiest he’s ever been
- ‘It was weird, you walk into somewhere and you go from liking that girl to liking that boy’
- Chris is trying to rebuild his relationship with his mother who has struggled with his personality change
- Chris’ boyfriend believes Chris had always been gay but hadn’t realised
When 19-stone rugby player Chris Birch suffered a stroke during a freak accident, his life was transformed – but not in a way that anyone could have predicted.
When he regained consciousness, the 26-year-old – who was engaged to his girlfriend at the time – found his sexuality had completely altered.
‘The Chris I knew had gone and a new Chris sort of came along. I came to the realisation that the stroke had turned me gay,’ he said.
He is now the subject of a BBC3 documentary, chronicling his attempt over the past few months to make sense of his new identity.
Transformed: Mr Birch has also altered his appearance since the stroke. Shedding weight and dying his hair
Chris Birch was a 19st beer-swilling rugby fan before his accident (left). A stroke radically altered his personality and he swapped banking for hairdressing (right)
Chris had been attempting a forward roll down a hill in 2011 when the blood supply to his brain was cut off causing a stroke.
During a stroke the areas starved of oxygen, brain cells die and this can cause damage. However, the brain can make new neural connections and find different pathways to achieve the same thing.
Some scientists believe it is possible that during this recovery process a patient could discover a new skill, accent or even a new sexuality. However, personality changes following a stroke are rare and there have been no documented cases of a stroke changing a person’s sexuality.
Chris Birch points to the hill where he had his stroke
But Mr Birch, for one, is convinced. Within a year of his stroke he had quit his job at a bank and become a hairdresser, moved out of his family home in the Welsh valleys and started meeting men.
‘It was a weird experience,’ he told the film crew.
‘You walk into somewhere and you go from liking that girl to liking that boy.’
He found the changes traumatic and admitted it was a ‘lonely time’ when he was afraid to tell anybody about his new sense of self.
‘It was quite a scary process. Being with the first guy was a very odd experience. I didn’t know what I was doing,’ he said.
Chris has been putting together a memory box of anything that jogs vague recollections from his past life, such as photos from his school It includes a photo from his school prom and a badge from the Isle of Man TT Race.
‘This jogs something in me,’ he said, holding a pin badge from a trip to see the Isle of Man TT Race.
‘Old Chris likes motorbikes, I really don’t care anymore.’
He has also developed some old films from a holiday taken just before his accident and wasn’t best pleased with the results.
‘I look awful,’ he said.
‘It sums old Chris up, my God I looked chavvy! It feels like looking at somebody else but with my face.’
New life: Chris with his fiance Jak Powell
The change has put a huge strain on his family and he has lost several close friendships. He has also had to deal with negative reactions from strangers after telling his story to the media.
In a documentary airing tonight, Mr Birch is seen trying to rebuild his relationship with his mother.
The 27-year-old said when he was ill his mother took him back and forth to the doctors and was very protective. Now he goes to the hospital appointments alone and barely speaks to her.
‘It would be nice if my mother played more of a role in my life, because I always seem happy in the photos that she is in,’ he said, referring to his old albums.
However, he said he understood how difficult his radical change in personality must be for her.
‘It’s a unique bond so when it’s altered or changed I think there is a bereavement,’ he said.
Despite all the difficulties Chris said he has no regrets over how his life has turned out. Within a few months of moving out from home he met his then boyfriend and now fiance Jak Powell.
Mr Powell has his own theory that Chris has always been gay and the accident just helped him to realise it.
‘People grow up not knowing they are gay and have families and then they realise they are gay, but they don’t have a stroke to realise it,’ Mr Powell said.
‘I think eventually if you hadn’t had the stroke it would have happened anyway,’ he said.
But Mr Birch is not convinced saying he has memories and photos that prove he was definitely straight before the stroke.
‘If I read about it I wouldn’t have believed it,’ he admitted.
‘But here I am.’
As part of the documentary Mr Birch visited Dr Quazi Rahman of Queen Mary University in London who is an expert in human sexual orientation.
Dr Rahman has tested hundreds of gay and straight volunteers and discovered key neurological patterns that he believes reveal if a person might have been born gay or straight.
Mr Birch took part in the computer-based tests to see if it suggested he had actually been ‘born gay.’ They revealed on half of the test Chris performed in the ‘expected direction’ for a gay man but the other half suggested a straight man. Dr Rahman suggested his homosexual feelings may have lain dormant but been brought to the surface by the stroke.
Dr Rahman said: ‘The bulk of the evidence in the biological sciences, in genetics and psychology suggest that sexuality is something you are born with and develops later on through life.’
Either way Mr Birch said he wouldn’t want to alter back again.
‘I’m happier now that I ever have been, why would I want to change?’ he asked.
