Dear Lou Sullivan

Watch.

Available Summary:

"This new work by LA-based artist Rhys Ernst invokes the story of Lou Sullivan, trans man and AIDS activist largely responsible for establishing the distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation. Cut with images of Ernst’ own examination of this figure and trans history, the video is structured by the search for and desire to identify transmasculine elders and an intergenerational exploration of gay transmasculine identity. Utilizing interview footage, excerpts of Sullivan’s book “Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual," VHS gay porn, and Grindr chats, Dear Lou Sullivan is a meditation on the life of the late trans man and AIDS activist that explores the bodily intersection of transmasculine gay and HIV+ identity." -Visual AIDS, Vimeo.

Note from Jack:

Please be aware that this short film includes screenshots of transphobic and serophobic Grindr messages, and a lot of flashing imagery. Gay porn plays throughout this short film, but I didn't see any explicit imagery, and I think all overt sex acts are obscured.

Though the term "transmasculine" is placed upon Lou Sullivan, that is a modern term which (to my knowledge) he never identified with. He identified as a female-to-male transsexual. This stands out to me because, as a modern FTM transsexual, I have repeatedly been labelled as transmasculine, even when I have reminded people that I do not identify with that term. This is an experience that I share with many other transsexual men. If people ever discuss my life as a trans man, I do not want them to place a term on me that I never identified with in life.

The film's description credits Sullivan as being "largely responsible for establishing the distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation". My caveat would be that this is a USA-centric, and Western-centric, statement. We can appreciate the work that Sullivan did, and the wondrous impact of his visibility, while also acknowledging that the conversation about gender and sexual orientation transcends countries, generations, and cultures, and is certainly larger than one person.