Main as much as Transgender Consciousness Week, Black Public Media (BPM) has launched “I Am Who I Say I Am,” a docuseries capturing feel-good tales about gender affirmation. Sophia Clark (“First Particular person PBS”) directs the three-part quick movie sequence that’s now obtainable on BPM’s YouTube channel and social media pages. 

A part of BPM’s BE HEARD! social media marketing campaign, “I Am Who I Say I Am” follows three totally different topics as they talk about the significance of honoring most popular pronouns and of partaking in open, compassionate dialogue about gender. 

“‘I Am Who I Say I Am’ goals to start the method of adjusting hearts by first altering our habits, based mostly on the basic perception that most individuals need to embrace and perceive others, their variations and their potential to contribute to the higher good,” Clark defined in a press launch.. They added that “these movies are for anybody striving to open their thoughts past the binary.”

“Find out how to Be taught Somebody’s Pronouns” options Janelle “Jei” Lawrence, a multidisciplinary artist and educator. Within the quick, Lawrence discusses the necessity to use gender-affirming pronouns in knowledgeable setting: “Even in case you’re serious about me, [I want you] to be serious about me with the appropriate pronouns,” they clarify in a trailer for the docuseries.

“Discussing Gender Id with Household” follows mother-son duo Sharon Kidd-Fryer and Brit Fryer as they discover familial acceptance and help for various gender identities.

“Why Your Affected person’s Pronouns are Vital” sees pediatric dentist Dr. Maya Thompson explaining why gender is part of holistic healthcare.

The venture goals to teach audiences concerning the respectful use of pronouns, particularly as transgender people proceed to maintain “discrimination, demagoguery and violence, with Black transgender folks bearing the brunt of it,” the press launch particulars. Citing the Pew Analysis Heart, the discharge notes that at 26 p.c, Black transgender unemployment is double that of different trans people and 4 occasions that of the overall inhabitants.

“With Black transgender and non-binary folks going through marginalization at alarming charges, it’s essential that we view these points by a Black lens,” mentioned BPM Govt Director Leslie Fields-Cruz. She added that the docuseries goals to “kickstart conversations that may result in all members of our neighborhood being afforded their full humanity, starting with gender affirmation.”

Additionally a producer, Clark has credit on digital sequence “These Thems,” a digital sequence that follows 4 New Yorkers of assorted sexual orientations and gender identities. It tackles sequence tackles themes of queerness, gender nonconformity, popping out, and acceptance by a comedic lens.

Based in 1979 because the Nationwide Black Programming Consortium, BPM “helps the event of visionary content material creators and distributes tales concerning the world Black expertise to encourage a extra equitable and inclusive future” by addressing “the wants of unserved and underserved audiences,” per its web site. “BPM continues to deal with historic, modern, and systemic challenges that historically impede the event and distribution of Black tales.”