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[mechanical squealing]
[tape clicking into drive]
Wait, you taping me now?
[Daniel] I'm sorry.
[chuckles]
[Daniel] Say something! Anything!
[laughing] What do you want me to say?
I'm out of words now.
I already said what I said.
[Daniel] [chuckling] Say it all again one more time!
Do you worry, like, what this doc--
I mean, you know...
how this documentary is gonna affect your life at all?
No.
[Daniel] You're not bothered about that at all?
No.
I don't-- I mean, I don't have nothin' to hide.
There's nothin' that I have to hide.
[Daniel] Is that a new tattoo?
I think this one might be new, I know this one is new...
and this one, and this one.
I think I only had this one.
[Daniel] What's up with the hair?
Low.
No haircut but low.
[Daniel] Lemme see.
Uh-uh.
Well...
"aggressive"...
I know I used to get excited about that word,
but, um, I just don't wanna be labeled.
[Daniel] So you're really serious about it?
You're, like, totally anti being labeled "aggressive" anymore?
I just don't wanna be a label.
I don't-- I don't wanna be labeled,
I just...
Just call me "Kisha," man.
[laughing] Just call me "Kisha."
♪exciting house music slowly fades in♪
I was raised in the street.
♪♪♪
I'm like a motherfuckin' legend!
[chuckles]
You see me.
[laughs]
♪♪♪
[Trevon VO] 'Cause I'm aggressive?
That doesn't matter!
Let me be feminine!
[motorcycle rumbles]
♪♪♪
Salt and peppers and...
[echoing] Bow!
[camera beeps and snaps]
Hey.
[beeping and snapping continues]
[Kisha VO] One Christmas, I bought myself a camera,
and I just fell in love with photography instantly.
I taught myself how to shoot.
And I realized, you know, that's it!
I wanna share what I see.
I want you to see the beauty in it as well.
Smile a little bit, 'cause you got nice teeth!
-[shutter snap] -[laughter]
[Kisha VO] I have so many queer friends,
so many trans-masculine and non-binary friends,
and I decided I wanted to make a new series of portraits.
Oh, that's beautiful.
I like that.
[Kisha VO] And I wanted to start with the BIPOC folks,
who are still really underrepresented.
♪uplifting piano music♪
I also wanted to meet the younger generation and see who
they are,
and how they were impacted by our first film.
[camera beeps and snaps]
[Äscen VO] When I first saw the documentary
'The Aggressives,' I finally saw a representation of me.
I actually appreciated the rawness because it allows for
evolution.
Seeing that representation, for me,
opened up a door.
♪♪♪
I don't wanna be boxed in.
My masculinity is mine to make.
For me, masculinity is not about being society's definition of a
man, but about being in harmony with my femininity.
♪♪♪
The first time I saw 'The Aggressives,'
I was a freshman in an all-female Black college.
I instantly felt connected, because I always felt like I was
extremely different from everyone else,
and then seeing the film and saying,
"Whoa.
You're not different."
That film is what really helped me kick off my transition,
feel comfortable in changing the way I was presenting,
and just carrying myself in confidence.
[Kisha] Wha-- oh my God!
[En'b VO] We have always been looking for people who reflect
us and look like us.
I'm very thankful.
I consider all the people in 'The Aggressives' to be my
"trans-cestors."
Just their existence was affirming.
Because they have existed and lived through their experiences
and have gone through their adversities,
I'm able to be more free in my body.
♪♪♪
[Ayanna VO] I feel like "AG" or "an aggressive" is kind of a
dated term.
The language has changed and some of the stuff that was in
'The Aggressives' originally might not correlate,
like, with how someone like me would identify.
The one who I identified the most with was probably Kisha.
I thought she was absolutely beautiful,
but still able to own her masculinity without having to
compromise who she is.
[Kisha] See, even that's cool, you know what I'm saying?
-[Ayanna] Yeah, yeah. -[Kisha] 'Cause you're just
doin' you, you're being you.
Exactly.
♪♪♪
[Kisha VO] This series is close to my heart.
I see myself in all of their faces.
I wanted to capture their strength,
and grace, as human beings,
and show you how to see past the labels and the tags.
[camera snapping]
See, 'cause they are me,
and I am them,
and we are you.
♪♪♪
All right, I'ma hit you up in, like,
a half an hour, and I'ma come link with y'all.
All right.
[Daniel] Just like in the old movie!
I'm getting flashbacks, too!
It's like...
super strange.
[woman] Wassup?!
[Kisha VO] Her eyes were like summer!
[chuckles]
[indistinct] to you.
Don't wear it out.
[Kisha VO] There's a thing called "femme aggressive,"
and that's what I considered myself when I was younger.
And it's probably still what I would consider myself now.
-[camera snapping] -[woman] Good.
[Kisha VO] But personally, I'm not really into the labels
anymore.
After the first film, I kinda got stuck with the tag,
because that was just the time and the film and...
But I think, like, now, we've all kind of outgrown those
labels, you know?
I think I came out a little bit cocky,
and I kinda was, 'cause I was young and crazy,
and now, it's grown from being, like,
cocky to, like, confident and understanding life and
experiencing life.
I'm still the same person, I'm just-- I don't have so much of a
six pack.
I feel like I had a six pack back then.
I might have like a two pack.
My weight kinda fluctuates 'cause I'm older.
Through the years, you know, I've had difficult times.
I mean, everybody has difficult times,
good times, bad times.
'Cause there was parts of that film that I was very vulnerable,
because I was still so young when we finally released it and
showed it around the world.
And it made me emotional to see all the things that other people
in the film went through, you know what I mean?
And it made me feel like, "Wow,
we need to support each other more."
Everybody should be helping each other.
You don't have to be from someone's community,
you could be walking past.
If somebody's laying down on the floor with a cut,
yo, look for a t-shirt, take the t-shirt off your back!
Since the film, I spread my wings.
Worked on a couple different independent films,
couple television shows, couple of Spike Lee films.
