Quan vaig dir als pares que era lesbiana el primer que em van dir va ser: "Et tornarem de cap a Taiwan."
Jenni Chang: When I told my parents I was gay, the first thing they said to me was, "We're bringing you back to Taiwan."
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
Per ells, la meva orientació sexual era culpa d'Amèrica. Occident m'havia corromput amb idees divergents, i si els pares no haguessin marxat mai de Taiwan, això no li hauria passat a la seva única filla. El cert és que em preguntava si tenien raó.
In their minds, my sexual orientation was America's fault. The West had corrupted me with divergent ideas, and if only my parents had never left Taiwan, this would not have happened to their only daughter. In truth, I wondered if they were right.
És clar que hi ha homosexuals a l'Àsia, igual que hi ha homosexuals arreu del món. Però viure fora de l'armari i dir "Soc lesbiana, ella és la meva dona, i estem orgulloses de la nostra vida" és una idea només occidental?
Of course, there are gay people in Asia, just as there are gay people in every part of the world. But is the idea of living an "out" life, in the "I'm gay, this is my spouse, and we're proud of our lives together" kind of way just a Western idea?
Si hagués crescut a Taiwan, o a qualsevol lloc fora d'Occident, hauria trobat models de persones LGBT felices,
If I had grown up in Taiwan, or any place outside of the West, would I have found models of happy, thriving LGBT people?
Jo pensava igual. Com a treballadora social a San Francisco, he conegut molts immigrants homosexuals. M'explicaven les seves històries de persecució als seus països, només per ser homosexuals, i les raons perquè van escapar als Estats Units. I veia com això els havia marcat. Després de 10 anys fent la mateixa feina necessitava històries més maques. Sabia que el món no era perfecte, però segur que no totes les vides eren terribles.
Lisa Dazols: I had similar notions. As an HIV social worker in San Francisco, I had met many gay immigrants. They told me their stories of persecution in their home countries, just for being gay, and the reasons why they escaped to the US. I saw how this had beaten them down. After 10 years of doing this kind of work, I needed better stories for myself. I knew the world was far from perfect, but surely not every gay story was tragic.
Com a parella, necessitàvem trobar històries d'esperança. Vam sortir amb la missió de viatjar pel món i buscar gent a qui vam definir com 'Superhomos'.
JC: So as a couple, we both had a need to find stories of hope. So we set off on a mission to travel the world and look for the people we finally termed as the "Supergays."
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
Serien les persones de la comunitat LGBT que feien coses extraordinàries al món. Serien valents, forts, i sobre tot, orgullosos de qui són. Serien el tipus de persones que jo aspiro a ser. El pla era compartir les seves històries amb el món amb una pel·lícula.
These would be the LGBT individuals who were doing something extraordinary in the world. They would be courageous, resilient, and most of all, proud of who they were. They would be the kind of person that I aspire to be. Our plan was to share their stories to the world through film.
Només hi havia un problema. No teníem cap tipus d'experiència en fer reportatges.
LD: There was just one problem. We had zero reporting and zero filmmaking experience.
(Riures)
(Laughter)
Ni tan sols sabíem on trobar els Superhomos, havíem de confiar en què ja ens ensortiríem. Vam escollir 15 països a l'Àsia, l'Àfrica i Amèrica de Sud, països no occidentals que diferien en qüestió de drets per als LGBT. Vam comprar una càmera, un llibre sobre com fer documentals...
We didn't even know where to find the Supergays, so we just had to trust that we'd figure it all out along the way. So we picked 15 countries in Asia, Africa and South America, countries outside the West that varied in terms of LGBT rights. We bought a camcorder, ordered a book on how to make a documentary --
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
-es pot aprendre molt, avui dia- i vam marxar a fer la volta al món.
you can learn a lot these days -- and set off on an around-the-world trip.
Un dels primers països va ser el Nepal. Malgrat la pobresa, 10 anys de guerra civil, i, recentment, un terratrèmol, el Nepal ha fet grans avenços en la lluita per la igualtat. Una de les líders del moviment és la Bhumika Shrestha. Una dona transgènere, bella i enèrgica. La Bhumika ha hagut de superar que la fessin fora de l'escola i que la fiquessin a la presó per la seva identitat de gènere. Però el 2007, la Bhumika i l'organització pels drets dels LGBT al Nepal van fer arribar una petició al Tribunal suprem del Nepal per a protegir els LGBT de la discriminació.
