AMID A

TRANSFORMATION
BY CAMILLE FRIGILLANA

12 Collide March 2016

Film Still from

13
A Placewww.theclause.org/collide
in the Middle

the town of Honolulu, Hawaii, 11year- old Hoonani is a hula dancer

yearning to be a part of the boys hula
dance for her schools performance.
The problem isnt that Hoonanis
dancing skills arent good enough,
but it is because Hoonani is a girl
trying to get on an all-male group.
In the 2015 documentary A
Place In The Middle, directors
Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson use
Ho onanis story in order to challenge gender norms that are in
place in todays society. The story
is told through the perspective of
Hoonani, a girl who identifies herself as a mahu. The concept of
mahu in the ancient Hawaiian tradition is defined as one who does not
identify with one gender or the other, but rather places themselves in
the middle, identifying with different
traits from both genders.
This film is told through the
young persons point of view. Its in
her voice and its her experience. Its
not experts talking about the concept of the gender spectrum. Its just
her experience, co-director Joe Wilson said.
A Place In The Middle is a spin
off of Wilsons 2014 documentary Kumu Hina, which follows a
transgender hula dancer as she pe14 Collide March 2016

titions her future husband to immigrate from Tonga to Hawaii. Hamer and Wilson have been long time
advocates for the LGBT community,
having previously shot a documentary about a gay teen from a small
town in 2009.
For many years, we have been
working on the issue of how to raise
visibility of the LGBT people- youth
in particular- and find ways to overcome prejudice and discrimination
that they continue to face, Wilson
said.
While filming the documentary,
a mutual friend from Hawaii introduced Wilson and Hamer to Kumu
Hina, who quickly learned that she
was a respected and revered figure in
her community, despite seeing herself as mahu.
Hina just invited us to become
more involved in helping to share

decades. So just now over the last

couple of years Hina and a couple
of other mahu are now working to
reclaim the word. Its a slow process
but were in that period now where
the stigma is still there, but little by
little the cracks are peeling that negativity away, Wilson said. A Place
In the Middle is now being used as
a tool for schools in Hawaii to talk
about the concept of mahu to the
young and old alike and to break the
stigma surrounding it so that conversations can begin to take place and
the terms historical significance can
be restored to what it was before.
The Western world can definitely
learn a thing or two from this film,
as it is there that the harshest stigmas and stereotypes are present.
Even though this film is focused on
one particular culture, aspects of it
can also relate to the general idea

"When you realize that those people that we"re

always taught were the other are just like us,
then it just becomes normal. The prejudice and
the other things just kind of dissipate in a natural
way," Wilson said.
her story because she realized, too,
that theres a lot of things people
can learn by seeing an indigenous
perspective on how gender is embraced and respected in many other
cultures, Wilson said. The film explains that mahus were once highly
regarded in the Hawaiian culture.
But once Christian settlers came to
the island and condemned their type
of people, mahus became something
of a taboo.
The term mahu- you know, just
like the term in English queer had
been used negatively- mahu has
also been used like that over many

that certain ideologies can hinder

a full understanding of people who
may be deemed as different than the
norm.
When you realize that those people that were always taught were the
other are just like us, then it just becomes normal. The prejudice and
the other things just kind of dissipate
in a natural way, Wilson said.

A Unique Perspective
Sophomore biblical studies major Ashli Lomelis father came out
to her as transgender when she was