Art, acting...
I mean, sometimes, that's what you gotta do as a creative,
you know?
I'm hustlin' and bustlin'.
I have a 1964 Dream 305,
and then I have a TMAX with a Yoshimura pipe on there,
I have a Honda Reflex,
and I have a Can-Am Spyder.
That's my latest baby, 'cause the trunk on a Can-Am Spyder,
you could put a newborn baby and a weekend bag
and we're outta here.
♪smooth funky music♪
Approaching my 40-year mark, I feel like I've been reborn.
I feel just as happy as I was when we did the first
documentary.
Sometimes I'm dating women and they act like they've never seen
the documentary, and then they're like,
"Oh, you're a player!" and I'm....
And then, eventually, I find out that they saw the documentary,
and I'm like, "You know that was like 100 years ago, right?
Like, and I was a child, and I was single,
and I was living my life."
I usually have a special woman in my life.
Almost all the time.
'Cause I'm a one-woman woman.
I'm not necessarily a player,
but I like to be free.
[engine rumbles]
Since the first film,
I've grown.
I've learned to not have so much expectations in life and,
um...
to work through things with patience and love.
And to really, like, never take moments for granted.
In the first film, the thing that connected all the cast
members was that they were all assigned-female-at-birth
people of color with masculine presentation.
But the character I identified with the most was Trevon because
I feel like they embodied both masculine and feminine
characteristics.
The late '90s/early 2000s, there wasn't really language to
describe what that was.
♪ethereal R&B music♪
[Trevon VO] To be honest, when 'The Aggressives' came out,
I didn't think that it would...
become what it was.
I didn't think that people in my neighborhood and stuff like that
would see it, so...
I was embarrassed of my lifestyle.
It's 3 o'clock!
Run around and be me.
[Trevon VO] I was young.
I was just headed down the wrong path.
It wasn't too many good things in my future if I kept doing the
same things that I was doing.
It makes you wanna change something.
So, one day, I sat in my house --
the one that you filmed me at last.
I told myself that there was just some things that I needed
to work on.
♪♪♪
I started writing down some goals --
you know, GED, college, work, name change.
It took a while.
Three years later, I had my GED,
I was in a better living situation,
changed my name.
'The Aggressives' helped me evolve.
It pushed me.
When people started hitting me up and telling me that I changed
their lives, you know, that-- that was a really big thing for
me, and that is why I still live my life in a unapologetic way.
These days, I don't consider myself to be an aggressive,
mainly because I think of-- when I hear somebody say a "AG" or
"aggressive," I think of an aggressive female.
I consider myself to be male.
I know I'm not a cisgender male --
I wasn't assigned, you know, that gender at birth --
but I'm a transgender male.
I think I've always been a trans man,
I just didn't know the terminology,
so I just stuck with the fact that I was an "aggressive" --
you know, a "AG" -- because that's what I was taught.
You know, when I look at other trans guys and I see that they
have the full facial hair, you know,
the full beard, or they have their top surgery,
or they're...
swole up, you know, I tell myself,
"First of all, not every man is like that."
Overall, I'm probably more considered "non-binary."
But I'm not really sure.
I mean, I still have an insecurity with my chest.
I don't want them there, I don't like them,
I want a flatter appearance, for sure,
but with the scars, I'm gonna be-- I'm gonna feel
uncomfortable.
That makes me think, like, what's the point of going from
one uncomfortable state to another?
I call it like a spiritual warfare,
'cause I fight with myself probably almost every day,
with the bordering or the straddling of the fence.
Why change myself for people?
'The Aggressives' showed me a side of myself,
um, that I may not have been as aware of.
I did connect with Octavio --
how unapologetically queer they were.
"This is who I am.
If you have a problem with it, get out of my face."
[Octavio VO] When I watch 'The Aggressives,'
I see my growth.
I was like, what, 18 years old?
So, it do remind me of things that I don't wanna go back to.
It's like a lesson learned.
Things was difficult for me back then.
So this is-- it's like a whole story with me where you young,
you in a group home, and you in the street and things like that,
your parents is on drugs, and you gotta fight for yourself.
21 years later.
I'm always gonna be aggressive.
I am the dude.
I am that man.
I am that motherfuckin' fly guy.
[Daniel VO] Do you feel like your identity has changed at all
since the last time we filmed you?
[Octavio VO] I think so.
If I had a choice to change my gender,
I would.
You know how many friends I know that's men now?
A lot.
I'm, like, still stagnated in this.
The reason why I don't change my gender is because I have a son.
I'm probably the only one out of my friends that have a kid.
You understand?
And I didn't have a kid...
like I willingly wanted a kid.
I was 15 when it happened.
That's something that...
I don't even wanna, like, have a conversation about.
If it wasn't for my son, I would be trans.
I don't want him to have to deal with society judging him for who
his parent is.
My aunt adopted him when I was younger because I didn't have a
choice at that time.
It was difficult.
Being that she had adopted him, and she knew my lifestyle,
she said, "Don't come by here.
If you come by here, I'ma call the cops."
I already had a criminal record.
If I go by there, it's like I'm harassing them.
When she passed away is when our relationship got closer.
He thought that, like, I didn't want nothing to do with him,
so I had to explain all of that stuff to him.
I wanna live different.
You think I wanna die in the hood,
go to jail in the hood, with my rest of a life?
Hell no, man!
I want a fuckin' house with a motherfuckin' boat and go out
there and mind my motherfuckin' business;
that's how I wanna live.
Just last year, I-- I cut my hair off,
and, uh...
a lot of people have been calling me "sir,"
and I kinda like the confusion that...
I cause people.
I think the way the people in the first film,
'The Aggressives,' said it was:
"I am me; this is who I am."
I'm just excited to see what happened with Chin.
♪ominous ethereal music♪
[ringing]
[automated voice] Hello, this is a prepaid collect call
from...
[Chin over phone] Chin.
[automated voice] An inmate at the Irwin County Jail.
