Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for the Vermont Community Newspaper Group.
James Lantz recalls their names and ages with ease: Ashton Clatterbuck, 22. Thea Cassidy, 18. River Olmsted, 17, Brayden Synder, 15, and Robyn Bittenbender, 12. All five were transgender or non-binary, and all five died by suicide in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the last two years.
Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation plaguing the county led to those deaths, said Lantz, 63, a filmmaker and playwright based in Burlington whose productions have addressed gun violence, climate change, corporate greed and, particularly, LGBTQ rights.
A 60-second public service announcement called “Not Losing You” is his newest project and his response to the lives lost in Lancaster County.
“People need to see the cause and effect,” Lantz said. “They need to see that anti-trans legislation leads to LGBTQ and trans teens being anxious and suffering mental health issues, and … in this county has led specifically to five trans youth taking their life.”
“And I find that to be just unacceptable,” he said.
Lantz is living with a rare sarcoma cancer that has given him a partial disability and “a sense of urgency” to see the PSA succeed, he said. Throughout his childhood in a socially conservative part of Virginia, Lantz remembers being suppressed by the same sort of prejudices. For decades he was closeted, until three years ago, when he came out to his wife of 30 years as gay.
“Not Losing You” follows a blue collar farming family in rural America — specifically the relationship between a father, Fuller, and his teenage daughter, Holly. Holly, assigned male at birth, comes out to her father as a trans girl.
Holly will be played by Sophie, an 18-year-old trans woman. Community News Service is identifying her only by her first name due to safety concerns. The role is a chance for her to show parents how they can ease the anxiety of coming out and transitioning with gestures like “let’s talk about it” and “let’s see someone about it,” Sophie said.
Trans representation in pop culture is scarce and often inaccurately captures what it means to be trans, Sophie said. Through the character of Holly, Sophie said she can show Americans that families with trans teens are like any other — they disagree and have hard conversations but find a way to come back together.
Lantz created a GoFundMe for “Not Losing You” over six months ago, with his sights set on raising $1 million. Slow progress forced Lantz to cut the goal in half, a decision he’d have to make again and again. “Now we’re at the absolute bare minimum, I think, of what it will take to get this off, at $75,000,” he said. As of Sept. 9, the campaign had raised close to $32,000.
Lantz believes the film’s subject matter — which he reluctantly called “controversial” — makes it hard to fundraise. Even some who have donated generously to his LGBTQ-focused projects for decades have walked away from the PSA because it deals with trans issues, Lantz said.
In July, Google rejected showing ads for Lantz’s promotional trailer for the PSA because of “shocking content,” according to a screenshot of a notice he received. The corporation defines shocking content as including a significant amount of obscene language, depictions of violence or disgusting imagery. When Lantz omitted a section of his trailer that discussed rising hate crimes against LGBTQ youth, the ad was allowed to run, he said.
“Angry Gay Grandpa” is a complementary episodic series by Lantz that interrogates the political landscape surrounding these five suicides. At the opening of each episode, Lantz asks, “Can I be angry for a moment?”
As the angry gay grandpa in question, Lantz often criticizes Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Whip Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, who supports policies Lantz considers harmful to LGBTQ youth. “Put forth anti-trans bills, and there is a consequence,” Lantz said.
Among them is Aument’s Senate Bill 7, passed by the chamber last October and referred to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill would require schools to let parents opt in for their kids to access class or library materials containing sexually explicit content. It defines that content as visual or visually implied depictions of sexual conduct, simulated or real; explicit and excessive written descriptions of sexual conduct; and, in the case of materials for minors between kindergarten and eighth grade, visual depictions of nudity.
As with similar Republican bills nationwide on parental control over student materials, Democrats and civil liberties groups say it would likely discriminate against LGBTQ students and dangerously limit education on sexual health and safety.
On his website, Aument, who says the bill isn’t a book ban and simply gives parents rights over their children’s education, provides examples from six books he says were found in Pennsylvania school libraries or curricula that have content meeting the bill’s definitions for inappropriate sexual material. Five of the six books fall within the LGBTQ genre or prominently depict LGBTQ relationships.
The American Civil Liberties Union has identified five bills working through the Pennsylvania legislature as anti-LGBTQ.
The bills would prohibit gender-affirming procedures for minors, the participation of trans girls on female sports teams and instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity through fifth grade, to name a few.
Lantz’s anger came to a head at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in April when he was arrested for gluing his hand to a railing after demanding to speak with Aument. Lantz said he now faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $27,000 in property damages. His court hearing is scheduled for this September.
“Not Losing You” will be filmed on Sept. 21 and 22, then released by Oct. 1 to local television stations in Pennsylvania, Lantz said, though he isn’t sure how willing they will be to air the story of a trans teenager.
“I want to model what a really good parent of a trans youth would do, especially a parent who doesn’t have all the answers,” Lantz said.