About The Film

There are 30 transgender, ordained ministers in the United States; six are in North Carolina. Dawn Flynn, Mykal Shannon, Liam Hooper, and Debra Hopkins are battling narrow-mindedness within the religious community, their families, and NC natives. In order to live their authentic selves, some have thrown their loved ones into personal identity crises. They are bravely preaching from a pulpit despite the danger they face not only as a transgender person living in the South but also as transgender ministers navigating their way through local, state, and national governing bodies who decide what it means to be a human being.

At 61 years old, Duane was publicly outed by his hairdresser through a phone call to his church.  He was forced to reveal the double life that he was living, sending him on a downward spiral. It cost him his pastoral license, his ministry, threatened his marriage to Pam and made him wonder if life was still worth living. After therapy and deep self-reflection, Duane fought back, transitioned to Dawn and started her journey to reclaim her life. She finally found the courage to embrace her truth. And she found the calling to help others embrace theirs. But her battle left collateral damage. No area of her life was marred more than her 30-year marriage to Pam.

“Proper Pronouns” is an observational film that has been in production for almost two years. As filmmakers, we’ve watched Dawn fight to re-enter the church, live in a community that does not accept her, and salvage her marriage to a woman she still loves.

Dawn’s journey has challenged the filmmakers. As an African-American man of faith from the South, Manie has had to look deeper into how his community of faith has treated the transgender community and the injustice Dawn endures every day. For Meg, Dawn’s abiding faith has pushed her to re-evaluate the role faith plays in her own life and learn about religious belief systems that didn’t make sense to her.  Meg realizes that devout Christians, whose lives are deeply-rooted in religion, can learn to love people that aren’t like them even though it questions the only lifestyle they’ve ever known.

As we shoot and edit the film, we are watching Dawn pry open narrow minds and grow a compassionate congregation.