Saturday, April 2, 2016

Hello!

I was afraid that I would have nothing interesting to share with you, even though I had spent most of the time reading books and press. I've suffered from what we normally call "spring solstice", that is I've been going through a really harsh migraine that made me feel unable to collect my thoughts.

Yesterday, just for a change, I decided to have a break in Virginia Woolf''s 'Orlando' and watch a film with my other half. As usual, it took me some time to pick up one, but I finally decided to watch a film I'd already seen a few years ago, inspired by the International Transgender Day of Visibility that took place 2 days ago.

'The Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story' is a biography television film directed by Agnieszka Holland. It's based on the true story of the real life of Gwen Araujo (1985-2002), born Edward Araujo, a transgender American teenager who was murdered in an extremely cruel way by four men, after discovering that she was transgender. They lured her into a trap and then they spent five hours beating and strangulating her. She died from strangulation associated with blunt force trauma to the head. Her body was covered with dozens of bruises, which showed that she'd been beaten even after dying. The defendants tied her, wrapped in a blanket and buried her four hours away from the house they'd killed her in.

The film touches on many different problems, most of them connected with the (unfortunately, still omnipresent) transphobia. It also reveals the importance of the full acceptance and unconditional love of the family. Furthermore, it's not just another important, worth watching film - it's also very well written, starred and shot.

After Gwen's death, her mother, Sylvia Guerrero, became an important LGBTQ right's activist. Here's one of her speeches, which I truly recommend you to watch. Almost each sentence is a powerful and wise message to all people. I could tell a lot of things regarding this question, but I just think that it is enough to listen to Sylvia Guerrero speaking. 

Maybe just one short commentary. Gwen's mother has said several times that sometimes, especially at the beginning, she found it difficult to accept Gwen, just because she couldn't understand her. That's why the education is so important. I truly believe that, even though there are a lot of adversities in the world, there would be less hate if there was more understanding and social awareness.