Film Still from

A Place in
the Middle

11 years old. The stigmas attached

to transgender is something that she
knows, and once believed to be true.
My mom comes from a Mexican
Catholic family, so it was very shocking for her, but more shocking than
it should have been. So I modeled
my response after my moms. But I
knew something was up because he
started talking hormones even before he told us. If I hadnt been as
shocked as I was, I would have probably been okay with it, Lomeli said.
Now, Lomeli is willing to help her
father, who now goes by the name
Dee, during this transition. Dee remains steeped in her Christian faith,
and Lomeli appreciates their Bible
studies together. However, there is
one thing that Lomeli wont do, and
that is refer to Dee as a she.
When youre their kid, you refer
to them as what they were to you.
I dont call him mom because he
claims that he will always be my father. Its not a matter of gender but a
matter of parental role. So I call him
dad out of respect of that fact that

he is my father. He doesnt want that

added stress of me having to change
pronouns all the time. He knows
that when I call him he its not out
of disrespect, but out of the fact that
he is my father, Lomeli said.
But, Lomeli and her mother
werent the only ones in the family to
be angered by her fathers decision.
Growing up, Dees parents wanted
her to act more masculine. But now
that Dee has fully accepted who she
really is, her family barely even talks
to her anymore.
We heard countless stories about
how he felt growing up. When he
was three, his parents had to cut his
hair really short and they said that
he was crying for days. And then
during picture days when he would
have to wear a tie and do his hair, he
hated it, Lomeli said.
Dee entered the army and became staff sergeant before she left,
which made Dees father very proud
of her. She continued on as part of
the California Highway Patrol Officer and father to Lomeli.

It was just 40 years of him being

unhappy and trying to please everyone, said Lomeli.
After coming to Lomeli, it took
her four years to finally start talking
to her father again and take the time
to learn about who she is.
I lived with my dad during the
summer when I was 16. We would
go out in public and he would wear
feminine shirts, long hair, makeup. It
was different but it was still my dad.
The only way I could tell it was different was how everyone was looking at my dad, Lomeli said.
Now, Dee is more comfortable
with dressing up and putting on
makeup in public, not paying attention to the stares that she might get.
However, because she lives with her
elderly mother who still disapproves
of her being transgender, Dee seems
to be living a double life as she has to
wear her long hair in a hat and dress
in baggy clothing.
With her unique experience,
Lomeli at first wondered why she
picked such a school that didnt nec-

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transgender

adjective
of, relating to, or being a person who identifies with or
expresses a gender identity that differs from the one
which corresponds to the persons sex at birth.

definition from merriam-webster.

16 Collide March 2016

essarily believe in what her father was going through.

But now she sees her purpose on campus.
I think my job is to answer peoples questions, educate people about it or bring up the topic when other
people dont because I think its important to take the
stigma away, Lomeli explained, pointing to the negative stereotyping that can be attached to transgendered
individuals in a Christian community.

The Fight For Acknowledgement

Many Christian universities now have to face the issue head-on with an updated Title IX. When Title IX
was passed in 1972, it was originally intended to help female athletes get equal treatment with their fellow male
teammates, according to titleix.info. But that changed in
2014 when it extended to protect transgender students
and faculty.
With the expansion of Title IX to protect students
that identify as transgender, the battle for equality within universities is becoming more and more evident, especially at Christian Universities. Title IX now allows
for those who identify as transgender to use restrooms,
locker rooms and dorm rooms with the pronoun they
identify with. It also allows for them to dress appropriately, or maintain their right to keep their status a secret. Many Christian universities, however, are putting
in requests to be exempted from Title IX because it goes
against their religious freedom.

APU is commonly considered to be liberal when it

comes to Christian universities, but that does not mean
that many students and faculty are ready for an open
conversation about transgender and LGBT issues. An
anonymous faculty source hopes that there will be more
of a willingness for students to reach out to LGBT community members and start a conversation.
You can read all the books and articles you want on
the issue, but its not the same as face to face interaction
and getting to know that type of person, the anonymous source said.
Because of people like Wilson, conversations are now
slowly starting around the country. Hawaii is finally
starting to restore an identity that was once highly regarded.
Think about the concept of aloha, which is just unconditional acceptance and respect, and how it can be
applied to your own community in order to make places
of inclusion for everybody. Because this is really about
everybody having an equal opportunity and finding
their way in life, Wilson said.

Film Still from

A Place in the Middle

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