Transgender movie "Call me Malcolm". FtM transition

[Danya (imported)]

I found this movie through a web search. I had no idea, though, until I visited the documentary's web site that this is about the FtM transition of a seminary student who later becomes a pastor at a Christian church. That was in 2005. The film was co-produced by the welcoming United Church of Christ and Filmworks, Inc. "“Imagine,” cinematographer Parlagreco muses, “a church producing a feature documentary for film festivals – about a transgender minister. People are always amazed when I mention that the UCC is our partner in this film.” The film has screened at GLBT film festivals around the world and has won mutiple awards.

For those of us who consider ourselves Christrians, and perhaps also for many who don't, the reviews of this film suggest that this is a very different documentary on this subject. Some of the reviews indicate that many conservative religious people were drawn to the movie and deeply affected.

What I found particularly pertinent to my own situation as an about to transition MtF person is the linkage between issues TG folks face, such as 'who am I?', with similar struggles faced by all of us. I will order this film and I think it has the potential of helping some of non-accepting conservative relations to understand us TG individuals a little better.

Here is the Minneapolis Star-Tribune review, May 27, 2005, from the film web site http://www.callmemalcolm.com/:

Last update: May 27, 2005 at 7:08 AM

Transgendered pastor heading to Minneapolis church,

theaters

Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune

May 27, 2005 PLYMOUTH

The Rev. Malcolm Himschoot may be the closest thing to a rock star in the world of Protestant

ministry: young, brainy, charming, subject of a new documentary, recently married – and

transgendered.

Now Himschoot, 27, is coming this summer not only to a theater near you, but also to a

congregation: Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, where in August he begins a

two-year appointment as outreach minister.

He’s one of only a few openly transgendered clergy members in the United States and may be the

first to serve in the Twin Cities. The United Church of Christ (UCC), which ordained Himschoot,

says it became the first mainline Christian denomination to ordain an openly transgendered

minister a few years ago.

But that’s not why Plymouth leaders chose Himschoot over other highly qualified candidates,

said the Rev. James Gertmenian, Plymouth’s Senior minister.

“It speaks to us of the self-insight and courage that he has, but it was not the driver of our

decision,” Gertmenian said. “He’s got exceptional academic credentials. … We were impressed

he spent a year doing urban ministry in Denver, and he impressed us with the depth of his own

spiritual vision.”

Plymouth, an independent Congregational church, is a liberal congregation with 1,800 members

that is known for its robust ministries in social justice and the arts. It’s the home of

VocalEssence, the award-winning choral group founded and directed by Plymouth organist and

choirmaster Philip Brunelle.

Himschoot, a Colorado native, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College in Amherst,

Mass., and was student of the year at Iliff School of Theology in Denver. For the past year he has

been associate pastor at Denver Inner City Parish, where he worked with students, seniors and ex

– prisoners.

But he has drawn most attention for “Call Me Malcolm,” a documentary about his bodily change

from a woman to a man and the cross-country trip he took to find support and acceptance. The

film, produced by the UCC and directed by Joseph Parlagreco, won raves at recent film festivals

in Los Angeles and Cleveland.

The film will have a two-week run at the Bell Auditorium in Minneapolis starting June 24.

In a brief telephone interview last week, Himschoot said he understands the curiosity about him

and that it will be interesting to see how much buzz the film gets before he moves to Minneapolis

later this summer. “We’ll see how it goes,” he said.

Himschoot will move to town with his wife, Mariah Hayden, newly graduated from Iliff and soon

to be looking for a job as a United Methodist minister, he said. They were married in January.

At Plymouth, Himschoot will focus on community programs. He’ll work on affordable housing

and at a drop-in center for the mentally ill. He also will make his turn preaching and presiding at

weddings, funerals, baptisms and other church events.

Himschoot said he’s looking forward to moving to Minneapolis and working at Plymouth, a

church he said that “has a terrific history of neighborhood ministry and a progressive presence in

the larger community.”

On his own appointment, Himschoot said: “I think it’s a credit to the church that they looked at

all the applicants, including the transgendered, equally.”

The Rev. Pat Conover, a transgendered UCC minister in Washington, D.C., and author of

“Transgender Good News,” praised for the film and said he wasn’t surprised that Plymouth chose

Himschoot. Not every church would, he said.

“It takes some thought for a congregation to work this through, not necessarily because there’s

hostility. For a whole lot of people it doesn’t make sense,” Conover said.

Conover said he knows of four openly transgendered ministers and a few seminarians. But

research and his own experience suggest that congregations have been led by closeted

transgendered ministers for years, he said. Conover, who recently retired after nearly two

decades as the UCC’s legislative director in Washington, said he wasn’t open as a transgender

person where he worked at a parish in the early 1980s.

“We did not have the word ‘transgender’ then,” he said.

Himschoot will be the third minister Plymouth has hired under a residency program funded by the

Lily Endowment of Indianapolis. Plymouth and First Congregational Church in Minneapolis

received a $750,000 Lily grant in 2001 to develop a program aimed at young ministers.

Gertmenian said a number of people in the congregation have welcomed the news of Himschoot’s

appointment. For others, he said, it may be harder.

“We’re all aware that issues of gender and sexuality are very much at the heart of the cultural

shift right now,” Gertmenian said. “Realistically, we can say this is something that people will be

interested in. We’ll need to do some learning and adjustment. But the end of the story will be

that we’ll find out it doesn’t matter.”

Betsy Cussler, Plymouth’s moderator and ranking layperson, said committee members who

selected Himschoot knew that some congregants might prefer a less controversial choice and may

even leave Plymouth because of it.

But Himschoot was the right person regardless of gender issues, she said: “If we didn’t have the

courage to hire this young man, what did that say?”