See Yourself, Be Yourself: Our First Celebrity Panel
By Ally Damante
This past Saturday, we hosted our very first celebrity panel, See Yourself, Be Yourself via Zoom. Joining us were LGBTQ activists Nicole Maines (Supergirl; Bit), Darryl Stephens (Noah's Arc; B Positive), Theo Germaine (The Politician, Work in Progress), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies, Submissions Only) and Eboné Bell (Owner & Editor In Chief, Tagg Magazine) for a panel focused on LGBTQ media representation. During the conversation, our panelists touched upon the importance of specificity in queer stories, how writing and casting rooms can be more inclusive, and the impact of LGBTQ-inclusive books in the classroom.
We are excited to announce that this event raised over $4,000, which will allow us to ship 400 LGBTQ-inclusive books to PreK- 3rd grade classrooms this Spring! We want to say thank you again to our amazing panel, moderator, and ALL of our supporters from around the world for making this event possible.
Here are just a few highlights from the panel!
On LGBTQ representation in TV and Film...
“Specificity can be universal. We need to have a specific and vast amount of stories that are queer, because knowing all of those different perspectives and seeing all of these different slices of life helps you feel seen. It can help you dig into your own experiences and be able to see and feel your own power.”
- Theo Germaine
“I am a trans superhero and I’m standing next to Batwoman, Supergirl, The Flash - we don’t have words to express how it feels, so we just cry and hug. We never thought in a million years we’d get to see ourselves like this.”
- Nicole Maines
“Queer stories don’t always have to be about pain and trauma.”
- Andrew Keenan-Bolger
“You are not less bi and you are not less queer if you are dating someone of the other sex.”
- Nicole Maines
Image drawn by Fee. Follow her @_verfeling on Twitter and @verfeling on Instagram.
On LGBTQ leadership in writing and casting rooms...
“Trans women should be able to play cis women because trans women ARE women.”
- Nicole Maines
“Don’t just hire a trans or non-binary writer on the show when you are going to feature that type of character. The hiring process as a whole needs to be more inclusive. There needs to be more trans and non-binary crew members, directors, and a better system for fostering underrepresented voices.”
- Theo Germaine
“We deserve to be seen and acknowledged on screen just as much as anyone else.”
- Darryl Stephens
“There is something about someone who is actually living the life telling the story that makes the story more relatable to everyone.”
- Darryl Stephens
On LGBTQ-inclusive literature...
“I think that books in kids' classrooms are gonna help us chip away at this mythology that families look one way, and that gender is one thing. I think that we have to get there earlier, because the myths of white supremacy and patriarchy ... these things are grilled into our brains so early, and they are in our subconscious so early. So we have to be combatting that with the truth early on.”
- Darryl Stephens
”Obviously these books are not just for us, the LGBTQ community. It’s great representation and visibility for us, but other people outside of the community need to have the books visible to them as well.”
- Eboné Bell
“That’s how we learn about history. To read the truth.”
- Andrew Keenan-Bolger
“Having LGBTQ-inclusive books in my classroom when I was young would have meant everything. It would have made me feel less alone. So rarely was I ever assigned literature about being queer. It’s one thing to find something written on your own and it’s another thing to have an adult with an authority position say this is okay and this is wonderful. So, everyday that I open my laptop to write, especially because I write for young audiences, I think about that one kid who might pick my book up and it might save their life.”
- Andrew Keenan-Bolger