Amish: The Worlds Squarest Teenagers
This Documentary doen’t have anything to do with the LGBTQ community, but it is a very interesting about the different cultures. Just how vast the way of life is for each of the teenagers is a shock to them. This has made me think about the LGBTQ culture. It may not be as far a stretch as the amish lifestyle, but it is still somewhat different. So I’m thinking now that this may be why the LGBTQ community is so frond upon in so many cultures, because they have never experienced anything like it or seen it before. I once thought the Amish lifestyle was weird and strange, but These two documentaries have brought a new understanding and knowledge to their lifestyle and why they lead such a simple life. This is what i am trying to do for the LGBTQ community.
About the Doucmentry
The five Amish teenagers – Jerry, Andrew, Leah, Becky and Leon – bid an emotional farewell to their loved ones, as leaving their closed community for the very first time hits home.
Their first challenge is getting to the UK: how will they cope with their first experience on an aeroplane?
Over four weeks they will stay with four very different British families and it’s a baptism of fire as first up they find themselves in the concrete jungle of London.
Their London teenage hosts are street dancers, an art form that’s completely alien to them. The Amish come from spacious homes in safe communities; how will they cope with the noisy, bustling streets of London?
It’s a massive eye-opener for the five innocent travellers, who are shown the seedy streets of Soho, discover the grim reality of knife crime and begin to realise just how different the lives and morals of their hosts are.
SERIES SYNOPSIS
With rare access to the notoriously private Amish community, this series follows five Amish teenagers traveling to Britain on an extraordinary cultural exchange.
The Amish live strictly sheltered lives based on their belief that living simply brings them closer to God. They have their own language and rules and are rarely educated past primary level. They often don’t use electricity or cars, they don’t wear zips or sleeveless clothes, nor do they drink or smoke.
Despite this strict lifestyle, Amish parents often allow their teenage children to experience the outside world, through a rite of passage called ‘Rumspringa’.
During their stay in Britain, the Amish youngsters hope to share their values with their British counterparts as well as learning and understanding what British teenage life is all about.
The series highlights the ways and whims of British teenage tribes through the eyes of the Amish.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/amish-worlds-squarest-teenagers/4od
Living with the Amish – Documentary
This Documentary doen’t have anything to do with the LGBTQ community, but it is a very interesting about the different cultures. Just how vast the way of life is for each of the teenagers is a shock to them. This has made me think about the LGBTQ culture. It may not be as far a stretch as the amish lifestyle, but it is still somewhat different. So I’m thinking now that this may be why the LGBTQ community is so frond upon in so many cultures, because they have never experienced anything like it or seen it before. I once thought the Amish lifestyle was weird and strange, but These two documentaries have brought a new understanding and knowledge to their lifestyle and why they lead such a simple life. This is what i am trying to do for the LGBTQ community.
About the Documentry
Charlotte, 18, loves clothes and shopping, and never leaves the house without her make-up on. At home, she’s not expected to help with household chores and enjoys her mum bringing her cups of tea ‘on tap’. But Charlotte thinks there’s more to life than what you wear and wants to see if the Amish experience will help her gain confidence and independence.
Also headed for the US are Eton College student George, 17, who wants to see what life is like in an insular community, largely hidden from the outside world; and Cambridge University undergraduate Siana, 19, who lives with her single mother, younger brother and sister on a London council estate.
Siana’s family came from Sierra Leone when she was a toddler. She wants to learn more about the Amish viewpoint and their reasons for wanting to keep their traditions alive.
Joining them are 17-year-old Christian Hannah, who wants to see if meeting such a devoutly religious group will cement her faith – or make her question it. Media studies student Jordan wants to know what it’ll be like without social media and music to occupy him 24/7.
Seventeen-year-old James also loves listening to music and spends much of his day playing computer games. Since spending the last few years of his life in foster care, James now lives alone in a hostel in London. He says he never eats fresh fruit or vegetables and prefers take-aways: something unheard of to the Amish, who grow or catch all their own food.
Now the teens swap their iPhones, clothes, jewellery and diets for the Amish way of life. The first family they stay with are Jonathan and Marietta in Middlefield, Ohio, home to 14,000 Amish folk.
Jonathan and Marietta want to show the teens how rich their lives are, despite their lack of worldly possessions. They believe that the Amish way of life has something to teach everyone, and there is so much more to being Amish than just horse-drawn buggies, beards and barn raising.
SERIES SYNOPSIS
For the first time, the notoriously private Amish community opens its doors to a group of British teenagers.
Living with the Amish follows six British teenagers leaving their mobile phones, Facebook accounts and partying behind, as they head to Ohio and Pennsylvania to see what they can learn from six weeks of hard work and simple living.
No Amish community has ever opened up in this way before, and the Amish families taking part in the series hope that it will reveal the advantages of a pure, uncluttered way of life.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/living-with-the-amish/4od
Father Ray Comes Out – Documentary
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/father-ray-comes-out/4od
Father Ray is a warm, gregarious vicar who has been leading his central London parish for three years.
