KUMU HINA

A powerful documentary film about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern Hawaiʻi, told through the lens of an extraordinary Hawaiian mahu, or transgender woman.

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Seeking A Step Forward For Transgender Students

by Todd Simmons - May 4, 2016:

Setting aside a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to a White House ceremony at which you would be one of 10 Asian American/Pacific Islanders nationally honored by President Obama is no small thing.

But that’s exactly what Hina Wong-Kalu did this week so that she could personally express her frustration with the Hawaii Board of Education’s continued lack of specific guidelines governing how public schools and educators interact with transgender kids.

The transgender educator, hula instructor and subject of the award-winning documentaryKumu Hina, Wong-Kalu led 15 transgender community members and supporters in a Tuesday afternoon press conference at the Department of Education and civil discussion at a subsequent Board of Education meeting, where they delivered more than 5,400 petition signatures in support of their position.

“All of our children are important,” Wong-Kalu reminded board members. “And they’re all counting on us.”

Transgender visibility has reached heights in recent years that few ever imagined possible. The very public transitions of Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner and Chastity Bono to Chaz Bono, television series like “Orange is the New Black,” “Glee” and “I Am Jazz” and the popularity of celebrities such as Janet Mock and Laverne Cox have created wider cultural recognition of the obstacles most transgender individuals face in simply living their lives. That visibility also has birthed a growing and righteous sentiment that they deserve to be covered by civil rights laws and anti-discrimination policies.

One of the most vivid illustrations of that is the ongoing debate in North Carolina over HB 2, a hastily passed state law that wiped away discrimination protections based on gender identity in the few jurisdictions where local ordinances had been passed. Scores of conventions and big concerts starring top performers have been canceled or moved out of state, along with numerous plans by big businesses to expand or start new operations in North Carolina.

In a particular blow to the basketball-crazy state, the NBA announced in late April that it may pull its 2017 All Star game from Charlotte if the law is not repealed, while the NCAA said it may follow suit in eliminating the state’s ability to host 2017 basketball tournament games. That was followed by an estimate by Time Warner Cable News that the law has so far cost the state roughly $77 million in investments and visitor spending and about 1,750 jobs.

Continued Challenges Amid The Progress

But in a cultural environment where so much more finally seems possible for transgender individuals and the trans community, there are daily reminders of how difficult life can be for some of its most vulnerable members, both nationally and here in Hawaii.

In mid April, the mother of a Palolo Elementary School second grader went public with her daughter’s challenges. Wendy Taylor said young Kailey suffered completely preventable embarrassment in front of classmates and difficulties with school leaders who were unprepared for how to deal with a transgender student.

At Tuesday’s protest, Wendy said things are better now, in part because of the light shone on the case through local and national media coverage, including CNN. School leaders know that others are watching, she said.

Around the same time that Kailey’s story emerged, Jennea Purcell released her own story with local documentary makers Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, detailing her challenges as a senior last year at Kahuku High and Intermediate School on the North Shore. Purcell had transitioned from her prior identity to Jennea the previous school year, but said a new school principal didn’t support the change and refused to allow her to wear the regalia designated for women in the Kahuku commencement ceremony.

Heartbroken, she opted not to take part, missing her own graduation.

The seven-minute video of Jennea launched on CivilBeat.com had drawn more than 26,000 views as of Tuesday. Her story fueled the Change.org petition and signatures that Wong-Kalu brought to Tuesday’s press conference, which included not only support from across Hawaii, but from Australia, Canada, Japan, Brazil and numerous other countries around the world.

Jennea helped lead protestors on Tuesday, holding the hand of her mother, Berlin Scott, who beamed with pride. One year after her painful final days at Kahuku, she said, “I’m not as angry as I was. I’m just trying to move forward and doing my best to make a difference for others.”

Kaleo Ramos, a sixth-grade teacher who is transgender, says stories like Jennea’s and Kailey’s are more common than people may realize. A trans community leader who has helped lobby for significant legal gains at the state Legislature, Ramos said he regularly hears from students, parents and other educators struggling with scenarios they don’t know how to handle. While schools go over policies that provide protection against discrimination based on gender identity as part of overall annual training, that protection “is just not enforced.”

“There’s no specific training, and people just don’t know how to handle their situations in school,” he said.

Guidelines, Training And Enforcement

The fallout from such situations can be severe, Ramos said. He has dealt with situations that have included discrimination, falling grades and school attendance, suicide threats and actual suicide. In other situations, he’s seen students rejected by their families and peers gravitate to questionable adults in the community and even turn to prostitution.

“Hawaii’s not exempt from any of that,” he said.

Ramos, Wong-Kalu and other trans community leaders said they’re seeking three things from the Board of Education. First, establishment of guidelines that ensure the safety and success of transgender students — guidelines that provide more help to administrators and teachers in navigating an area that just a few years ago was treated far differently by most schools.

Second, training for school employees to enable them to successfully implement policy and guidelines. And lastly, enforcement. In other words, guidelines that actually provide protection rather than just collect dust on a shelf.

After the media availability, protestors made their way to the Board of Education meeting room and took a collective breath before stepping in, press cameras trailing.

And they were met with aloha. Hawaii State Teachers Association President Corey Rosenlee came over to shake hands and later offered supportive comments from the podium. Board member Patricia Halagao congratulated Wong-Kalu on her White House honor. Vice Chair Brian J. DeLima asked about the group’s petition, making sure there would be copies for individual members’ review.

For men and women who have too often found themselves outcasts, marginalized by schools and other social institutions that are legally obligated to treat them like everyone else, the simple civility of the moment was important. Though past calls for help haven’t resulted in the guidelines, training or enforcement transgender people seek, their appearance at Tuesday’s meeting seemed the start of a new dialogue, one where their concerns may finally be heard. And acted upon.

UPDATE: In fact, new guidelines are in development. A Department of Education spokesperson said they are under review by the state Attorney General’s Office and are intended to provide exactly the practical guidance the transgender community seeks. A BOE committee plans to review the draft guidelines next month; if all goes well, implementation could begin as early as next school year.

With so much at stake in the day’s events, Wong-Kalu said declining the White House invitation for the ceremony, which takes place today, was not a tough call.

“As much as I would be humbled and very honored to shake the president’s hand, this is my mainland,” she said in a quiet moment before the press conference. “I wouldn’t have been nominated for the Champions of Change recognition if I weren’t dedicated to the work that is keeping me here at home today. So it was never a question of where my priorities lie.”

