Love and Rage: Munroe Bergdorf

In Munroe's words, "It's sort of the best time and the worst time to be releasing this film."

The UK has become notorious in its obsession with being Transphobic, to the point I'm concerned we're actually the country exporting transphobia to the world. Our native anti-trans voices are loud and disgusting, violent in their rhetoric and dispassionate in their analysis, and the absolute worst of British behavior.

Munroe has had to bear the absolute knife edge of it all, and should not have had to - yet she has, with grace and strength, that this documentary now shows was very deliberate, and very tenuous. There is only so much one person can take, and the media in this country has deliberately portrayed Munroe in her parts, and not as the whole.

This documentary, therefore, is a revolutionary act - and affords her not just her humanity and wholeness, but her nuances too, all with a level of respect and restraint that is noteworthy for a subject this publicly known. Her story must be told because without it, the entire community - Black, Trans, British - face erasure. We must hold the line, and Ms. Bergdorf has led the way for us all.

The SXSW crowd was a vocal one - one of support and love, watching each moment unfold, cheering for her wins and booing at her detractors. This film itself is an act of love for Munroe, for her decision to be outspoken and not to diminish herself in the face of institutions that do not want her to exist.

This is a great film to bring your "neutral" friends to, or to just sit with the Trans community in solidarity and witness Munroe's story – witnessing is knowledge, and it's the foundational step toward change.