JC: One of the first countries that we traveled to was Nepal. Despite widespread poverty, a decade-long civil war, and now recently, a devastating earthquake, Nepal has made significant strides in the fight for equality. One of the key figures in the movement is Bhumika Shrestha. A beautiful, vibrant transgendered woman, Bhumika has had to overcome being expelled from school and getting incarcerated because of her gender presentation. But, in 2007, Bhumika and Nepal's LGBT rights organization successfully petitioned the Nepali Supreme Court to protect against LGBT discrimination.
Aquesta és la Bhumika:
Here's Bhumika:
De què estic més orgullosa? Sóc transgénere. I estic molt orgullosa de la meva vida. El 21 de desembre de 2007, el Tribunal Superior va ordenar al govern del Nepal donar documents d'identificació transgèneres i aprovar el matrimoni homosexual.
(Video) BS: What I'm most proud of? I'm a transgendered person. I'm so proud of my life. On December 21, 2007, the supreme court gave the decision for the Nepal government to give transgender identity cards and same-sex marriage.
Li agraeixo la confiança en el dia a dia. Una cosa tan simple com anar a un lavabo públic pot ser un gran repte quan no encaixes dins les rígides espectatives de génere de la gent. Viatjant per l'Àsia, les dones s'esgarrifaven quan em veien als lavabos públics. No estaven acostumades a veure algú com jo. Havia d'inventar estratègies per poder pixar en pau.
LD: I can appreciate Bhumika's confidence on a daily basis. Something as simple as using a public restroom can be a huge challenge when you don't fit in to people's strict gender expectations. Traveling throughout Asia, I tended to freak out women in public restrooms. They weren't used to seeing someone like me. I had to come up with a strategy, so that I could just pee in peace.
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
Cada cop que entrava a un lavabo, feia el pit endavant i mostrar les meves parts femenines, i intentar no ser tan intimidant. Saludava amb les mans i deia "Hola", de manera que la gent sentís la meva veu femenina. Tot això es força cansat, però és el que sóc. No puc ser altra cosa.
So anytime I would enter a restroom, I would thrust out my chest to show my womanly parts, and try to be as non-threatening as possible. Putting out my hands and saying, "Hello", just so that people could hear my feminine voice. This all gets pretty exhausting, but it's just who I am. I can't be anything else.
Després del Nepal, vam viatjar a l'Índia. D'una banda, l'Índia és una societat hindú, sense tradició homofòbica. D'altra banda, és una societat amb un profund sistema patriarcal, que rebutja tot allò que alteri l'ordre home-dona. Quan parlàrem amb els activistes, ens van dir que l'empoderament comença quan es garanteix la igualtat de gènere, quan l'estatus de la dona és establert a la societat. I d'aquesta manera, l'estatus dels LGBT també es pot afermar.
JC: After Nepal, we traveled to India. On one hand, India is a Hindu society, without a tradition of homophobia. On the other hand, it is also a society with a deeply patriarchal system, which rejects anything that threatens the male-female order. When we spoke to activists, they told us that empowerment begins with ensuring proper gender equality, where the women's status is established in society. And in that way, the status of LGBT people can be affirmed as well.
Allà vam conéixer el príncep Manvendra. És el primer príncep obertament gai al món. Va sortir de l'armari al show de l'Oprah Winfrey, internacionalment. Els seus pares el van repudiar i el van acusar de portar la vergonya a la família reial. Ens vam asseure amb el Príncep i vam parlar sobre per què va decidir fer-ho de manera tan pública.
LD: There we met Prince Manvendra. He's the world's first openly gay prince. Prince Manvendra came out on the "Oprah Winfrey Show," very internationally. His parents disowned him and accused him of bringing great shame to the royal family. We sat down with Prince Manvendra and talked to him about why he decided to come out so very publicly.
Aquest és ell:
Here he is:
"Creia que era necessari trencar l'estigma i la discriminació que hi ha a la nostra societat. Això em va fer sortir públicament i parlar de mi mateix. Siguem gais, lesbianes, transgènere, bisexuals o qualsevol altra minoria sexual, ens hem d'unir tots i lluitar pels nostres drets. Els drets dels LGBT no es poden guanyar als tribunals, sinó als cors i les ments de la gent."
(Video) Prince Manvendra: I felt there was a lot of need to break this stigma and discrimination which is existing in our society. And that instigated me to come out openly and talk about myself. Whether we are gay, we are lesbian, we are transgender, bisexual or whatever sexual minority we come from, we have to all unite and fight for our rights. Gay rights cannot be won in the court rooms, but in the hearts and the minds of the people.
Quan em tallava els cabells, la perruquera em va preguntar, "Tens marit?"
JC: While getting my hair cut, the woman cutting my hair asked me, "Do you have a husband?"