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Transgender Leaders to Deliver Petition to HI Dept. of Education

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact:

Joe Wilson, Coordinator

c: 808-629-9864

e: [email protected]

Transgender Leaders to Deliver a Petition with Thousands of Signatures Calling on the Hawaii Department of Education to Respect and Protect Transgender Students

WHAT:    Prominent transgender figures including fashion designer Ari South, soccer and film star  Jaiyah Saelua, and teacher and cultural practitioner Hina Wong-Kalu will gather with local transgender students and their families and community supporters to express the urgent need, and offer a strong show of support, for the Hawaii Department of Education to establish guidelines and  training to ensure that students across the gender spectrum are respected and protected in schools.

“This is so important for our keiki that I'm going to the DOE instead of the White House this week,”  said Wong-Kalu, who was recently selected to receive an Asian American - Pacific Islander Champion of Change award in Washington DC this week.

WHEN:     1:00pm, Tuesday, May 3, 2016

WHERE:  Front steps of the Hawaii State Department of Education, Queen Liliuokalani Bldg., 1390 Miller Street, Honolulu, HI

Background:

A growing number of stories about transgender students facing discrimination in Hawaii public schools underscore the need for fair and consistent treatment district wide. The petitioners, recognizing the courageous leadership of the Board of Education in providing a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students, are holding this event to demonstrate the broad interest in these concerns and the growing public support for expeditious action.

The petition requests the DOE to establish a clear set of guidelines, consistent with its existing anti-discrimination policy, to ensure that all students are safe, included and respected in school, regardless of their gender identity or expression, and to conduct training and educational activities to ensure that these guidelines are known and implemented, and that students have the opportunity to express themselves and live authentically. The DOE is urged to study the policies and best practices, such as those presented in the California and GLSEN transgender model district policies, that have been adopted by school districts across the country without any incidents of confusion, harassment, or inappropriate behavior.  The United States Department of Education has advised schools that failure to treat students consistent with their gender identity leaves them open to legal prosecution under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Additional Participants Expected:

Jennea Purcell and Berlin Scott – Transgender Kahuku High School student and her mother

Wendy Wink – Parent of second grade transgender student in Honolulu elementary school

Sinan Sison & Cathy Kapua – Kuaʻana Transgender Services Project of the Life Foundation

Laila Villanueva Ireland – Transgender nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center

Camaron Miyamoto – University of Hawaii at Manoa LGBT Student Services Coordinator

See petition, and Civil Beat article “Hawaii Schools Need a Transgender Policy Now”

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This is Why Every School Needs a Transgender Policy

Jennea’s story is a potent reminder of the difficulties that transgender youth face in school, and the need for clear and consistent policies and training that protect their right to a safe, respectful and inclusive learning environment.

Hawaii, which is fortunate to possess a rich cultural tradition that embraces gender diversity, has at least a basic framework of laws that protect people across the gender spectrum. But the state legislation that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in employment, public accommodations, and housing does not yet encompass schools. And although the State Department of Education has a general policy, there is no further guidance on what would constitute discrimination in a school setting. This absence of any specific rules or training by the Department of Education left Jennea’s principal free to interpret the regulations according to her own beliefs.

Nationwide, the majority of school districts have yet to offer any consideration whatsoever for transgender and gender nonconforming students. Worse, many states, including Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin, are now considering legislation that would bring the same sort of discriminatory measures - made infamous by North Carolina’s recent “bathroom bill” - specifically to schools. The Wisconsin bill goes so far as to require school boards to designate each changing room in their facilities “for the exclusive use of pupils of one sex... as determined by an individual’s chromosomes.”

This lack of protection leaves transgender youth vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment. Not surprisingly, ninety percent of them feel unsafe at school, and one-in-three have been physically assaulted. More than half have at some point avoided going to school due to harassment, and one-in-six have left school altogether, losing their best shot at a solid future.

It doesn’t have to be this way. School districts around the country have developed guidelines and best practices, such as those presented in GLSEN’s transgender model district policy, that protect the right of all students to a safe and secure education. A recent study of seventeen school districts, covering 600,000 students, that implemented such protections did not reveal a single incidence of the “confusion, harassment, or inappropriate behavior” that conservatives had predicted. Indeed, the United States Department of Education has advised schools that failure to treat students consistent with their gender identity leaves them open to legal prosecution under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Since Jennea’s video first appeared on Youtube, other students, teachers, and counselors, as well as a highly placed administrator, have come forth to corroborate her experiences at Kahuku High School. Fortunately, Jennea is a strong young woman, with a wonderfully supportive family and friends, and was able to complete all senior year requirements and receive her diploma with the same date as her classmates.

But a diploma is no substitute for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk at graduation, or the joy of appearing with your friends in a viral video. Those are gone forever.

This is why we started an online petition calling for the Hawaii Department of Education to establish clear and consistent guidance that will ensure that all students are safe, included and respected in school, regardless of their gender identity or expression. They should also conduct training, professional development and educational activities to ensure that this policy is known and implemented, and that teachers have the knowledge and tools they need to do right by their students.

As opponents of fairness and equality stir fear about transgender people for political purposes, it’s up to open-minded places like Hawaii to demonstrate that respect for diversity and inclusion across the gender spectrum is not just right, it makes us stronger.

You can help by signing this petition.

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Hawaii Schools Need A Transgender Policy Now

A growing number of stories in which transgender students face discrimination at the hands of Hawaii public school officials underscores the need for fair and consistent treatment district-wide.

By Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu - April 20, 2011:

More and more transgender and gender nonconforming youth are finding the courage to express their authentic identity. They deserve the same access to education as every other child in Hawaii’s schools. But as Jennea’s story in the video below and many others like it clearly show, they are instead being singled out for harassment and discrimination — not by other students, but by the very school officials who are supposed to serve and protect them.

The central problem is the Hawaii Department of Education, which has failed to establish a transgender policy, neglected training and education on this subject and ignored existing civil rights law.

It’s not for lack of knowledge of the issue. According to the DOE’s own documents, numerous principals have requested guidance on addressing the needs of transgender students. Just last week, both the local and national news spotlighted the mother of a transgender child in a Hawaii elementary school who suffered unnecessary heartache and chaos due to the lack of any DOE guidance.

The DOE’s response to the story was “we’re working on it,” which — given that it issued precisely the same claim five months ago, one year ago, two years before that, and so on ad infinitum — is about as believable as “we had a policy, but the dog ate it.”

Nor can DOE’s negligence be attributed to lack of suitable models. School districts around the country have developed reputable, field-tested policies and best practices around gender diversity that could be immediately provided to educators and administrators. And Hawaii is fortunate to have culturally-based curriculum materials for anti-bias education developed by local projects such as Growing Pono Schools and A Place in the Middle.