♪♪♪
[Chin over phone] Hello?
[Daniel over phone] Oh my God, Chin...
[Chin over phone] What's up?
[Daniel over phone] How are you?
[loud clanking]
[Daniel over phone] How are you mentally doing?
[coughing]
But...
[coughs loudly]
[Daniel over phone] Oh, boy...
[automated voice] This call will be terminated in one minute.
♪♪♪
[Kisha VO] I was born in the Bronx,
I was raised in Brooklyn, and what I say is that I grew up in
Harlem.
Let's get a Spanish coffee.
[door jingles]
♪upbeat bachata playing♪
[Kisha VO] I've been in Harlem since my late teens.
This is where I had my first apartment,
and this is where I've been ever since.
Harlem got flavor, almost like Hollywood.
There's a certain swag.
You like my tattoo of Jesus?
Thank you.
[man] Nice!
Thank you.
[Kisha VO] I got back in touch with my father after being
with my mother for many, many years.
He was Christian, and he tried to give me a speech
about my sexuality.
Like, "Oh, the Bible says this, and the Bible says that."
That's not the way I read the Bible,
and that's not the way I grew up spiritually.
It really was believing in God,
believing a higher power,
helping others...
It was instilled in me from my mom.
[Melissa VO] As a little girl, Kisha was always on the go,
always wanted to experience things.
She loved the outdoors.
Very curious.
She was very strong-minded.
She was more boyish.
As a mom, you're always putting cute dresses on little girls,
and it got to the point where Kisha didn't wanna wear dresses
anymore.
So I said, "Okay, so we'll go for the pants."
[Kisha VO] A lot of my family was involved in the church.
I didn't see any kind of...
same-sex love.
So for me, it was trying to understand me
and what I was feeling.
[subway clattering]
[Melissa VO] She started getting very angry and
rebellious, and...
I got a call from her school that she was up on the roof...
threatening to commit suicide...
and that they had called the cops,
and they were gonna take her to the hospital.
The social worker said to Kisha, "Tell Mom what's the problem."
And she said, "I'm gay."
I said, "Okay.
You are who you are.
You're my daughter."
Finding out, it opened up my heart.
She started not being so angry all the time.
[Kisha and Melissa laugh]
We just started getting closer.
I loved her for who she was, and I still do.
She's come a long way, and she's accomplished a lot of things
that she wanted to accomplish...
her way.
♪tender ethereal music♪
Which I'm also very proud of.
♪♪♪
Ahh!
[pigeons coo and flutter]
[coyotes bark and howl]
[Trevon VO] It's quiet, there's no New York City traffic,
there's no horn honking.
It's just peaceful.
[dog barking]
I like to just be out here in Joshua Tree,
about 45 minutes away from home.
We moved to Palm Springs because of how open it is to the LGBT
community.
[Jade VO] Well, right now, we're doing food delivery and
stuff, still trying to figure it out.
[Trevon VO] I met Jade in 2013, downtown in the city at a club
called Esquilita's.
Jade had one of her, uh, buddies approach me
and ask me if I liked girls.
[both laugh]
Because of the film.
[Jade VO] I got to know him through the film.
He was into transgender females, so I didn't know if he was still
into cisgenders.
Because I'm not trans,
that's why I had my friend approach him.
I always get asked am I trans,
and I don't take no offense to it,
because I think trans women are beautiful.
♪tender synth music♪
-So our first date was ac-- -Was it the steakhouse?
No-- oh, yeah, our first dinner date.
Or was it church?
[in unison] It was church.
-Yeah, that's what I was-- yeah. -It was church.
♪♪♪
[Trevon VO] I fell in love.
We've kind of been together ever since.
[Jade VO] Trevon is the first trans guy I ever dated,
so it was something just really new to me.
He's very charming and sexy.
Before that, I was dating aggressive females.
I did identify as being a lesbian,
and now, he says he's non-binary now, so...
I think our relationship is just our relationship.
I don't really put "lesbian" or "straight" on there.
Like, it's just us, so...
♪♪♪
[Trevon VO] When I first came out,
I think like most trans guys, I identified as an, uh...
as an aggressive female in the lesbian community,
especially because, you know, "trans" wasn't really a thing.
I don't even know if I wanna consider myself "non-binary."
I just don't want these stereotypes.
Let me just be who I wanna be.
Let me be the individual I wanna be.
If I don't wanna play basketball,
I don't wanna play basketball.
If I don't wanna, uh...
sit on the wall during the club and I wanna...
do a [laughing] one-two switch, let me do my one-two switch!
You know, what's the problem?
Even Jade still expects different things from me
sometimes, because she looks at me as a man,
and I think that that's not fair.
It's a touchy topic for her sometimes.
Jade and I moved out here because I had really messed up
in our relationship.
I, um...
I cheated,
and I think that...
we just needed a fresh start.
I just couldn't see myself without being with him.
I'm about to get emotional.
[softly] That's all right.
[kiss]
[Jade sniffles]
[Jade VO] I just realized how much I loved him.
I mean, we ain't dealt with a lot of stuff.
We kinda left it back in New York.
♪♪♪
[Jade VO] Once we get stable, we wanna have kids.
We're looking into freezing his eggs.
[Trevon VO] I'm 36.
[Jade VO] And I'm 32, so I can carry his child,
so we wanna do one and one.
It's just a lot with that, with money and stuff.
And then getting married.
In like two year-- right?
-In two-- in two years? -Yeah, I hope so, yeah.
I hope so.
[Daniel] Some bug spray.
Oh, yeah, I was about to say, please,
they trying-- the bees trying to eat me and everything over here.
[Daniel] I mean, I would never have thought,
the last time I interviewed you back in the day,
that I would be interviewing you by a pond.
[laughs]
Daniel...
Oh, God...
[Daniel chuckles]
When I get home from work, I sit here.
I enjoy this because it's peaceful.
