The big LGBTQ+ event in the Triangle for August is the annual film festival at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. Directors and producers of some films will appear in person, and some may take questions following the films. The OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival (formerly known as the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) runs the weekend of 8/10 - 8/13. The films will be repeated the next week from 8/14 to 8/17. The festival started in 1995. Go to CarolinaTheatre.org. You need to scroll down to get to the festival information.

Pride Festival in Apex

I was pleasantly surprised when the N&O listed 40 events for Pride Month in the Triangle. The list not only included Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, but also several surrounding suburbs. That doesn’t include the big parade that will be held in Durham in September or the film festival in August. In the past year, Wake County passed a model non-discrimination ordinance that has been used by several communities. Of course, we’re an urban area with a lot of out-of-state transplants, but we still rank as one of the more progressive areas in the state.

Let’s face it. The real animosity these days is about transgender, gender non-conforming, or gender fluid identities. Most people believe in a binary world of sex. We’re either male or female. We are born that way and can’t change. Public opinion has come to accept gays or lesbians, but not those who are transgender. According to Forbes, 375 transgender people were killed in 2021, most of them outside of the United States. That number of people in the U.S. who identify as transgender is estimated to be 1.6 million. That compares with the 23 million who identify as LGBTQ+.

Sexual orientation and gender identity are two separate issues. Gender identity is a complex issue mixing psychology, genetics, environmental, and social factors. Gender identity is our self-concept of who we are. Sexual orientation is to whom we are sexually attracted. Some people are attracted to both men and women and are called bisexual. For generations, however, people married those of opposite sex primarily for social acceptance. Mental Health experts try to explain it to us, but we get bogged down in the details. Although we all have some male and female characteristics, basically we just want to keep it simple and not get confused by all the contributing factors.