00:01Draw With Me is a short film about a transgender youth and their journey of coming out to their
00:06family and also engaging in their art to help them cope with the feelings they were having
00:11during this time. The film is important and timely in its story and message and can have a huge
00:18impact on those of us who watch and experience what Brendan and their family is going through
00:25in this time of acceptance and admission. It's a story that's very close to my heart
00:33because it was a family affair. It's about accepting change and challenges
00:41with love and knowing that when we do, everything is possible. Also because Brendan is my nippling.
00:53Enjoy it.
01:16My name is Brendan. I use they, them, their pronouns. I was a friend of mine. I was a friend
01:20of mine.
01:20I was the first one in our friend group to come out as trans. It definitely was not the last
01:24one.
01:25It was in eighth grade when I finally felt comfortable with saying that I'm trans.
01:32You're talking about your identity as a person. Sexual preference has to do with who you go to bed
01:38with and your identity is who you go to bed as. The hardest part is always telling people. That is
01:44always the hardest. It's tough enough trying to fit in as a kid but trying to fit in and being
01:51misgendered makes it just a whole nother degree of difficult. The darkest point was definitely when
01:56I wasn't out to any of my teachers or my parents. I was worried that when I came out that
02:03would be
02:04like the last straw so to speak. They had heard all these horrible stories about kids being kicked out
02:08of their house and the parents disowning them. I remember Leslie was going through the laundry and
02:13found Brendan's binder. And at that point I was just tired of lying to them so I just told them
02:19the truth. Like I told them it's a binder it makes your chest look flat. I said well don't you
02:25want to
02:25be a girl and they kind of looked at me and said I'm not a girl mom. That was probably
02:31one of the hardest
02:32things that I've done. So my child told me when I look in the mirror I don't feel comfortable in
02:37the
02:37body that I'm in. I mean a lot of people can't understand that. I spent a lot of nights crying
02:45because I was so terrified of like what my life would be like. Art gave me an outlet for the
02:53things that I couldn't say out loud but things that I needed to get out of my system. It does
02:58cause
02:58a strain between the parents. It has a strain between me and Brendan. I mean we had some knockdown
03:04drag outs. I was at the lowest points in my mental health where I start self-medicating. I think the
03:11real turning point for us was when Brendan attempted suicide. That night I remember being in my room
03:19and hearing something happening upstairs because their room was right above mine. I went upstairs and
03:25they said oh I feel sick. They were trying to throw up and I didn't know what was going on
03:29until the next
03:30day when we get a call from the counselor at school and they said is Brendan okay. I had like
03:38posted
03:39something online about how I didn't want to wake up in the morning. They had taken all these painkillers
03:51like an aspirin, Aleve, Advil. When it finally hit me like oh my god my kid just tried to kill
03:57himself. It was
03:59it was extremely like... It hurt me that they were having to go through this without
04:04us knowing about it and with us being there to support them with what they were going through.
04:13When you finally get to the acceptance part then you realize it's not about you. You know this is about
04:19my child. We do know that we have love for each other. Whatever happens is not going to change how
04:26we feel about them. I'm just hit with how lucky I am in terms of like the family and friends.
04:31Tithi Jin made that a post where she used the right pronouns. It felt really nice to have a family
04:37member like in a very public way show their support. Makes me appreciate things that other people will do
04:43for me and for anyone else who's struggling. What is the easiest thing you could tell somebody who's never
04:48had someone trans in their life or experienced someone? The best thing I could say is just believe
04:52them. I shouldn't have to be scared to like tell people who I am. If they don't like me because
04:58I'm trans then it's their loss. I'm not going to change myself just because this one person doesn't like it.
05:03If you knock me down, I'll get up again, I'll get up again, I'll get up again, I'll get up
05:16again,
05:27can't lose time for fun, but stop off again. I'll get up again, now I'm stronger than I ever
05:35been.
05:37So
05:38up
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