He has transformed his parish, building a community in central London, where many struggle with feelings of anonymity. Ray and the parishioners have had their ups and downs but have built a warm and loving church.
Now Ray is prepared to jeopardise all his work for the truth, and share a very personal secret with them: he is gay. He’s decided that in order to be a good minister he must be honest with his parish.
But admitting homosexuality as a vicar is not straightforward. Ray knows his news is unlikely to be welcomed by an Anglican Church that projects an ambivalent view of homosexuality. And it could be challenging to some of his more conservative parishioners. He risks alienating some of the people he considers his friends.
Anna Llewellyn’s First Cut film observes Ray as he deals with the fallout from his sermon and discovers whether or not his words have sown the seeds for a greater understanding and tolerance he dearly hopes for.
First Cut showcases the best in bold, bright and original documentaries by up-and-coming filmmakers.
Queer as Folk – Documentary
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/queer-as-folk/4od
Vince’s love for Stuart remains unrequited, but the sexual buzz between them is becoming irresistible. Will they get it together? Meanwhile, Nathan reappears to celebrate his return from London.
SERIES SYNOPSIS
The two-part sequel to the groundbreaking first series of Queer as Folk blows television off the straight and narrow to report the further misadventures of Stuart, Vince and Nathan – revealing more about their colourful lives, loves and dangerous liaisons.
The boy who was born a girl – Documentary
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-boy-who-was-born-a-girl/4od
Jon is a typical teenage boy in all respects except one: he was born a girl.
Brought up as Natasha for 15 years, Jon can remember feeling male since he was only five years old. Having grown up always feeling different to the girls in school, it was impossible to identify as female.
Jon eventually confided in his mother Luisa, who supported him in seeking help from his GP and subsequently a gender specialist. He has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that affects over 100 British children every year, and is embarking on an extraordinary journey of transition.
Director Julia Moon follows mother and son through the first three months of Jon’s life-changing treatment as the testosterone pushes his female body into male puberty.
For Jon the changes that follow are things he’s always wanted. But for Luisa, this means coming to terms with the enormous loss of her daughter.
Transgender: Pakistan’s open secret – Documentary
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/transgenders-pakistans-open-secret/4od
Many among Pakistan’s transgender community scrape a living through dancing, singing and begging on the streets of Karachi. Others earn money catering for the sexual needs of men in the city’s seedier districts.
Thrown out by their families as children, they usually find their way to the tougher parts of the city where, hidden from the conservative mainstream, groups of outcast transsexuals have come together to create underground communities or ‘families’.
This film follows the stories of three transgender people, each of whom represents a different way of life in the country.
Maggie is a prostitute who dreams of becoming an air hostess, while Chahat was abandoned to the streets by her middle-class family for her feminine ways. Sana is Karachi’s most sought-after transgender dancer, who wants to give up the profession after a gruesome gang rape.
Transgenders were until very recently not entitled to Pakistani nationality. They still have scant access to education, employment or state protection, and are frequently victims of violence, although most of Karachi’s population tolerate them, partly due to beliefs that they can give blessings towards a happy and successful life and, equally, the threat that they may curse those who treat them badly.
The film also reflects the guru system within the transgender community where young novices are bought and sold, and forced to make money for their elders. Some outsiders consider this to be a form of slavery but this is disputed by the elders who say it’s part of their custom and not slavery.
But there is hope: the local tax office has advertised for transgenders to work as tax collectors. Clever government officials have realised that the embarrassment factor of a group of encountering a multi-coloured singing she-males is enough to make even the most stubborn tax evaders pay up.
Can Sana get one of those jobs? Will Chahat ever escape the desperate poverty she faces on a daily basis? And will Maggie fulfil her dream to fly away?
True Stories commissions and showcases the best international feature documentaries.
Taboo: Transgender – Documentary
In the west, our gender defines us as individuals and as a society. It influences how we act and interact, even our characteristics.
Strength and aggression are seen as masculine, sensitivity and insight are feminine – so when you can’t tell who’s male and who’s female, it can be confusing, disturbing and at times; frightening.
This is the story of America’s post-operative transmen, Thailand’s kathoeys, the Fa’afafine of Samoa, the sex-reassignment surgery capital of the world, Trinidad, Colorado, USA and a couple in a long-term relationship in which both partners are transgender.
Around the world, customs differ, but almost every society shares one thing the concept of gender. Many believe that there are only two: man and woman. But in India, transgender women who cut off their genitals live as women and form a third gender.
In Indonesia, hermaphrodite priests lead a society that recognizes five genders. And in rural Albania, women swap one gender for another to gain equality. Sometimes even the most conservative cultures must make room for those who challenge convention. But for many, embracing additional genders is still taboo.
Me My Sex and I – Documentary
This documentary is about people who are born 2 different genders. They have the looks of one gender but have the internal organs and hormones of the opposite sex. It is a fantastic program. But with in watching it i cant help but feel that maybe this can explain some transgender cases. it seems worth looking into.
I Am Who I Am 