És una pregunta delicada que la gent local m'ha fet sovint durant els viatges. Quan li vaig dir que estava amb una dona i no amb un home, no s'ho acabava de creure, i em va fer moltes preguntes sobre la reacció dels meus pares i si estava trista perquè mai no podria tenir fills. Li vaig dir que a la meva vida no hi havia limitacions i que la Lisa i jo planejem tenir família algun dia. En aquell moment va pensar que jo era una altra boja occidental. No podia imaginar que aquell fenomen pogués passar al seu propi país. Fins que vaig mostrar-li les fotos dels Superhomos que vam entrevistar a l'Índia Va reconèixer el príncep Manvendra de la tele i de seguida es van apropar les altres noies curioses per conèixe'm.
Now, this was a dreaded question that I got asked a lot by locals while traveling. When I explained to her that I was with a woman instead of a man, she was incredulous, and she asked me a lot of questions about my parents' reactions and whether I was sad that I'd never be able to have children. I told her that there are no limitations to my life and that Lisa and I do plan to have a family some day. Now, this woman was ready to write me off as yet another crazy Westerner. She couldn't imagine that such a phenomenon could happen in her own country. That is, until I showed her the photos of the Supergays that we interviewed in India. She recognized Prince Manvendra from television and soon I had an audience of other hairdressers interested in meeting me.
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
Aquella tarda ordinària vaig tenir la oportunitat d'explicar a tota la perruqueria els canvis socials del seu propi país.
And in that ordinary afternoon, I had the chance to introduce an entire beauty salon to the social changes that were happening in their own country.
De l'Índia vam passar a l'Àfrica de l'est, coneguda per la seva intolerància envers els LGBT. A Kenya, el 89% de la gent que surt de l'armari és repudiat per la família. Els actes homosexuals són delictes que poden portar a la presó. A Kenya, vam conèixer un home amb la veu molt suau, David Kuria. David s'havia proposat la missió de treballar pels pobres i millorar el seu govern. I decidí pesentar-se per al Senat. Va ser el primer candidat polític obertament gai de Kenya. El David volia fer la seva campanya sense negar la realitat de qui era. Però ens preocupava la seguretat perquè va començar a rebre amenaces de mort. "En aquell moment tenia por perquè demanaven que em matessin. I sí, hi ha persones que ho fan i pensen que estan complint amb una obligació religiosa."
LD: From India, we traveled to East Africa, a region known for intolerance towards LGBT people. In Kenya, 89 percent of people who come out to their families are disowned. Homosexual acts are a crime and can lead to incarceration. In Kenya, we met the soft-spoken David Kuria. David had a huge mission of wanting to work for the poor and improve his own government. So he decided to run for senate. He became Kenya's first openly gay political candidate. David wanted to run his campaign without denying the reality of who he was. But we were worried for his safety because he started to receive death threats. (Video) David Kuria: At that point, I was really scared because they were actually asking for me to be killed. And, yeah, there are some people out there who do it and they feel that they are doing a religious obligation.
No s'avergonyia del que era. Fins i tot amb les amenaces es va mantenir autèntic.
JC: David wasn't ashamed of who he was. Even in the face of threats, he stayed authentic.
A l'altra banda de l'espectre està l'Argentina. A l'Argentina, el 92% de la gent es considera catòlica. Tanmateix, tenen lleis que són fins i tot més progressives que les que tenim als EUA. El 2010, l'Argentina va ser el primer país llatinoamericà i el 10è al món a legalitzar els matrimonis homosexuals.
LD: At the opposite end of the spectrum is Argentina. Argentina's a country where 92 percent of the population identifies as Catholic. Yet, Argentina has LGBT laws that are even more progressive than here in the US. In 2010, Argentina became the first country in Latin America and the 10th in the world to adopt marriage equality.
Allà vam conèixer la María Rachid. María era la força impulsora darrera el moviment.
There, we met María Rachid. María was a driving force behind that movement.
"Sempre dic que, de fet, els efectes de la igualtat no són només per les persones que es casen. Són per a molta més gent que, encara que no es casi mai, seran mirats de manera diferent pels companys, per la família i pels veïns, a partir d'aquest missatge d'igualtat per part de l'Estat. Estic molt orgullosa de l'Argentina perquè avui dia l'Argentina és un model d'igualtat. I esperem que aviat hi hagi els mateixos drets a tot el món."
María Rachid (Spanish): I always say that, in reality, the effects of marriage equality are not only for those couples that get married. They are for a lot of people that, even though they may never get married, will be perceived differently by their coworkers, their families and neighbors, from the national state's message of equality. I feel very proud of Argentina because Argentina today is a model of equality. And hopefully soon, the whole world will have the same rights.
