In a partnership with filmmaker Brooke Sebold, LGBTQ+ advocacy organization PFLAG has launched a five-episode video series called I Changed My Mind. Each short documentary film focuses on a single story that examines understandings of LGBTQ+ identities and the space needed for someone’s opinions to evolve over time.

“Stories have the power to challenge assumptions, build bridges, and inspire change,” said Sebold. “This series brings to life the deeply personal transformations that can happen when people are willing to listen, reflect, and open themselves up to love.”

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Through the real stories told in the I Changed My Mind series, PFLAG hopes it can help people “embrace empathy and step into authenticity.” While political discourse is massively divisive and anti-trans rhetoric is tied to political identity, the series seeks to bridge divides and looks at how “people can grow, unlearn, and make space for new ways of seeing.”

The first video, released on September 15, was Ria’s Story. When Kane, Ria’s son, came out as trans, her first reaction was to reject the idea and insist that she knew her child’s gender identity better than he did.

This came as a surprise to her, as she had studied gender roles in college and had never felt “girly” herself. But then she had what she calls her “ahhh moment,” where she asked herself, “Wait, what am I doing?” That process helped her to reexamine and embrace her own sexuality as well. Ultimately, she says, “Not everything is just black and white. There’s different ways of seeing things, that changing your mind is essential for you to grow.”

On October 7, PFLAG released Sue’s Story. Sue explains that she was a “life-long Republican” who homeschooled her kids to “protect them from indoctrination,” and once protested against Pride parades.

When her youngest child came out as gay and then trans, she enrolled them in so-called conversion therapy, a practice that is widely discredited by major medical associations. The only effect of the therapy, she said, was that it gave her child anxiety and depression.

Eventually, Sue realized that she was wrong, but admitting that meant leaving behind her church and broader community and crafting a new identity for herself.

Deedee’s Story focuses on a single mom and her struggle to fully accept her trans son. When he came out, she did everything right on the outside, from affirming his identity to using his pronouns. But she knew she was secretly hoping this was just a phase and that he wasn’t really trans.

It took her a long time to realize her error and change her mind on the whole thing. “I could feel how I had failed my child. I had the ability to really support, truly affirm and support him, and I wasn’t taking the opportunity to do that. And I knew that’s not the type of parent I was supposed to be. When he told me that he knew that too, it was my bitter pill to swallow.”

The latest episode is Elton’s Story. Raised on the Navajo Nation, Elton found his way into HIV activism after his brother passed from it. Now, as the executive director of the Two Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ Center for Equality, he is pushing for the dream he shared with his brother to “end the false narrative surrounding HIV/AIDS today.”

The final installment of PFLAG’s I Changed My Mind series will release on December 9.

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