When you're younger, you do foolish things, and...
the foolish things left me to being incarcerated,
and at some type of point in my life,
I've had to think, like,
"Okay, well, do I wanna keep going back to prison?
No.
I wanna actually enjoy my life, be free,
don't have to look over my back, worrying about the police or
people after me because of the foolish things I was doing."
That's what made me wanna go back to school and continue
education and to do better for myself.
I went to Hudson Valley Community College for my degree
in electrical construction and maintenance.
I'm a mechanic maintenance worker.
Back then, I wanted to be around a whole bunch of noise.
Now, where I'm like of middle age and I wanna just relax.
That's why I decided to move up here.
♪cool jazzy hip-hop♪
♪Lights♪
♪Camera, action...♪
I stopped taking my hormone therapy when I moved out here,
'cause they didn't have no service out here.
This year is the year that they actually started that service.
I take my injections once a week.
I'm changing, Daniel!
I'm getting little hairs.
I'm starting to slim down, I've noticed.
My face and stuff is starting to get a little bit masculine.
I believe the reason why I didn't come out on the first
documentary as me being a trans man is because of my family;
I was so young when you was interviewing me and I was living
with family, so I didn't wanna have that problem where I would
have to be homeless...
because of who I am.
♪♪♪
There's never a time where -- ever! --
that I ever felt like a woman.
I never wanted to have breasts, never.
I'm hunched, and my spine is starting to shift [indistinct]
because they're so heavy.
I heard about top surgery, but I didn't have the funds to...
actually do that.
I have to pay for that out of pocket.
My whole life I had to deal with this, so...
I want to get rid of them.
Then I can actually be who I wanna be and who I need to be
for myself -- who I should be.
♪tense hopeful music♪
[Earnest VO] I agreed to take Chin's case because,
when I watched 'The Aggressives,'
I was able to connect to Chin on more of a human level,
and I realized that Chin's experiences as a trans man were
of historical significance to the LGBT community.
So, I think I was moved to try to see a little bit of hope in
his case, where I think other attorneys may have seen it as
a done deal.
He came here when he was nine years old
with the rest of his family.
They entered as legal permanent residents.
When he was young, he was living as a lesbian.
He was living with his grandmother and had a girl over.
His grandma flipped out, put his stuff in trash bags,
and put him and his belongings out on the curb.
Then, he ends up joining thousands of other LGBT youth
who were living homeless in New York City.
Around this same time, he loses his ID and green card.
Immigration confuses his with somebody else's,
and he's not able to get it reissued.
So he resorts to, you know, some kind of survival:
crime.
There are various points where he's incarcerated in one state
or another.
That's why, in 2016, you know, he's-- he's kind of-- uh,
he got his life turned around.
♪♪♪
[Earnest VO] He has this employee that says, you know,
"I got this friend that works at the DMV,
and she can get you an ID."
So he ends up forging his own social security card,
and she issues him the ID, right?
And so for...
about two months, actually, you know, he's...
doing great.
You know, for the first time in, like,
20 years, you know, he legally exists,
he's on the books, he's paying taxes,
he's happy.
And then, early 2017,
the Sheriff and ICE come knocking at the door.
♪tense ethereal music♪
They've been holding him since.
He's been in solitary for well over a year now.
This is simply because he's transgender,
period.
♪♪♪
They're doing this to try to force him to give up his case
and to self-deport.
There's no way that that is constitutional.
♪♪♪
[Kisha VO] Art has been my life from the beginning of time.
This is actually the first time in my life where I fell in love
with a process that I feel like I can never fall
out of love with.
I always loved textures and working with my hands.
[Kisha] The black takes really nice into the wood.
[Kisha VO] Sometimes I add paint,
sometimes I wood-burn, sometimes I carve things into the images.
There's spray paint on some of these.
It seems like it's really simple; it's not.
It's super tedious, it's super sensitive,
super...
complicated.
But I've learned to-- to love it.
♪cool R&B music♪
[Kisha VO] I call this series "A Gentleman Never Tells."
It's a series of ex-lovers that I've had intimate moments with.
I think the thing between two people learning each other
is beautiful.
♪♪♪
So, I'm the gentleman that never tells,
and that's why they're images that you don't see straight-up.
My art allows me to savor these moments.
It allows me to also move on a little easier if-- if it's not
the greatest break-up.
I used to get hurt a lot.
I used to fall in love a lot.
'Cause I love beautiful women!
And that's how I ended up making this art!
I would love to be in a relationship and settle down.
Actually, I would prefer be in a foreign country somewhere in
love with a complete stranger, but I wouldn't mind being
committed, and I wouldn't mind falling in love,
and I wouldn't mind it being temporary either,
because the temporary moments, I think,
is what gives life to this work.
♪♪♪
Art has always been my first love -- my mother will tell you
-- since a child.
I feel like my art is for everyone, really.
I socialize with all types of people.
I travel with an open heart.
I could learn something from everyone.
By sharing your story, that's how you bring people together.
I like to go to where the party is,
and I like to come home in quiet and peace.
I've grown to appreciate my solo time more;
I really do.
[camera snaps]
I just wanna create art, love, be loved,
take care of my animals, take care of my family,
share my life with the world.
The hell?!
[dogs growling]
[Trevon VO] When my mom died, my aunt was my second mother.
She did take me in.
She changed my life a lot.
Oh, my name is Greta Allen.
I'm a 76-year-old young lady.
[laughs] How you like that one?
-You're my aunt! -Oh!
My-- I'm Tr-- uh, Trevon's mother's sister.
She was the greatest.
[Trevon] This is my mom.
My mom passed away when I was 13.
[Greta VO] She was going with this guy,
and he had the virus,
and she didn't know it.
AIDS, that's how she passed.
[Trevon] I wanted it to be in a spot where everybody could see
my mom.
[Greta VO] When his mother passed,
I was right there for him.
We used to do a lot of things together:
play together, play basketball together,
you know, different things.
But we was always together.
When Trevon was young, right?
She always told me, she says, "I wanna be like you one day."