With graduation just around the corner, it’s time for the Hawaii DOE to promulgate a policy to ensure that all students are safe, included and respected in school, regardless of their gender identity or expression. The DOE should also conduct training, professional development and educational activities to ensure that this policy is known and implemented and to provide an environment in which students have the opportunity to express themselves and live authentically.

Kahuku High and Intermediate School — the institution that forbade Jennea to graduate as her true self — could act as a model school by publicly declaring that it will never again deny a student this right, and that in the future, students may participate in graduation and other school activities consistent with their gender identity.

None of this will give back Jennea the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk at graduation, or the joy of appearing with her friends in a viral video in which she was supposed to have a starring role. That is gone forever.

But Jennea hopes that going public with her story will help the next generation of students avoid the trauma and discrimination she faced, and build confidence in their own abilities and worth. You can help by sharing Jennea’s video and signing this petition.

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Respect & Protect Transgender Students in Hawaii

Every student has the right to equal access to educational opportunity. But several recent incidents, including the denial of a transgender student's desire to walk in the girls' gown at the Kahuku High School graduation, demonstrate that the Hawaii Department of Education has failed to protect the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming students by not establishing an appropriate policy, neglecting to educate and train staff, and ignoring existing civil rights statutes.

We demand that by the beginning of the 2016/17 school year:

1. The Hawaii DOE disseminate and implement a policy to ensure that all students are safe, included and respected in school, regardless of their gender identity or expression.

2. The Hawaii DOE conduct training, professional development and educational activities to ensure awareness of and compliance with this policy and to provide an environment in which students have the opportunity to learn, express themselves, and live authentically.

3. Kahuku Intermediate and High School act as a model school by publicly declaring that students may participate in graduation and other school activities consistent with their gender identity.

The gender diversity policy and training shall, at a minimum:

Provide students equal access to all activities that take place in the school, at school-sponsored functions, and on school transportation.

Protect students' right to be addressed by educators and in school records by a name and pronouns that correspond to their gender identity.

Enforce existing policy that prohibits bullying, harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

Provide equal access to all facilities that are consistent with the student's gender identity (or a safe and non-stigmatizing alternative upon student request).

Protect the privacy of students' gender identity and medical information from others, including parents, guardians and other school staff, unless the student has authorized such disclosure.

Mandate training for all staff members including teachers, administrators, counselors, social workers and health staff on their duties, responsibilities, and expectations under the policy.

Provide opportunities for professional development to educate staff on the terms, concepts, and current developmental understandings of gender identity, gender expression, and gender diversity, and to build their skills to prevent, identify and respond to bullying, harassment and discrimination.

Include anti-bias education for all K-12 students that includes age appropriate, culturally responsive, Hawai'i-based information and curriculum materials on gender identity, expression and diversity.

Every student deserves dignity and respect. We call upon the Department of Education to demonstrate its commitment to fairness and equality by enacting these measures promptly.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

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It Gets Better for Kumu Hina at Kamehameha Schools

On  Wednesday, April 6, Kamehameha Schools welcomes 1990 graduate Hina   Wong-Kalu back to its Honolulu campus for a very special evening of   film, music, and conversation.   The public is invited and all are welcome, so please share among friends and colleagues! The main event will be a screening of A Place in the Middle, a youth-oriented educational video that emerged from Kumu Hina, the award-winning PBS film  about her life and work as a teacher. In  addition to a lively talk story with Hina and the filmmakers, attendees  will be able to get free copies of the educational toolkit, and be  treated to a performance of Hina's mele -- including the inspirational  anthem Ku'u Ha'aheo e ku'u Hawai'i - Stand Tall My Hawai'i.

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Local Film Earns Nomination For ‘Gay Oscar’

Featured last year on PBS and in some of the world’s best film festivals, Kumu Hina is now up for best documentary at the GLAAD Media Awards.

by Todd Simmons - Jan. 29, 2016:

Kumu Hina, an acclaimed documentary about a Honolulu transgender teacher, her halau, a particularly remarkable student and mahu identity, has been nominated for a prestigious GLAAD Media Award, often referred to as the Oscar for LGBT film and television.

It’s the latest in a series of high-profile recognitions for the 2014 feature, which is nominated in the Best Documentary category for the annual awards presented by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. It was featured in 2015 as part of PBS’s award-winning Independent Lens series and in some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including Berlin, Toronto, Beijing and Budapest.

Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson of Honolulu, whose previous films Out in the Silence and Otros Amores have earned prominence and acclaim including an Emmy Award and feature treatment on PBS, are the first Hawaii filmmakers to have a project nominated for a GLAAD Media Award.

In the documentary category, Kumu Hina is up against four other nominees, including a biopic on 1950s-60s sex symbol Tab Hunter and two men who in 1975 became one of the first same-sex couples in the world to legally marry. Wilson said it’s particularly noteworthy that Kumu Hina was nominated in a breakout year for transgender issues around the world.

“In a year when a record number of nominees included transgender people or characters, Kumu Hina introduced the world to the Hawaiian philosophy of honoring and respecting mahu, those who embody both male and female spirit,” Wilson said. “The GLAAD nod is symbolic of the growing recognition of all that Hawaii and Hawaiian culture have to offer beyond the tourist brochures.”

In fact, 75 of the 147 nominees this year include transgender characters or issues, according to GLAAD, which released the nominations earlier this week.

Other top film and television titles up for recognition at GLAAD’s 27th annual awards ceremony scheduled for April 2 in Beverly Hills and May 14 in New York include The Danish Girl, Carol, Orange Is The New Black, Transparent, Modern Family, How To Get Away With Murder and Empire.

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Kumu Hina Nominated for GLAAD Media Award

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

The nominees for the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards have been announced! See the list here.

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“A Place in the Middle” on Insights on PBS Hawaii - “How Can Our Community Better Understand Gender Diversity?”

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Watch This Transgender Teacher Comfort Her Gender-Creative Student

by Meredith Talusan - BuzzFeed - Oct. 15, 2015:

This is Kumu Hina, a transgender hula teacher in a Hawaii public school.

As an indigenous Hawaiian, she considers herself mahu, or “in the middle” when it comes to gender, with the qualities of both man and woman. As a child, Kumu Hina was teased in school for being too girlish, and didn’t have teachers to protect her.

This is Ho’onani, Kumu Hina’s sixth-grade student who wants to stand and dance with the boys instead of the girls like she’s supposed to.

Her relationship with Kumu Hina is at the heart of a documentary directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson called A Place in the Middle.

