Everyday Midwesterners who happen to also be part of the LGBTQ+ community are stepping into the spotlight.
PEOPLE has the exclusive first glimpse ofWe Live Here: The Midwest, which premieres on Hulu Dec. 6, amid atime of uncertaintyfor queer people in America.
Part of the documentary’s purpose, as director Melinda Maerker tells PEOPLE, is to prove that withanti-LGBTQ+ policiesandhatecrimeson the rise, “these are not just issues, these are people.”
“We found [interview subjects] not just who were facing discrimination, but who have stories to tell,” says Maerker, who identifies as lesbian. “We’re telling those stories that will draw people in so that they’re able to further examine certain things.”
Among those stories featured inWe Live Here: The Midwestare an Iowan family with a trans matriarch expelled from their church; a gay Black couple with a young daughter in Nebraska; a queer teacher in Ohio creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ students; and a Minnesotan couple rebuilding a family after their respective transitions.
Why shed light on such stories now? Producer David Miller, who is gay, points to the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in Washington D.C. and beyond.
“I was obviously very happy withgay marriagepassing in the Supreme Court,” says Miller, who sharesthree sonswith husbandRyan Murphy. “But then when 2016 came around, we started reading articles about how some families and gay people were being discriminated against.”
Hulu
We Live Here: The Midwesttakes viewers inside the homes of queer families who are, as Miller points out, “still a nuclear family; there’s parents and children!”
Non-queer audiences may realize that if one or more of the people in that family unit have a different gender identity or sexual orientation than their own, the difference is negligible. “You’re watching them making breakfast or cooking lunch or things like that and you recognize, ‘Wow, these people really aren’t much different,’ ” says Miller.
“They still have the same complexities and struggles of financial burdens or whatnot. They love their kids just like anybody else.”
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As for the focus on America’s Midwest, Maerker says it’s “really the heart of family values.” That extends to the region’s legislation offices, where queer politicians — like Minnesota House RepresentativeHeather Keeler, interviewed in the film — push back against discriminatory policies at odds with those values.
“She’s literally receiving death threats every day,” Maerker says of Keeler. “I don’t think people are aware of that, to what degree this is an issue. So given her public status, she can speak to these issues from a very different perspective.”
“Obviously they had to be comfortable to some degree participating in the film, which is why they’re so courageous,” she says. “We’re very proud of them for that.”
We Live Here: The Midwestis on Hulu Dec. 6.
source: people.com