I never knew what she was talking about.
What he was talking about.
[both laugh]
I just loved it, you know, because we could relate!
Me and my wife, we've been together for 21 years.
Never broke up, I never cheated on her,
and I love her to death.
Love is a very important thing, you know?
And I'm proud of who I am, even though I'm gay as hell.
I don't care what people think.
You think I care what people think?!
Hell fuck-- Excuse me.
Hell no, I don't.
[Trevon VO] Now you know where it comes from.
[both laugh]
♪pensive hip-hop instrumental♪
-Uncle Purcell. -Yeah...
-[Trevon] That's-- -That's Grandpa on the end.
I know, and that's you.
Yeah.
[Trevon] And who's this?
'Cause you my great-grandmother.
-Yeah. -[dog barks]
-Take it up! -[Trevon] Yes, Grandma.
That's Daddy's, uh, father.
-Oh! -Grandpa!
That's my great-great-great-grandfather.
Yeah, and these all my grandchildren.
[Trevon VO] I'm my mother's only child, you know?
Once-- once I go, that's it!
There's no legacy, you know?
So I-- I feel like I need children.
This is my grandma, right?
That's Daddy -- my dad.
[Trevon] And this is my pops.
I don't know if I got too much to say about him.
My grandma sent it to me when he passed away.
[Trevon VO] To me, legacy means bloodline.
During your transition, especially if you want more
masculine features,
you wanna take hormones, of course.
I was taking hormones for a short period of time,
and then, we decided to have children.
It had to be soon.
When going to my GYN one day, she told me that she found,
like, a stage of cervical cancer,
and that I should really get a hysterectomy.
So, I've been a little taken back by that,
only because my main purpose in life, I felt like,
was to have a family.
I told myself that I'm not gonna take any hormones until
we can get the money up and I at least freeze my eggs.
Taking the hormones, no kids.
I pray on it for healing.
-[man through megaphone] Free! -[crowd] Chin!
My brother is Chin.
He's been locked up for the last 15 months,
and it's inhumane.
It's not right.
We have to free Chin, because we sure miss him a lot.
Because Chin is trans,
ICE doesn't know what to do with him!
So they have placed him in solitary confinement!
It's a form of torture under human rights conventions!
We must free Chin now!
[crowd] Free Chin now!
Free Chin now!
[Nancy VO] This is so hard.
Chin met the wrong people.
[voice cracking] It's sad.
All he did was credit card thief.
It's not like a-- a crime that he's killing somebody!
He did his time!
[sniffles]
He doesn't need to be locked up,
and then for have Immigration to put you in isolation?
It's like putting my child in a closet!
No justice for Chin?!
[crowd] No peace for ICE!
[crowd] We shut this down!
-[man] Who shut this down?! -[crowd] We shut this down!
[birds chirping]
[fly buzzing]
[Tyquan VO] My name's Tyquan Sanders.
I'm Octavia's son.
I kinda just started to get to know Octavia.
[Octavio VO] What made me do the top surgery now versus then
is because of my son.
I didn't know how he was gonna feel about that.
I was just wondering if, uh...
she was gonna actually transition...
or not.
She just mentioned it to me one day.
"This month, you know, I'm actually gonna be doing surgery
to get rid of this."
Kind of did, like, hand signs or whatever.
And, um...
I was like, "Okay, that's nice!"
I'm just happy for my mom.
[Octavio VO] He's very supportive of me.
♪hopeful ethereal music♪
[kiss]
I just can't wait to be sleeping,
and then wake up and...
don't have to feel this on my damn-- damn near my damn stomach
anymore.
♪♪♪
[Octavio VO] I've always been top-heavy,
and always had, like, a complex behind that,
you know, um, because I don't feel like a woman.
♪♪♪
My best friend is my fiancée;
everything we do, we do together.
The thing is with her is she's into feminine women.
[chuckling] How we got together, Daniel,
I don't know, because -- you see -- there's nothing feminine
about me.
If you truly love a person, I don't think that that will stop
your relationship.
[woman] All right!
We're gonna start giving you some relaxation medication,
so why don't you say bye.
[woman] Love you!
[clanking]
[heavy metal door slams]
♪tender ethereal music♪
[Chin VO] You know how many years we know each other?
How long, Daniel?
[laughs]
[Daniel] Say it right now, please?
Oh, Daniel...
[Daniel] Just a little.
Soundbites.
What do you want me to talk about now?
[laughs]
[indistinct]
What should we talk about?
[Chin VO] I've been incarcerated for three years now.
In that solitary confinement, I wanted to kill myself,
'cause I was gonna...
I-- I didn't know what to do.
When they put this in facility out here in Texas,
they treat me better.
I want people to know the life that I went through as a...
immigrant.
I have three strikes, okay?
One, Asian;
two, I'm a transgender male;
and three, I have a criminal background.
In 'The Aggressives,' I never really spoke about my personal
life.
So, me and my sister, we really raised our own selves.
♪♪♪
[Nancy VO] We grew up not a typical Asian family.
Our parents separated when we was young.
We was all at home, and my mom said,
"Well, I'm gonna run out real quick;
I'm gonna go get something," and she never came back.
Our dad was left to raise three kids on his own with his
mother's help.
♪♪♪
My grandmother, she used to say bad things to me,
you could say, and kinda made my self-esteem low,
made me feel ugly, and...
you know, sh--...
I-- I guess because I didn't look...
like the granddaughter she want --
you know, feminine, pretty, playing piano, stuff like that.
I was different.
Chin turned to the street because he felt unloved.
He didn't have the support system that he wanted,
where to be loved, to be accepted for what he is.
[Treach VO] Him being on the street was hard.
No one can ever say what you would do when you don't have a
place to lay your head,
don't have clothes, don't have food.
And Chin got caught up in the wrong crowd of people.
That could be any of us.
Chin served his time.
What happened to second chances?
What happened to, you know, how the justice system is supposed
to actually work?