For their end-of-year school performance, Kumu Hina gives Ho’onani the leading role in the boys’ dance, because she performed the best among the students.

“There’s potential backfire from parents and families who may look at this and say I should encourage a girl to stand with the girls,” Kumu Hina says.

So she decides to check in with Ho’onani, to make sure her student would be prepared for future challenges.

“Sometimes I’m afraid I might be setting you up for disappointment,” Kumu Hina says. “I know you like to stand with all the boys.” She reminds Ho’onani that not everyone will let her do that.

Kumu Hina gives Ho’onani some advice when the student feels forced to be with the girls.

“When you get to be my age,” Kumu Hina says, “you’re not gonna have to move for anybody else.”

Kumu Hina doesn’t want Ho’onani to be limited the way she was. Instead, Kumu Hina supports the expression of her gender-nonconforming student.

Ho’onani has absorbed the confidence that her teacher and her school have given her.

“We both are in the middle,” Ho’onani says, “and nobody teases us for it.”

The creators have also set up a web site that hopes to bring “an enlightened Hawaiian perspective to efforts to create welcoming and inclusive schools and communities for children of all ages.” It includes the full 25-minute documentary, and other resources to help educators support gender-nonconforming students and prevent bullying.

According to director Dean Hamer: “Our hope is to bring Kumu Hina’s teaching and message of the true meaning of ‘aloha’ beyond Hawaii to the rest of the country and the world.”

Watch the full clip from A Place in the Middle:

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Penn Museum Film Series Explores Gender Boundaries

by Ray Simon - October 8, 2015:

“Gender Across Cultures” is the focus of the Penn Museum’s Second Sunday Culture Film Series, which begins Oct. 11. Two documentaries about Hawaii will be shown: “A Place in the Middle” and “Heart of the Sea.” The screening takes place at 2 p.m. in the Rainey Auditorium of the Penn Museum, located at 3260 South St. Museum admission applies ($15), giving attendees access to the museum’s exhibits.

The film series is cosponsored by the Penn Humanities Forum and the William Way LGBT Community Center, among others. The theme, “Gender Across Cultures,” compliments the PHF’s yearlong exploration of the topic “Sex.”

There will be six screenings between now and March. All of the films are relatively recent documentaries that examine how gender is shaped and understood in various cultures. At each screening, a knowledgeable speaker will provide context and answer questions from the audience.

For Kate Pourshariati, curator of the series, these screenings are an excellent opportunity to see films that are not widely distributed.

“I usually try to find films that are really pungent and interesting but that haven’t been seen much yet or are not easy to stream online,” she said.

“Heart of the Sea” is a 2002 documentary about Rell Sunn, an accomplished female surfer who succumbed to breast cancer in 1998. Sunn, Hawaii’s number-one female amateur surfer for five years, was also a passionate advocate of traditional Hawaiian culture and an environmental activist.

As a woman equally comfortable dancing the hula and spear-fishing, Sunn confounded stereotypes.

“This person is really stepping outside of what was the normal, expected thing coming up, even in the 1960s, to not just be the girl on the beach watching the guys surfing,” Pourshariati said. “She stepped right into it, and she was a very strong, powerful person.”

That afternoon’s other film, “A Place in the Middle,” will be of particular interest to PGN readers. The 2014 documentary by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson follows 11-year-old Ho’onani, a young girl whose goal is to lead the all-boys hula performance at the end of the school year.

Ho’onani is encouraged by her teacher, Kumu Hina, a transgender woman. Kumu Hina’s life’s work has been to reintroduce native Hawaiians to their traditional culture, which includes the concept of being “in the middle.” People “in the middle” possess both masculine and feminine traits and were traditionally accorded respect.

In one scene, Kumu Hina explains to the teenage boys why a girl, or wahine, is being included in a performance representing masculine spirit, or ku.

“You have a biological wahine standing over here in front of you because she has more ku than everybody else around here, even though she lacks the main essential parts of ku,” Kumu Hina says. “But in her mind and in her heart, she has ku.”

The concept of being “in the middle” is just one manifestation of a worldwide phenomenon, according to William Wierzbowski, who works as a keeper in the Penn Museum’s American Section. Wierzbowski is an expert on Two-Spirit culture among Native North Americans and will be on hand that day.

When Europeans first encountered Native Americans, Wierzbowski explained, they were surprised to meet people we would now call gay. These people lived openly within their tribe and were accorded great respect. French trappers and explorers called them berdache, which was slightly pejorative. That perception gradually shifted as Native Americans began to reclaim their heritage.

“It was Native-American activists who happened to be gay that coined this term Two Spirit, which basically means that the individual embodies within — and I’m going to speak specifically about males here — that embodies within himself both the male and the female. So it’s actually quite a beautiful, almost poetic term,” Wierzbowski said.

Being Two Spirit or “in the middle,” he added, is not limited to any specific sexual behavior. Instead, it encompasses a wide range of attitudes, practices and roles. Within traditional cultures, for example, people like Kumu Hina and Ho’onani could be said to bridge the male and female aspects of the universe, actually helping to bind it together.

Those are big ideas, but it should be noted that the two documentaries being screened are neither pretentious nor didactic. On the contrary, they are colorful, eye-opening and fun to watch.

Pourshariati hopes that the film series will prompt attendees to be more receptive and respectful of other people and to consider new ideas. But she also wants them to enjoy themselves. Movies are an ideal medium to accomplish both goals.

After a screening, Pourshariati said, “Everyone has something in common: You’ve already seen the film together, so now you can talk about it. I find that really invigorating.”

For more information about the Penn Museum’s Second Sunday Culture Film Series, visit www.penn.museum/culturefilms.

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Hawaiian Bullying Prevention Film to Screen in Island Libraries

Hawaiian Anti-Bullying Film to Screen at Libraries Statewide

An educational toolkit for safe and inclusive schools.

HONOLULU, HI, Sept. 14, 2015 - The Hawaii State Public Library System will present "A Place in the Middle" - a short Hawaiian film at the heart of a new bullying prevention campaign centered on cultural empowerment and gender inclusion - in a series of screenings at eight selected public libraries statewide from Friday,   Sept. 18 through Wednesday, Oct. 28.  (See list below for screening   locations, dates, and times.)

Created by Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu,  and directed by Emmy-winners Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, "A Place in the  Middle" tells the true story of a young girl who dreams of leading the  boys' hula troupe at her Honolulu school, and an inspiring teacher who  uses traditional Hawaiian culture to empower her. After each screening,  the team will talk story with the audience about the film and  educational campaign - supported by Pacific Islanders in Communications,  Hawaii People's Fund, Ford Foundation, and PBS Learning Media.

