On December 8th, I had the privilege of participating in the post-film discussion of Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter at the 19th Annual Washington Jewish Film Festival in DC. The film and panel discussion were organized by the DC Jewish Community Center's Kurlander Program for Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement (GLOE).

About 100 people braved the chilly evening to watch the DC premiere of this Israeli trans documentary. I was joined on the panel by local politico and national gender rights advocate Dr. Dana Byer and Rhodes Perry, field and policy manager at PFLAG National, to answer audience questions about trans issues and Judaism. Although to be fair, Dana had to field all of the questions on Judaism since she's spent years at Yeshiva and Rhodes and I are "Gentiles." Thanks, Dana.

Directed by Orna Ben Dor, Mom, I Didn't Kill Your Daughter documents the lives of Lior and Yuval, a trans male gay couple in Israel. The documentary spans about a year and a half of their relationship in which Lior begins his physical transition, and Yuval quests to change the gender marker on his national ID card from F to M--one of the first people to do so in Israel. Throughout the film, we watch Lior's mother come to terms with her child's transition at 22--progressing from not knowing the meaning of "transgender," feeling that she's lost her "daughter," to ultimately embracing Lior and his partnership with Yuval.