Oak Park library hosts GLBT Documentary Film Festival

View and discuss interesting movies, celebrate diversity, and learn new things. The 2012 GLBT Documentary Film Festival begins Sunday, October 7. A total of four documentaries will be shown on Sunday afternoons in October at Oak Park Public Library. A casual, facilitated discussion will follow each screening. Free, everyone is welcome, including allies, friends and family, employers, medical providers, anyone seeking information, people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender.

These four documentaries to be shown will appeal to a wide variety of viewers:

TRANS (93 minutes, close captioned, 2012)  
Sunday, October 7, 2 pm, Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street
A documentary feature about males and females — and everything in between. It is an "Up Close and Personal" view of the Transgender Community that will change both your mind and your heart. Screening hosted by Chicago Gender Society. The documentary's director & editor Chris Arnold will join the discussion following the screening. Sign language interpreter before and after film.

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (83 minutes, close captioned, 2002)
Sunday, October 14, 2 pm, Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street
The compelling story of Bayard Rustin, disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., architect of the 1963 March on Washington, and a man who bravely lived an openly gay life during the homophobic 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Screening hosted by the Oak Park Chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Film discussion will follow screening. Sign language interpreter before and after film.

Inlaws and Outlaws (100 minutes, 2007)
Sunday, October 21, 2 pm, Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street
Cleverly weaves together the true stories of couples and singles — both gay and straight — into a collective narrative that is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. As their stories unfold and stereotypes fall by the wayside, you won't care because you'll be rooting for everybody. With candor, good humor, great music and real heart, "Inlaws & Outlaws" gets past all the rhetoric to embrace what we have in common: We love. Screening hosted by the Oak Park Chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Film discussion will follow screening.

Love Free or Die (82 minutes, 2012)
Sunday, October 28, 2 pm, Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street
About a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and for his partner Mark. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. The film follows Robinson's personal story as American churches debate whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of God while our nation debates whether LGBT people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of the law. Screening hosted by Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association (OPALGA). Film discussion will follow screening.

The 2012 GLBT Documentary Film Festival is endorsed by Oak Park PFLAG, Chicago Gender Society, and OPALGA (Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association). Special thanks to Whole Foods for donating refreshments.

Materials pertaining to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities, including materials in Oak Park Public Library's award-winning Transgender Resource Collection, may be borrowed by most library card holders in Illinois.