"We  encourage our patrons to learn more about Hawaii's rich cultural  heritage through our libraries' resources and programs," said State  Librarian Stacy Aldrich.  "As community hubs, libraries serve as the  perfect venues to host discussions that enable our patrons to connect,  learn and celebrate Hawaii's indigenous and diverse cultures."

This  one-hour program is suitable for students, parents, and educators   interested in Hawaiian culture and community-based efforts to make   schools safe and inclusive for all.  Free DVDs and teaching guides will be available for participants committed to using them in their work.

"A Place in the Middle" Film & Talk Story Events

Sept. 18 (Friday) - 6:00pm: Thelma Parker Memorial Public & School Library (Kamuela, Hawaii Island)

Sept. 29 (Tuesday) - 6:00pm: Kahuku Public & School Library (Oahu)

Oct. 3 (Saturday) - 3:00pm: Kihei Public Library (Maui)

Oct. 7 (Wednesday) - 6:30pm: Waianae Public Library (Oahu)

Oct. 14 (Wednesday) - 6:30pm: Waimanalo Public & School Library (Oahu)

Oct. 15 (Thursday) - 6:00pm: Hawaii State Library (Honolulu)

Oct. 22 (Thursday) - 6:00pm: Hanapepe Public Library (Kauai)

Oct. 28 (Wednesday) - 5:00pm: Molokai Public Library (Kaunakakai)

For more information, contact Library Development Services Manager, Susan Nakata, at [phone].

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Hawaiian Anti-Bullying Film to Show in Waimea

Big Island Now - Sept. 10, 2015:

One Big Island public library will be among seven in the state to present “A Place in the Middle,” a Hawai’i-made anti-bullying film.

The film was made to support a culturally-centered campaign for safe and inclusive schools and will be shown at free screenings across the state between Sept. 18 and Oct. 28.

Thelma Parker Memorial Public & School Library is the film’s first stop. The showing will take place on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. before traveling to Oahu, Maui, and Kauai.

“We encourage our patrons to learn more about Hawai’i’s rich cultural heritage throughout libraries’ resources and programs,” said State Librarian Stacey Aldrich. “As community hubs, libraries serve as the perfect venues to host discussions that enable our patrons to connect, learn, and celebrate Hawai’i’s indigenous and diverse cultures.”

The one-hour program, created by Kumu Hina Wong-Kalu tells the story of a young Hawaiian girl who dreams of leading a boys-only hula troupe at her Honolulu school and an inspiring teacher who uses traditional culture to empower her. “A Place in the Middle” was directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson.

Following the screening, a talk story session will take place with the audience about both the film and the educational campaign. Educational tools, including teaching guides and free DVDs, will be available following the program.

Those who need a sign language interpreter or another special accommodation should contact Thelma Parker Memorial Public & School Library by calling 887-6067 as soon as possible.

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Transgender Leitis Find Their Way in Conservative Tonga

by Peter Munro for The Age of Melbourne - Aug. 28, 2015:

Perched within cooee of the king – at a long table topped with suckling pigs, lobsters, coconuts and big blocks of supermarket chocolate – is Joey Joleen Mataele. She's hard to find among the hundreds of nobles gathered on a grassed oval to celebrate the coronation, on a steamy day of singing, dancing and double desserts in the Kingdom of Tonga.

A local takes me to her table, past a handful of male waiters wearing white blouses and heavy make-up – their lips red, eyebrows plucked and chests waxed. "Some of them are more graceful than girls," my guide says. "They are reliable workers. A lot of people depend on them."

We spot Mataele sitting at a table reserved for dignitaries, dressed in a snug fuchsia twinset with two strings of white pearls and her dark hair in a bun. She greets me with a light kiss.

She's the very picture of a glamorous, well-connected woman in a country with a keen sense of knowing your place. The fact that she was born a man hasn't dented her standing in high society.

Mataele holds a curious position in the Polynesian archipelago. She's not considered a cross-dresser, despite the dresses she wears. She's not gay, despite being attracted to other men.

She's a "fakaleiti", a term that translates roughly into "like a lady". She's among a prominent category of transgendered men in the South Pacific – from Fiji to Samoa and Tuvalu – who don't fit neatly into Western definitions of sexuality.

Whether leitis (lay-tees) are born female or nurtured is another curiosity. Some effeminate young boys are encouraged to act as girls by parents wanting help with household chores. Others feel they've always been female, despite their anatomy.

"I am a woman trapped in a man's body," Mataele says. "I might have been born with male genitals but 99 per cent of my hormones are female. A leiti is a person who acts like a lady, lives like a lady, talks like a lady, sleeps like a lady and dresses like a lady. People say we choose to be what we are but I didn't choose to be a leiti – I was born like this."

She takes me for a walk among the noble families in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa, who are gathered ahead of the coronation of King Tupou VI, in July. What's striking is how visible leitis are in this conservative Christian country, where their supporters include members of the royal family. Today, some, like Mataele, are happily feasting in the sun. Many more are busy preparing and serving food.

In Australia, transgenders are typically on the fringes of mainstream society. In Tonga, they sit close to the king – or wait on his table, at least.

But leitis still struggle against discrimination and prejudice, Mataele says. "I have been forced to act like a male and talk like a male by a brother of mine, but it never worked. I felt like I was lying to myself," she says.

"The leiti or transgender women community here is very visible but at the same time they are still respectful of the culture in our little kingdom," she adds. "Leitis are seen as helpers. They're chefs, they're decorators, they're hairdressers – that's what we're known for, as a helping hand.

"But when it comes to decision-making, we're nowhere to be seen. It's like we're in the system but out of sight."

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A closet of bright-coloured dresses awaited the arrival of Sonia Inesmorgan Kivalu, the fifth child of poor parents on the outlying Tongan islands of Vava'u. Her mother felt she would be a girl, right through the pregnancy. She readied the house, rearranging the bedroom her new daughter would share with her older sister.

Kivalu, 40, has a photograph of herself wearing a dress, taken not long after she was born a boy. That she wasn't what her mother had expected mattered little. "She wished I was a girl and she prepared everything for me to be a girl," she says, smiling. "And when I am born, I am not."

She stands by a window inside a small hair salon in Nuku'alofa, holding a hairdryer in one hand and in the other a cigarette, which she puts to her bright-red lips. The mud-brown salon is on a busy road by a dirt yard busy with puppies, ducklings and children.