Chin ended up in this situation --
stuck in immigration detention --
because, initially, of a mistake made by the US government.
Unfortunately, he ended up in a situation where he was coerced
to engage in some illegal activity.
That's called "human trafficking."
Trafficking victims are not supposed to be held in
detention;
it's in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act!
They know his convictions are tied to trafficking.
The reason he was vulnerable in the first place was because of
Immigration's own mistake!
I want to win my case and stay...
in America.
I have to take care of my father,
no matter what.
I'm his first child.
[Lynly VO] I get asked a lot why Chin is being targeted to be
held in detention like this.
"Is it because he's transgender?
Is it because he's Asian?"
I actually do think it's because he's transgender.
What happens now is we continue to fight.
There's one thing my attorney said to me;
she said...
she's gonna fight for me until...
her hands-- I mean her hands against the wall.
That's...
that's real.
♪♪♪
[Trevon VO] I never liked New York.
New York's never been my thing.
Most people, I think, that are born here
fight to get out,
and most people that aren't from here fight to get in.
[kiss]
Eight long years.
[Trevon] Yup!
Never thought I would be with somebody this long.
We decided to come back because
it was just too far from the family,
and then Jade has to get surgery.
I mean, I do too, but overall, Jade's surgery is set first.
[Jade VO] I have to remove my butt implants and my silicone
injections.
My doctor said it's gonna start becoming a health issue for me.
I was in the dancing industry, and, um,
looking at the other girls and the money they was making,
and, you know, me being small -- and I was only 18.
If I could change something, I would have never got it.
[Trevon VO] Since I've been back,
I haven't been to the doctor.
When I tried to call a clinic to, you know,
start talking about the hysterectomy process,
it was just bad.
The phone call went like this:
"Are you calling the right clinic, sir?"
"Yes, I'm calling the right clinic."
"You calling to make an appointment for your wife, sir?"
"No.
I'm calling to make an appointment for myself."
So then I explain:
"I'm trans,
my doctor thinks it's best that I get a hysterectomy."
"Okay, miss."
"No, I just told you that I'm trans."
So I never went with them.
So I-- I don't really know what's going on with me.
Once settled in the apartment,
I plan on taking all the necessary steps.
As a trans guy, it's hard.
[Kisha] Come up!
[dog barks]
Come here!
Wait, you filming right now?!
[Daniel] Yeah.
[Kisha] Oof...
Yeah, I mean...
I feel like somebody done, like, pulled the carpet from under my
feet, like...
because it happened so sudden.
I mean, right now, I just feel lost and confused.
♪melancholy music♪
I'm preparing for my mom's memorial,
and I'm getting...
all my mom's images together so we could do a slideshow.
[Kisha VO] She had been fighting bladder cancer.
She had-- she had a stroke.
She had a stroke, and, uh, we rushed her to the hospital,
and, um, yeah.
♪♪♪
This is her when she was pregnant with me in the '70s.
And this is her famous fur coat.
And this is all of us together --
my and all my siblings with my mom.
She was so sassy when she was young!
We look just alike.
These are her memories.
[sighs] The fact that it was sudden,
it wasn't... [sighs]
[voice straining] it wasn't expected.
So, um...
you know, I-- I, um...
put myself on timeout for a bit.
♪♪♪
[sniffles]
You think that there's more time and...
you just never really know, you know?
And...
that's just the thing with that, with life,
it's like...
you don't really know.
Sometimes I feel sad, but sometimes I feel extremely,
um...
powerful.
'Cause I feel like she's with me, you know?
And I know that she's proud.
It's beautiful.
♪♪♪
Well... [sighs]
I'm carrying the torch of my family now.
It wasn't 'til I became adult that I realized she really took
the time to really get to know me.
She's dragging me to the park.
[Kisha VO] That just made me become more and more
appreciative of her.
And it showed me that she accepted me for who I was.
That made our bond stronger.
[Kisha] Come here!
[water lapping against rocks]
[Kisha VO] This feeling I'm feeling right now,
it's-- it's temporary.
That, I know.
It takes time to get to a place of healing.
[Lynly VO] I am so excited to be here.
It's a culmination of a lot of work for a lot of people.
There have been a lot of people who got us here today,
and I can't wait to see Chin.
Oh my God!
Hi!
Oh, you look great!
[chuckling] Yeah, all right.
Hey, Daniel!
Gimme a hug!
Oh, can you believe I'm standing here talking to you?!
And Lynly!
-Oh my God! -And Mr. Bailey!
-Yes! -We won! [chuckles]
All my legal documents and stuff.
For two years!
[Daniel] How do you feel?
[sighs] Excited...
ready for my new journey. [chuckles]
♪uplifting emotional music♪
I got the call, and I was just like,
"What?!"
Lynly was not giving up.
-[Daniel] I know. -No, not at all.
[Daniel] Okay, Chin, what's the first thing you're gonna do?
Eat some good food. [laughs]
Take a bath. [laughs]
-Thank you. -Welcome home.
Thank you, thank you.
Daniel, you okay?
All right.
-Thank you, Daniel! -[Daniel] I love you!
I love you too! I'll call you tomorrow!
[Daniel] Enjoy your night!
♪♪♪
[pigeons cooing]
[Octavio VO] It's a year and change later.
Words can't even sum up how I feel;
that's how excited I am about myself right now.
Most of the time, it didn't hurt.
I wasn't in, like, pain or anything like that.
It was itchy.
Seriously, if anybody wants to do something like that,
I think that's the best investment you can do for
yourself.
You know I'm not with that woman anymore;
we was-- well, we was together, we're not together.
[Daniel] Did the surgery have anything to do with the
break-up?
No, that didn't have nothin' to do with the break-up.
But right now, I don't think I want no committed relationship,
no.
Sometimes, when you get out of a long relationship,
seriously, you need to have time to...
heal yourself, you get what I'm saying?
Regardless of what changes I go through in life,
for me, I'm still-- I was still born a woman,
you get what I'm saying?
