We received the following two items from the InYourFace news service. You can find more from this service on the GenderPAC website at http://www.gpac.org.

GLAAD Seeks Consultation On Brandon Teena Movie

[New York, NY: 5 Mar 98] The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has written a letter to the producers of "All She Wanted," an upcoming movie about Brandon Teena, expressing concern that the film will misrepresent Brandon's experience as a transexual.

Chastity Bono, GLAAD's Entertainment Media Director, wrote the letter in which she offers GLAAD's service as technical advisor to the film's producers Nancy Jovonen, Drew Barrymore, Diane Keaton, and Bill Robinson.

The movie will be based on Aphrodite Jones' book "All She Wanted." Transgender groups have called the book transphobic and sensationalistic. They say it negatively reflects on FTM (Female-to Male) transexuals and transgender people.

Ms. Bono's letter expressed GLAAD's desire to work with the film's producers. She wrote, "I would like to meet with you to discuss ways in which appropriate terminology and dialogue consistent with current understandings of the transgender experience might be incorporated into the screenplay..."

GPAC and ITA! Weigh In On
Brandon Teena Movie

[New York, NY: 17 Apr 98] GenderPAC and It's Time America! have written to the producers of 'All She Wanted' urging the filmmakers to portray accurately Brandon's transgender experience and offering their support as technical advisors in developing the screenplay. These letters echo GLAAD's letter of 5 Mar 98, written to the film's producers offering GLAAD's help as technical advisor.

The film will be produced by, among others, Drew Barrymore and Diane Keaton, and based on the Aphrodite Jones book 'All She Wanted.' Transactivists have expressed concern that the film will reflect what they consider the book's inaccuracies and distortions about Brandon's life and death.

Penni Ashe, Acting Media Dir. of It's Time America!, sent the film's producers a media primer on transgenderism. She states, "...it is likely that your film will be the first widely- released story about a female-to-male (FTM) transgendered person and thus will likely have a significant impact on the public's perception of transexual men. Hence the need for an accurate, sympathetic protrayal."

Riki Wilchins, GenderPAC's Ex. Dir., wrote, "Brandon is only one of a number of transpeople who have been viciously murdered in the last 3 years... Hate crimes and gender murders happen because gender-nonconforming people face hate and oppression in today's culture. Portrayals in movies like yours are pivotal in shaping how people see us, and in making the next hate crime more--or less--likely to occur."

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