Kivalu is lean with a bob of thick black hair and wearing a yellow blouse, tight black pants and matching heels. "When I was a kid, I always wanted to play with the girls," she says. "I liked to wear my sister's lipstick. It felt natural."

While her six brothers planted crops with their father, she helped with the domestic chores that are typically reserved for females in Tonga. At age 16, she left school to work in a hair salon. "All my life I feel like a woman. Inside of me, my heart, my brain, everything, I'm a woman," she says.

I ask whether that was her choice or her mother's. She tells me that's the wrong question. "It is not my choice. It is not her choice. I am born like this."

Cultural anthropologist Niko Besnier, who has done extensive fieldwork in Tonga, says parents sometimes encourage a young boy to assume a more feminine role at home. But he debunks the myth that some boys, particularly those in families with few or no daughters, are forced to become female.

"When a child looks a bit effeminate, mothers will encourage him. Mothers are just tickled by having a boy who becomes a leiti and will put on him frilly clothes and make him dance," he says. "So if a five-year-old boy is the only one around and there is laundry that needs to be done, a mother may say 'Do it'. And if the boy is a good worker, not only will he be asked to do it over again but that may well forge into his identity if he wants to be a fakaleiti.

"Does that mean a parent will purposely bring up a boy as girl? Absolutely not. But there may be some subtle encouragements that mothers and sisters can give."

Professor Besnier, from the University of Amsterdam, estimates there may be some 250 leitis in Tonga. The acceptance of leitis within Tongan society is based on the strength of the kinship system, he says. "There is a normalcy to people's relationships with them which is very striking to people from the outside," he says.

"Leitis are somebody's daughter or son, somebody's brother or sister. People are not going to reject them in the same way parents might reject gay or lesbian or transgender children elsewhere."

But it's a strange kind of acceptance. Outside the home, leitis work primarily in traditional female roles, such as cleaners, cooks or hairdressers. Professor Besnier says this reflects, in part, the low socioeconomic background of many leitis.

One leiti I meet, who works as a caterer, says she would like an office job organising building projects but fears she wouldn't be accepted by her colleagues. "They would give me funny looks and giggle," she says.

"When you are a man you have to do a man's work. When you're a woman you have to do women's work."

Leitis find themselves somewhere in between. They still face discrimination from some quarters in the predominantly Christian country. In May, members of one church protested outside a fakaleiti conference with banners describing them as "immoral" and "evil people".

At the hair salon where Kivalu works, Bible passages are stuck around a mirror warning against fornication. Salon owner Iloa Tuineau, 40, says he stopped being a leiti after joining a local Pentecostal church, in 2012. He burned some of his dresses and cut his hair into short, dark curls. "When we have God in our lives we cannot call ourselves leitis because it is a sin," he says.

"I don't hate them but I pray for them. God doesn't want to punish his people. But they must repent or they go to hell."

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The morning after the nobles feast, Joey Joleen Mataele is dressing for mass in her rambling white house between two churches. Her adopted daughter Tamara, 12, leaves early for the service. In the living room a bookshelf is filled with religious icons and a commendation signed by King Tupou V.

The sound of church bells and gospel choirs drifts in through an open window. Mataele says she first wore a dress in public at the age of 14, while walking into church with her grandmother. "I felt good. I felt that I had proved what I am," she says.

Today, she's singing in the church choir, where she stands a head taller in her heels than the other women in her pew. The homily is about the importance of love and the role that each person has to play in life.

Mataele says that her Catholic priest cares more about her contribution to church than her fashion choices. After the service, she rushes off to another royal feast – one of many in the week-long coronation celebrations.

Over in west Nuku'alofa, Venus Fonua dresses casually in black jeans, a grey fitted T-shirt and red thongs, with her long black hair in a ponytail and an orange flower behind her right ear. Fonua, 26, is a former winner of the Miss Galaxy Pageant, an annual beauty and talent show for fakaleitis. Categories include "condom creation", where Fonua won by wearing a multi-coloured cocktail dress made from condoms to promote HIV and AIDS awareness.

We meet later at a bar in the main street of Nuku'alofa, where the balcony overlooks a stream of people returning from a military parade for the new king. Fonua says her boyfriend is in the Tongan military. He's straight, she adds. "When it comes to the sexual part, I am trying very hard to play a women's role," she says. "Tongan men are very horny. They are not gay but I think they really enjoy the way we work it. They are doing to me what they do to the girls."

"I believe I am a woman so I am not liking a man who is liking a man. I find it very weird when I see gay people."

Homosexuality remains outlawed in Tonga. But Professor Besnier says sex between a leiti and a heterosexual man is common. "It is someone with a penis having sex with another person with a penis but that doesn't make it homosexuality in the sense we understand it," he says. "When a straight man has sex with a fakaleiti, he is not attracted to her body as a gender male. He is attracted to the fact he can do certain things women won't do, such as suck dick."

He reckons the number of leitis is growing as Tonga becomes more complex and nuanced, along the lines of more liberal Western cities in Australia and New Zealand.

But Fonua says she faces less discrimination in Nuku'alofa than when visiting Sydney recently, on holidays. "I find life here for leitis is very normal. I don't get much discrimination, people respect me so much. "They say it is very open in Australia but I find it hard when I go over there because they don't respect you, they look you up and down with a bad look.

"When people give me that look I don't back down or bow down," she says, clicking and waving her fingers like a diva. "You've got to be strong to be a woman."

[kumuhina]

Trans Deaths, White Privilege

Op-Ed by Jennifer Finney Boylan - Aug. 21, 2015

IT was snowing in Maine on Jan. 9. I’d been to the dentist’s the day before. The staff there were pleasant enough when I changed genders 12 years ago. “We’ll just change your forms,” the receptionist had said, cheerfully. “It’s no problem.”

That night, Papi Edwards, 20, a transgender woman of color, was shot to death outside a hotel in Louisville, Ky.

If you’d told me in 2000, as a transgender woman just coming out, that I was a person of privilege, I’d have angrily lectured you about exactly how heavy the burden I’d been carrying was. It had nearly done me in: the shame, the secrecy, the loneliness. It had not yet occurred to me that other burdens, carried by other women, could be weightier.

On Jan. 17, I moved into a new apartment on 106th and West End in Manhattan, in anticipation of the spring semester at Barnard College, where I teach English. My son Zach came down with me, helping to carry my luggage. He was heading back to college the next day. We had lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant called Awash, on Amsterdam. I pointed out the window at the building across the street, where I’d lived with the screenwriter Charlie Kaufman in the early 1980s. I wasn’t out as transgender then; I couldn’t imagine it. Yet here I was, 30 years later, a Barnard professor, having lunch with my son, who is a drama major at Vassar.