So I can relate to them a little bit more than, uh,
the average guy.
♪uplifting ambient music♪
I'm still the same person; like, that doesn't change you,
you get what I'm saying?
♪♪♪
You change your appearance, yeah.
It's doesn't change you, your inner soul,
like your inner self.
I'm still the same person.
♪♪♪
[phone alarm ringing]
[kiss]
[Trevon VO] I'm a relationship person;
that's what I do.
My end goal is a family, marriage, kids.
Jade is not gonna have one,
going through reconstruction
and having to get everything fixed up.
I put your tea bag in at...
I guess 8:20, so 8:35, you gotta come up.
I'ma run to the store.
All right, I'm going to grab these eggs.
[Jade] [clears throat] Okay.
Can you make the sausage patties?
[Jade] Mm-hm.
'Cause I'm assuming you're gonna get up when we leave.
[door opens]
So, we're back in Palms because Jade had her surgery on her
butt, she got it removed, so overall,
she just doesn't wanna be in New York
with her appearance, I guess, being like that.
But for me, I just prefer it here.
Hopefully, we can really be bi-costal and be snowbirds,
and, like, go back and forth.
[keypad beeping]
I've been coming back and forth to Palms...
kinda since I met Jade.
We made a trip out here about seven years ago
and we just loved it.
We thought it wasn't affordable because of how beautiful it was,
but, shockingly, it was affordable.
That was-- that was it, babe, right?
[Jade] Uh-huh. [indistinct]
Don't film my butt, please.
My butt is flat and I'm very self-conscious about it.
Going on, like, social media, when you see certain girls
looking a certain way, you start feeling self-conscious.
You start finding little things wrong with you.
I do think that I have body dysmorphia.
I never liked my nose.
Last year, I went and did my whole face;
I went to Istanbul, Turkey.
I did cat eyes, I did a cheek lift,
a lip lift, a rhinoplasty, and I did fat fillers to my chin.
And I also did a hair transplant,
to my eyebrows.
I looked so different, he made me feel
a little like he didn't like it.
He was like, "Where's my Pippi"-- he calls me "Pippi,"
so he's like, "Where's my Pippi face?"
I discouraged Jade to get surgery.
I think that she's perfect the way she is.
I don't think Jade needs surgery.
It's not about him, it's about how I feel about myself.
[Trevon] How many sausage you want?
[Jade] Four!
My baby puts it down!
Just being with Jade taught me to appreciate...
my body in a different way.
Now, when I look in the mirror, I'm okay with what I see.
They're, like, so small.
[chuckling] I shoulda made more of these.
[laughs]
[Trevon VO] So, I went to the doctor and,
thank God, I was able to find out that I don't have
cervic cancer, I just had some abnormal cells.
-[Trevon] Mm! -[kiss]
One more!
[Trevon VO] I know for a lot of trans men,
it can be triggering to go to things like the OB-GYN because
you have to deal with your feminine parts.
It's uncomfortable to go to a woman's clinic as a man
and need services.
To be honest, I avoid healthcare 'cause it triggers an emotion
for me,
so that's why I just don't do it.
[Chin VO] It's hard.
It's hard to go through, you know,
what I'm going through right now.
I don't have a stable home.
I'm just living with my sister and my brother-in-law.
I still don't have a job 'cause I still have to wait for
Immigration to...
give me my green card back.
The trauma that I went through in my past, and...
being in the Immigration, and how I was being treated...
because of me being trans,
it-- it breaks you.
You know, I had to be strong and just have faith in God.
♪tense hopeful music♪
In the beginning, my PTSD was really, really bad.
I'd wake up thinking I'm still in the detention center.
I don't know, it kinda messed me up.
Right now, I'm just focusing on...
being there for my father, making sure my father is okay.
I'm just living day by day.
[Daniel] What do you see your future like?
What's your dream?
I don't have any dream right now.
I'm gonna be honest with you; I don't.
I think Immigration had took my dream away from me.
♪♪♪
I'm just living day by day,
and whatever comes, comes.
[waterfall churning]
This reminds me of something years ago.
This park situation and bench,
and this damn cigarette.
[laughs]
[chuckling] I think I was sitting like this in that damn
video, man!
I'm sitting there smoking a damn cigarette,
just thinking.
I did mature a lot.
I'm nowhere near, like, the same person.
I don't wanna be categorized.
I just wanna be called my name.
I have a name for a reason!
That's it!
[Tyquan VO] I-- I feel like him identifying as-- as a male
kind of contributed to a lot of the trauma.
He's already been through, like, the worst.
There was a point in time where, like,
I kinda didn't wanna speak to him or whatever,
but I've made peace with it.
If it was in his ability to be there,
he would've been there.
There's just, like, this weird stigma with...
Black men in general that, like...
you do a certain thing, you look a certain way,
you wear a certain thing.
So when they see me and I'm, like, not that,
I guess they just think, like...
"Oh, I guess he's gay" or something,
and I'm like, "No, I'm just...
me."
♪soft uplifting music♪
Being authentically yourself, you know,
despite what everybody else is saying is just, like,
really inspiring to me.
[chuckles] I'm-- I'm proud of my mom.
♪♪♪
[Tyquan groans]
[Octavio] Damn...
My old ass can barely climb up the edge,
and I gotta help you out!
[Tyquan VO] He is happy.
He always tries to just remind me that, like,
I'm his son,
nothing's really gonna change that,
and how, if anything happens to me, like, you know,
he's gonna be there for me.
If you can have any kind of tag associated to you,
first and foremost, he's a mom.
[Octavio VO] My son is my everything.
[Trevon] Let me know what you wanna eat for lunch.
[indistinct]
-[kiss] -Ooh.
-See you later. -You always shocking somebody.
-See you later. -All right, love you.
I love you too.
[Jade VO] When I watched the first film,
it showed...
how Trevon grown from that.
He was really young at the time.
I didn't know him back then.
It's just a total difference.
