Outfest Slams Gay White Men Who 'Co-Opted' Trans History

Happy Birthday, Marsha! -- a short about Stonewall activist Marsha P. Johnson -- received a special mention for U.S. Narrative Short at the Outfest LGBTQ Film Festival.

The honor came with a message from juror Jacob Tobia, who gave the closing-night crowd at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles a lesson in how history books are written.

"Almost 50 years ago, trans women of color, drag queens, and gender-nonconforming people kicked off the riots at the Stonewall Inn," said Tobia, who identifies as genderqueer. "But for decades, that's not how the story was always told. Too often, gay white men have co-opted movements or been given sole ownership of ideas that were created by trans people of color."

"From Netflix documentaries to history books, credit has not always been given where credit is due. But not anymore," said Tobia. In announcing the special mention for Happy Birthday, Marsha!, they declared, "Trans stories are best told by trans people." Another film with a transgender protagonist, Fran This Summer, went on to win the Grand Jury Award for the category.

The speech at the Sunday awards ceremony -- which preceded the festival's closing-night film, The Miseducation of Cameron Post -- telegraphed a not-so-coded message for David France, the white queer cisgender director of the Netflix documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.

In 2017, trans activist Reina Gossett, who directed Happy Birthday, Marsha!, accused France of stealing her research -- specifically, clips of archival footage she had posted to Vimeo and Tumblr -- to make his film about the late pioneer. France, who said the clips had been obtained from their original sources through the proper channels, denied any wrongdoing.

Gossett's accusation sparked a fierce debate in the LGBT community over who has the right to tell certain stories. Johnson identified as a gay drag queen and a "transvestite" in her lifetime, but she is considered a mother of the trans rights movement.

Janet Mock -- a transgender journalist who is now a producer and writer on FX's Pose, which centers on trans women of color -- sided with Gossett. In an essay for Allure, Mock noted how a lack of privilege unfairly prevented trans women from telling stories about their own community.

"[Gossett] is the preeminent and foremost scholar on Marsha P. Johnson, and she isn't called that because she is a black trans woman who is borrowing money from friends to pay her Brooklyn rent -- no less has the resources of stable space, funds, and time to write a biography or direct a feature-length film on Marsha P. Johnson. To us, Reina Gossett is the expert," Mock wrote in October.

In honoring Happy Birthday, Marsha!, Tobia and Outfest gave an empowering and encouraging message to filmmakers like Gossett that, indeed, "Trans stories are best told by trans people." It was also a reminder to filmmakers like, say, Roland Emmerich -- who caused an uproar by centering his 2015 film on the Stonewall riots on a white gay man -- that rewriting history through art is unacceptable.

Outfest screened The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson in 2017. At the time, the festival honored France and subject Victoria Cruz -- who was investigating the suspicious circumstances of Johnson's death -- with its Freedom Award. "This long overdue biography of a civil rights icon merges empathetic documentary filmmaking with the tenacity of investigative journalism to highlight the injustices that trans people still face today," jurors noted. The theft accusations made headlines later that year after the documentary's Netflix debut in October.

Tobia's remarks came on the heels of a more recent controversy related to transgender filmmaking -- the casting of Scarlett Johansson in a trans part in Rub & Tug. After issuing tone-deaf remarks and hearing the outcry from actors in the transgender community, Johansson announced she was withdrawing from the role.

Among those who spoke out was Her Story actress Jen Richards, who tweeted out her own message to Hollywood.

Happy Birthday, Marsha! -- a short about Stonewall activist Marsha P. Johnson -- received a special mention for U.S. Narrative Short at the Outfest LGBTQ Film Festival.

The honor came with a message from juror Jacob Tobia, who gave the closing-night crowd at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles a lesson in how history books are written.

"Almost 50 years ago, trans women of color, drag queens, and gender-nonconforming people kicked off the riots at the Stonewall Inn," said Tobia, who identifies as genderqueer. "But for decades, that's not how the story was always told. Too often, gay white men have co-opted movements or been given sole ownership of ideas that were created by trans people of color."

"From Netflix documentaries to history books, credit has not always been given where credit is due. But not anymore," said Tobia. In announcing the special mention for Happy Birthday, Marsha!, they declared, "Trans stories are best told by trans people." Another film with a transgender protagonist, Fran This Summer, went on to win the Grand Jury Award for the category.

The speech at the Sunday awards ceremony -- which preceded the festival's closing-night film, The Miseducation of Cameron Post -- telegraphed a not-so-coded message for David France, the white queer cisgender director of the Netflix documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.

In 2017, trans activist Reina Gossett, who directed Happy Birthday, Marsha!, accused France of stealing her research -- specifically, clips of archival footage she had posted to Vimeo and Tumblr -- to make his film about the late pioneer. France, who said the clips had been obtained from their original sources through the proper channels, denied any wrongdoing.

Gossett's accusation sparked a fierce debate in the LGBT community over who has the right to tell certain stories. Johnson identified as a gay drag queen and a "transvestite" in her lifetime, but she is considered a mother of the trans rights movement.

Janet Mock -- a transgender journalist who is now a producer and writer on FX's Pose, which centers on trans women of color -- sided with Gossett. In an essay for Allure, Mock noted how a lack of privilege unfairly prevented trans women from telling stories about their own community.

"[Gossett] is the preeminent and foremost scholar on Marsha P. Johnson, and she isn't called that because she is a black trans woman who is borrowing money from friends to pay her Brooklyn rent -- no less has the resources of stable space, funds, and time to write a biography or direct a feature-length film on Marsha P. Johnson. To us, Reina Gossett is the expert," Mock wrote in October.

In honoring Happy Birthday, Marsha!, Tobia and Outfest gave an empowering and encouraging message to filmmakers like Gossett that, indeed, "Trans stories are best told by trans people." It was also a reminder to filmmakers like, say, Roland Emmerich -- who caused an uproar by centering his 2015 film on the Stonewall riots on a white gay man -- that rewriting history through art is unacceptable.

Outfest screened The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson in 2017. At the time, the festival honored France and subject Victoria Cruz -- who was investigating the suspicious circumstances of Johnson's death -- with its Freedom Award. "This long overdue biography of a civil rights icon merges empathetic documentary filmmaking with the tenacity of investigative journalism to highlight the injustices that trans people still face today," jurors noted. The theft accusations made headlines later that year after the documentary's Netflix debut in October.

Tobia's remarks came on the heels of a more recent controversy related to transgender filmmaking -- the casting of Scarlett Johansson in a trans part in Rub & Tug. After issuing tone-deaf remarks and hearing the outcry from actors in the transgender community, Johansson announced she was withdrawing from the role.

Among those who spoke out was Her Story actress Jen Richards, who tweeted out her own message to Hollywood.