Lamia Beard, a 30-year-old black trans woman, was shot early that morning in Norfolk, Va. It was the weekend before the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday.

Feminist scholars write of the concept of “intersectionality” — the way people who occupy multiple oppressed identities can be understood only in terms of their sum, rather than as a set of independent experiences. As two trans women, Ms. Beard and I had some common experiences. But the differences between us have to be understood not only in terms of race but also in the way the oppressions generated by race and gender are bound together.

It snowed hard on Jan. 26. The subways closed that night. The day before I’d gone to services at Riverside Church. Sitting in the pews, staring at stained glass, I’d felt the power of God shining on me like a bright light.

Later, I talked to a friend about the thing I’d felt. My friend, an astrophysicist at Columbia, is a trans woman, too. We are both white.

They found Ty Underwood’s body in her car that morning. She was a black trans woman, a nursing assistant who lived in Tyler, Tex.

Like a lot of white people, a lot of the time I’m not aware of having “white privilege.” In a similar way, I can tell you that I wasn’t aware of having “male privilege,” either, in the years before transition. It’s something you come to understand only when it’s gone, like the first time I walked down an empty street alone after midnight as a woman, and heard a man’s heavy footsteps behind me.

On Jan. 31, my wife came down from Maine. We went to see the movie “Selma” at the AMC theater on West 84th Street. There, we saw the actor playing Dr. King say, “It is unacceptable that they use their power to keep us voiceless.”

Firefighters found Yazmin Vash Payne that day in an apartment in Los Angeles. She’d died of multiple stab wounds, reportedly the third trans woman killed in Los Angeles in four months.

On Feb. 1, I spent the day grading papers. That morning I worshiped at Riverside again. Sitting there listening to the carillon, I remembered the words my mother used to say: Love will prevail.

Around the time I was at Riverside, Taja Gabrielle DeJesus was found dead in a stairwell in San Francisco. She’d been stabbed. A trans woman of color in her 30s, she was a member of Bayview Church. Her mother described her as “beautiful inside and out.”

The 2012 National Transgender Discrimination Survey reported that trans people faced pervasive bias in housing and employment and suffered from higher rates of suicide. In almost every area, black trans people reported that they were doing worse than white trans people.

On Feb. 11, I appeared on MSNBC with the anchor Thomas Roberts and the actress Judith Light, who stars in the Amazon series “Transparent,” about a family with a transgender parent. We talked about the progress being made on transgender issues. But the progress isn’t equal for everyone.

Penny Proud, a 21-year-old trans woman of color, was shot to death the day before, in New Orleans.

On Feb. 16 Barnard — an all-women’s college — had a community forum for students, alumni, faculty and staff members to talk about the issue of admitting transgender women. I spoke at the event, and told everyone to open their hearts.

Kristina Gomez Reinwald, also known as Kristina Grant Infiniti, was found dead the day before in Miami. She was a transgender Latina in her mid-40s. A Miami TV station reported that, since there were no signs of forced entry in her home, she may have known her killer — a person whose heart, one might guess, had not been opened.

I talked to Caitlyn Jenner by phone for the first time on May 18. She struck me as a kind soul, from a very different world than my own, but determined to do good. “We don’t want people dying over this issue,” she told me.

Londyn Chanel, a 21-year-old black trans woman, was found dead in North Philadelphia that night of stab wounds. One of her friends told a local station, “She had a heart of gold.”

On May 30, I was in San Francisco for a meeting of the board of Glaad, the L.G.B.T. advocacy group.

Mercedes Williamson, a 17-year-old trans woman, reportedly disappeared that same night in Rocky Creek, Ala. Her body was found a few days later, in a field behind the house of the alleged murderer’s father.

On July 21, my wife and I were in a Los Angeles restaurant with the transgender minister Allyson Robinson. “God knows us,” she told me, “before we know ourselves.”

India Clarke, a 25-year-old trans woman of color, was found beaten to death in Tampa that morning. A local station referred to her as a “man dressed as a woman.” Her father said: “The Lord made us this way. It’s a shame that we could lose the life because of who we are.”

Two days later, I spent an evening on the set of the Amazon series “Transparent” on the Paramount lot. My son, who knows all about having a transgender parent, is working on the show as a production assistant.

On Aug. 8, I went to dinner at the Village Inn in Belgrade Lakes, Me. The inn is across the lake from our house. My wife and I traveled there by boat.

Amber Monroe, 20, a trans woman of color, was killed in Detroit that day. Someone shot her as she was getting out of a car near Palmer Park.

In the last three weeks, news reports have come out about the deaths of at least five more trans or gender-nonconforming people including Shade Schuler, in Dallas; Kandis Capri, in Phoenix; Ashton O’Hara, in Detroit; Elisha Walker, in Smithfield, N.C.; and Tamara Dominguez, in Kansas City, Mo.

My mother told me that love would prevail, and for me it has, as it often does for people of privilege in this country, people who can find themselves insulated from injustice by dint of race or class or education or accident of birth.

For many trans women, though, especially those of color, something other than love prevails: loss. Did their lives matter any less than mine?

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Jennifer Finney Boylan, a contributing opinion writer, is a professor of English at Barnard College and the author of “Stuck in the Middle With You: Parenthood in Three Genders.”

[kumuhina]

Countering Bullying, with Aloha

It's back-to-school time in Hawaiʻi. Over 200,000 students will enter grades K-12 this year, full of curiosity and ideas. Unfortunately, many of them will have their studies disrupted and hopes crushed by bullying.  

Despite our reputation as the "Aloha State," surveys show that one-fifth to over one-half of students in both public and private schools have been bullied or harassed.  And even though more than 90 percent of voters say that "bullying is important for the state of Hawai'i to address," attempts to pass a statewide Safe Schools Act have failed repeatedly in the legislature.  Some parents, such as a father whose two young children were bullied for years without intervention in East Hawaiʻi schools, have even resorted to suing the Department of Education.

We're fortunate that several local groups have stepped in to develop their own anti-bullying programs; the E Ola Pono, Adult Friends for Youth Anti-Bullying and Violence Convention, and Mental Health America of Hawaii Pono Youth Program are outstanding examples.  Even local comedian Augie T is helping out through B.R.A.V.E. Hawaiʻi, a program started by his daughter after she herself fell victim to bullying.

But bullying doesn't occur in a vacuum; it's the product of underlying stigma and prejudice.  That's why it's time to move beyond telling children that it's bad to be mean, and start showing them why it's good to be inclusive and accepting - not just for the targets of bullying, but for everyone in the school and community.  