[Trevon] Well, we workin' overtime and double time for
Jade's reconstruction surgery.
No sleep, no rest, straight overtime.
I've just come to this point where I'm not comfortable with
not having kids, but I've accepted it,
so...
Before I was doing DoorDash,
I used to work for an adult group home.
When I was a kid, my mom was ill.
You know, my mom passed away from HIV-related symptoms,
so by the time I was like 12, my mother was really sick,
to the point where I did everything,
so...
I'm kinda used to taking care of people.
I make sure my people is all right.
I love working DoorDash 'cause it gives me flexibility to do
what I want.
I don't like authority, so I like being my own boss.
You're welcome, have a good day.
[woman] You too.
[Trevon VO] This is the best part of the day:
buying weed.
It's crazy how, in the first film,
Octavio went to jail for weed.
-Thank you. -[Trevon VO] He lost his kid.
He went through a lot, essentially for something that
is now legal.
If we go back there, there's people that, like,
live, like right...
they could reach out their window and grab 'em.
I wish that was me.
I wanna climb a mountain.
♪uplifting ambient music♪
I live a surfer, nomad lifestyle,
and it takes balls to live the way I live.
I don't live my life as what society would...
deem your ideal man or your ideal successful person.
A lot of people...
tend to live in the boundaries and the restrictions and the
constraints, and I guess I'm living for 'em,
'cause I'm just being me, living my life,
doing me, and riding the wave of, uh...
of faith.
That's probably why my life gives off this light.
♪♪♪
[Trevon] I can't vogue out here.
Come on, Daniel, I gotta go to work!
♪♪♪
[Chin VO] I didn't have no...
nobody to guide me to...
to transition.
When I had gotten my top surgery done,
it was not about my appearance.
I was uncomfortable, 'cause once you take off your clothes,
you see...
[chuckles] what you see, and I was very uncomfortable,
and I've always been uncomfortable.
[Chin] This is, uh, where I sit when I take my break.
It's hot in there, so...
[chuckles]
Lemme take off my apron.
I enjoy working in this restaurant.
They treat me good and, um...
you know, I just...
living a nor-- I guess you could say "a normal life" now.
[chuckles]
I've been taking care of my dad.
I've been saving up my money.
Got myself a nice apartment in Flushing, Queens,
and me and my father is living together,
and we're doing good.
You know, when I first came home,
I Googled myself. [chuckles]
I was stunned.
I couldn't believe how much people supported me.
I'm very grateful.
It's a very emotional issue to me because...
I mean, America is all I know.
♪♪♪
[Chin laughing]
[indistinct]
[laughs]
I am Chin...
and I live my life as a man, and that's it.
I don't-- I don't need a label to define who I am.
Next month, I'm gonna be 50 years old.
[chuckles]
I think this the best...
best days of my life.
I'm at peace.
♪soft uplifting music♪
[indistinct chatter]
[Kisha VO] It's a new day.
It's a new season in my life right now.
I'm getting back to my work.
[camera beeping and snapping]
Back to my passions.
Taking pictures.
♪♪♪
Making art.
[Re] I've been doing a lot of painting -- abstract form.
Coming out and being a creative person and an artist,
that's like, pff, shit, you're not just coming out,
you're just trying to discover yourself!
[Kisha VO] An identity is something that you create
yourself -- something like art.
[camera beeps and snaps]
It's a process, and it's always changing.
It's an alignment of self and soul.
♪♪♪
I rap, I make...
punk music.
It's really just expressing my...
intense ways.
♪♪♪
[snap]
[Kisha VO] It's what we artists do.
[snap]
We feel deeply, we reflect...
[beep and snap]
take the pain and the pleasure,
and we try to make sense of it all through our art.
Come out-- come out again soon.
♪♪♪
[Kisha VO] A lot of my gifts came from my mom.
[applause]
[Kisha] All right, count of three!
[all] One!
Two!
Three!
[cheering and applause]
[Kisha VO] I am beautiful, I am talented.
♪♪♪
I'm joyful.
I'm always evolving.
I define myself.
And I choose to be free.
♪♪♪
♪uptempo house music♪
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop...♪
Most of the lives of my trans-cestors are kind of
invisible, so a documentary like 'The Aggressives' really brings
something important to light, and...
I'm just very grateful for that.
♪Move left♪ ♪Move forward♪
♪Move right♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Right now♪
♪Uh-huh♪ ♪That's how we do it♪
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Keep going...♪
Some might refer to me as "an aggressive" or an "AG."
I don't mind.
I still think it's very relevant.
[applause]
So we will be screening 'The Aggressives,'
which we are really excited to be sharing with you right now.
[in film] "Aggressive"...
is...
your strength, your courage...
your whole aura.
[Angie VO] I love the evolution of the language we now have.
I feel it's very liberating for a lot of people.
Now, we're moving towards language that's a little bit
more inclusive because we are understanding this variety of
gender identities.
People have evolved, you know?
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going...♪
We all have masculine and feminine energy within us.
If a person's presenting themselves the way they are,
just accept it.
There's still room to kinda, like,
challenge perceptions and ideas around-- around gender,
and, honestly, not to be reduced to your parts.
As humans, we're all different, but there are certain layers
that are the same.
If we do another one of these in 10,
20 years, it'll be completely different.
As the world changes, you know, the way people identify will
change, the way people exist in that world will change.
I think it's just part of, like, human progression.
♪♪♪
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Move left♪ ♪Move forward♪
♪Move right♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Right now♪
♪Uh-huh♪ ♪That's how we do it♪
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Move left♪ ♪Move forward♪
♪Move right♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Right now♪
♪Uh-huh♪ ♪That's how we do it♪
♪Left♪ ♪Go right♪
♪Ah, baby♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Move left♪ ♪Move forward♪
♪Move right♪ ♪Keep going♪
♪Don't stop♪ ♪Right now♪
♪Uh-huh♪ ♪That's how we do it♪
♪♪♪