Quan vam visitar la terra dels meus ancestres, vaig desitjar haver ensenyat als pares el que hi vam trobar. Aquí ho teniu:
JC: When we made the visit to my ancestral lands, I wish I could have shown my parents what we found there. Because here is who we met:
"Un, dos, tres. Benvinguts, homosexuals, a Shangai!"
(Video) One, two, three. Welcome gays to Shanghai!
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
Una magnífica comunitat de joves chinesos LGBT. És clar que tenien conflictes. Però s'hi enfrontaven. A Shangai, vaig poder parlar amb un grup de lesbianes locals i els vaig explicar la nostra història en el meu mal chinès. A Taipei, cada cop que pujavem al metro, trobàvem una altra parella de lesbianes de la mà. I vam saber que l'esdeveniment LGBT més gran d'Àsia se celebra només a uns blocs d'on vivien els meus avis. Si ho sabessin els meus pares.
A whole community of young, beautiful Chinese LGBT people. Sure, they had their struggles. But they were fighting it out. In Shanghai, I had the chance to speak to a local lesbian group and tell them our story in my broken Mandarin Chinese. In Taipei, each time we got onto the metro, we saw yet another lesbian couple holding hands. And we learned that Asia's largest LGBT pride event happens just blocks away from where my grandparents live. If only my parents knew.
Quan vam acabar el nostres viatges, amb alguna desviació,
LD: By the time we finished our not-so-straight journey around the world,
(Riuen)
(Laughter)
havíem recorregut 80.000 km i enregistrat 120 hores de metratge. Vam visitar 15 països i entrevistat 50 Superhomos. No va resultar difícil trobar-los.
we had traveled 50,000 miles and logged 120 hours of video footage. We traveled to 15 countries and interviewed 50 Supergays. Turns out, it wasn't hard to find them at all.
És cert que encara hi ha tragèdies al camí ple de sotracs cap a l'igualtat. I no hem d'oblidar que encara avui dia 75 països criminalitzen l'homosexualitat. Però també hi ha històries d'esperança i coratge a cada racó del món. El que vam extreure del nostre viatge és que la igualtat no és una invenció occidental.
JC: Yes, there are still tragedies that happen on the bumpy road to equality. And let's not forget that 75 countries still criminalize homosexuality today. But there are also stories of hope and courage in every corner of the world. What we ultimately took away from our journey is, equality is not a Western invention.
Un dels factors claus del moviment és l'empenta, l'empenta que fa que cada cop més gent s'accepti com és i aprofiti qualsevol oportunitat per canviar la seva part del món, i l'empenta que fa que cada cop més països trobin model d'igualtat al voltant. Quan el Nepal va protegir els LGBT contra la discriminació, l'Índia va anar més enllà. Quan l'Argentina va legalitzar el matrimoni homosexual, l'Uruguay i el Brasil ho van fer també. Quan Irlanda va dir sí a la igualtat,
LD: One of the key factors in this equality movement is momentum, momentum as more and more people embrace their full selves and use whatever opportunities they have to change their part of the world, and momentum as more and more countries find models of equality in one another. When Nepal protected against LGBT discrimination, India pushed harder. When Argentina embraced marriage equality, Uruguay and Brazil followed. When Ireland said yes to equality,
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)
el món es va parar a observar. Quan el Tribunal Suprem dels EUA pren una decisió de la qual estar orgullosos.
the world stopped to notice. When the US Supreme Court makes a statement to the world that we can all be proud of.
(Aplaudiments)
(Applause)
Quan revisàvem els videos, ens vam adonar que estàvem mirant una història d'amor. No és la història d'amor m'esperava, sinó una més plena de llibertat, aventura i amor del que mai hagués pogut imaginar. Un any després d'haver tornat del nostre viatge el matrimoni gai va arribar a Califòrnia. I pensem que, al final, l'amor ho pot tot.
JC: As we reviewed our footage, what we realized is that we were watching a love story. It wasn't a love story that was expected of me, but it is one filled with more freedom, adventure and love than I could have ever possibly imagined. One year after returning home from our trip, marriage equality came to California. And in the end, we believe, love will win out.
"Pel poder que m'atorga, l'estat de Califòrnia i Déu Totpoderós, jo us declaro unides en matrimoni. Us poder fer un petó."
(Video) By the power vested in me, by the state of California and by God Almighty, I now pronounce you spouses for life. You may kiss.
(Aplaudiment)
(Applause)