As we continue to observe Transgender Awareness Week here at All Saints Church we reach back into the archives for this 2012 documentary — Voices of Witness: Out of the Box — produced by ASC parishioner Louise Emerson Brooks as a gift to the Episcopal Church before the 77th General Convention. It was part of a strategic effort to amplify the voices and stories of transgender Episcopalians to move the church forward on trans-inclusive policies … and it inarguably helped move hearts, minds and votes to achieve some significant legislative victories for transgender members of the Episcopal Church.

In the six years since the production of this film we have continued to learn and grow in our understanding of the continuum that includes gender fluid and non-binary people … ‌identities which are outside the gender binary and cisnormativity. And so while some of the language in the film already sounds “dated” the stories it offers still make a powerful witness.

From the website: “Gender identity and gender expression are issues that can easily be misunderstood and cannot be wrapped up in a neat little box. So the goal of “Out of the Box” was to answer some of the most frequently asked questions. We have been blessed by a truly amazing cloud of witnesses who shared their stories and their lives with us. It has been a privilege to work with them to take this project from a dream to a reality as we offer their voices of witness to the church and to the world.” — Louise Brooks, Executive Producer

Watch. Learn. Question. Share.