We are totally transfixed by Pier Kids: The Life, a documentary about homeless queer kids living around the Christopher Street Pier.
Or at least, that’s what it will be if it ever gets made. “Elegance, our director has taken the film to several huge mainstream media companies who have all basically told him the same thing: It’s an important film, but it is not important enough to warrant financial backing,” write the film’s crew.
So they’re turning to Kickstarter, and they’re halfway to their modest $30,000 goal. It’s easy to see why people are chipping in: the clips of footage already shot are absolutely must-watch. Like Paris is Burning, these subjects have grabbed us and we cannot stop thinking about them.
Among the subjects: DeSean, who finally met his birth mother when we has 15, only to be kicked out of her house when he came out. And Casper, who was killed under suspicious circumstances during the making of the documentary. and Krystal, who at sixteen has been homeless in more cities than some people have ever even visited.
How about we take this to the next level?
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These aren’t grizzled dangerous criminals. They’re young people. Kids! And any one of us could have been born into a family that would do to us what theirs did to them. Now would be a good time to hop over to that Kickstarter, and then to call your loving parents if you’re lucky enough to have some.
northwest
I hope they eventually get the money they need to get this film out there.
viveutvivas
It should be mentioned how these kids are suffering at the hands of other gay people, on particular the rich gay property owners living in the Village who have been doing all they can to get these kids out of their neighborhood.
DarSco
OMG!! These are BABIES!! These kids are not adults, This needs to be shown to the world maybe it will make people think about what they are doing. These are kids of color who have a hard enough time being gay & a person of color. Your hated for being blk, hated for being gay & hated for being homeless.
Hopefully some afr amer. (fake)Religious people will address this instead of Bytching about abomination! It’s an abomination to allow another human to suffer like that.
FYI, I’m Black,gay & grew up in Brooklyn & Queens. I’m 40(w0w) and i was too scared to visit Christopher st till i came out at 25.
Charles175
@DarSco: I agree with you wholeheartedly. The two primary forces at work against black gay youth are this. The hyper masculine culture and the culture of “church” within the black community. Both of these combined, totally reject even the very idea of being LGBT and black at the same time. These youths are punished severely for just being honest in who and what they are. The majority of black gay people see this and instead of being honest about themselves are fearful and thus claim that they are on the down low. In both cases this is a tragedy. The hyper masculine culture is an illusion of masculinity. For true masculinity is not defined by the external appearance of how you put on a show for others to see. No, it is defined by what is inside of your heart, the nature and character of the person that you truly are. As far as the church culture, this too suffers a similar fate. How can you say in church you love your children and you want to protect them but when they are found to be LGBT, all bets are off. In both cases, there is no love whatsoever, no true spiritual love. In these things, my heart goes out to these innocent youths that as Jesus said, “were born this way from their mothers womb”.
DarSco
@Charles175: Well said!!!
Kangol
@Charles175:
I’d add several other major factors that should never be forgotten whenever we talk about American society and people of color: ra•cism and white supremacy, as well as classism, since none of us, especially black and brown LGBTQ youth (not just gay, but lesbian, bi and trans youth) live in a social, political or economic vacuum, but I otherwise agree with what you write about.
These issues flare up in Queerty’s comments from time to time, reminding us that they are quite real and not just something in the past.
I hope this documentary gains the support it needs to become a reality.
Rockery
I would watch it
Fitz
Too painful to watch. But I’ve bookmarked it, and will. This stuff is so real, and happening right now.
Other gay people: yes… and it’s not just landlords. We all know the sexual and financial exploitation.
The issues these KIDS have can’t even be fixed by throwing money at them. (though a meal and safe place to sleep would be the right starting place).
I don’t know how to shift an entire culture.
Fitz
OK.. I watched it.. second comment. GREAT idea, LOUSY Kick starter appeal campaign. The director isn’t as compelling as the kids, and if it’s a turn off to hear him lecture for 10 minutes instead of getting to the kids right away. It’s not that he isn’t saying something important, I just wanted to see the kids– they are what makes me want to be part of it.
wiltel10
@Fitz: What the director is saying in the video resonates so much to me- and if you didn’t know, he was one of the kids on the pier years ago. He was homeless on Christopher St before joining the Army.
His part is only there for the Kickstarter video. If you want to watch the OFFICIAL TRAILER without the interruption, you can find that on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfTv6ZroPlU
Fitz
Yes, I know.. and it looks good.. my poorly stated point was that his 10 minutes of talking is not the way to open an appeal.
jeff4justice
And yet there’s still endless cash for LGBT mega group leaders to make 6-figure salaries and trendy celeb PR “nonpofits.” Maybe the vulture capitalists helping to fund HRC can spare some change?
Online search “gay sugar daddy” and there’s several sites. Online search “lgbt mentors” and one is luck to find regional slim pickings.
If you’re homeless in a big city try using a website like Couchsurfing and to avoid prejudice just don’t tell the host you’re homeless.