We had the opportunity to witness first-hand the effectiveness of this approach during our two years of filming Kumu Hina, a nationally broadcast PBS feature documentary about a Native Hawaiian teacher who empowers her students at a small public charter school in downtown Honolulu by showing them the true meaning of aloha: love, honor and respect for all.  It's a powerful lesson for children and adults alike.

In order to make Kumu Hina's teaching available to students and teachers in K-12 schools across the islands, we've  produced a youth-friendly, short version of the film called A Place in the Middle that focuses on the story of one of her students, a sixth grade girl who dreams of joining the boys-only hula troupe. This might make her a target for ridicule and bullying in many schools, but the outcome of this story is very different.  It's a powerful example of why students who are perceived to be different, in one way or another, deserve to be celebrated precisely because of those differences, not simply tolerated despite them.

Overcoming bullying in Hawai'i requires a systemic, long-term, multifaceted approach.  The true story of a local girl who just wants to be herself - and in so doing helps her fellow students and entire school - is a good place to start.

A Place in the Middle is available at no cost for streaming and download from PBS Learning Media and on Vimeo, and the accompanying Hawai'i Teacher's Guide  can be downloaded from the Hawai'i Educators Website. The program will be touring Public Libraries across the islands beginning this fall.

[kumuhina]

What Native Hawaiian Culture Can Teach Us About Gender Identity

As the documentary Kumu Hina reveals, living between both genders is the more powerful “mahu" way.

by Jade Snow - July 28, 2015:

In traditional Hawaiian culture, creative expression of gender and  sexuality was celebrated as an authentic part of the human experience.  Throughout Hawaiian history, “mahu” appear as individuals who identify  their gender between male and female. Hawaiian songs often contain  deeper meanings—called kaona—that refer to love and relationships that  don’t conform to contemporary Western definitions of male and female  gender roles.

Expressions of sexuality and gender by mahu individuals were often  reflected in Hawaiian arts, particularly in traditional hula and music,  which continue today. The 2014 documentary Kumu Hina follows  the journey of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (“Hina”), a teacher—or kumu—at a  Hawaiian charter school in Honolulu, who is mahu. Kumu Hina explores the role of mahu in Hawaiian society through the lens of a  Native Hawaiian who is deeply rooted in the traditions of her ancestors  and committed to living an authentic life.

As a 21st century mahu, Hina’s experience is not unlike many others  who defy Western gender classifications. Born Collin Kwai Kong Wong, she  struggled to find acceptance throughout her youth. Today, Hina presents  herself as a female in her dress and appearance, though she embraces  both masculine and feminine aspects of her identity equally. And while  the film focuses on her journey to become Hina, it characterizes her by  more than her gender identity. The film presents a portrait of Hina as a   devout cultural practitioner and educator whose most fundamental   identity lies in being Hawaiian.

As a kumu at the charter school Halau Lokahi, Hina instills  time-honored traditions and cultural values in her students. One student  in particular, middle schooler Ho‘onani, traverses the ever-treacherous  waters of youth with the additional strain of identifying as being “in  the middle.” Hina relates to Ho‘onani’s journey and challenges the  students to create a safe and accepting environment. This proves  transformative for Ho‘onani, as her determination to define herself and  prove her capability garners her the lead role in the school’s all-male  ensemble, which the boys do not dispute. Due to the example Hina sets,  her classrooms embrace a new “normal” that openly acknowledges all  identities. The result is a confident, empathetic community of young  people who validate the complexities of Ho‘onani’s reality and provide  her with a compassionate place to grow up.

“It’s all a natural thing,” Ho’onani explains. “Kumu’s in the middle  too. Everybody knows that, and it’s not a secret to anybody. What  ‘middle’ means is a rare person.” Under Hina’s mentorship, Ho‘onani  flourishes, excelling in all areas of study, including music and hula,  and earning the respect of her peers. As she prepares for a school  event, Hina instructs that shell leis be worn by students based on  color: white for the girls and yellow for the boys. Without hesitation,  Ho‘onani suggests she wear both, and Hina agrees. “See, you get  both—because she’s both,” she explains. This is Hawaiian mahu, unique in  its perspective that an individual who has embraced both sides of their  gender identity does not require exclusive definition. Those who  identify with being mahu may exude more masculine or feminine qualities,  but their inner experience is one that ebbs between the two with the  grace and subtlety of the ocean tide.

When I interviewed Hina for MANA magazine’s 2014 feature “Beyond the  Binary,” she explained: “A mahu is an individual that straddles  somewhere in the middle of the male and female binary. It does not  define their sexual preference or gender expression because gender  roles, gender expressions, and sexual relationships have all been  severely influenced by the changing times. It is dynamic. It is like  life.” The “changing times” Hina refers to began with the arrival of  Christian missionaries in the 1800s and the imposition of Western values  on the Hawaiian community. They banned cultural expressions that  celebrated diverse sexual views and traditions they believed to be  profane, such as hula, and drove them underground. The suppression of  traditional Hawaiian values and practices marked a turning point in  Hawai‘i’s history, one in which mahu began a struggle to find  acceptance.

One of the greatest journeys of the human experience is the struggle to accept oneself and live authentically. Kumu Hina lifts the veil on the misunderstood and marginalized experience of   “other” gendered individuals whose identity cannot be defined by the   broad strokes of contemporary Western categorization. For many Native   Hawaiians, authenticity is at the heart of the human experience. Living authentically is one of the highest honors individuals can bestow upon themselves, their families, and their communities. By embracing her   identity, Hina not only fulfills her own personal journey to find love   and happiness, but she is able to positively influence the lives of   students like Ho‘onani who are grappling with their own identities.

To continue promoting Kumu Hina’s message of acceptance, a  24-minute version of the film and teaching guide were created as an  educational resource. This short film, called A Place in the Middle,  premiered in February 2015 in Germany and played at Toronto’s TIFF Kids  International Film Festival in April. According to co-producer Joe  Wilson, the film “has struck a chord with educators and other   professionals in need of resources on gender diversity and cultural   empowerment.” The film demonstrates healthy ways to address gender   identity in the classroom and promotes a safe academic environment for   youth to thrive.

Thanks to the determination of Hina and others, the Hawai‘i Marriage  Equality Act of 2013 was passed in November 2013. And though further  efforts are needed to reach equality, Hina finds validation in her home.  “I’m fortunate to live in a place that allows me to love who I love,”  she says. “I can be whoever I want to be. That’s what I hope most to  leave with my students—a genuine understanding of unconditional  acceptance and respect. To me, that’s the true meaning of aloha.”