I'm Very Much Done with PFOX

This is a reflection that I wrote for my media class about the documentary which a partner and I spent the last three months working on (with some of the most boring parts cut out). I planned to write something a little more interesting this week, but it just didn't work out. Sorry about that. This post relates to my previous post about PFOX. If you care to look at it. 

I worked with Brianna to create a documentary about the organization Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays or PFOX. PFOX is an organization that advocates for the rights of people who identify as ex-gay, in other words, people who have gone through reparative therapy or other processes and believe that they are no longer gay. It is, in theory, made up of people who are the parents and friends of those who identify as either ex-gay or gay. 

I suggested this topic because last year, PFOX handed out fliers at Blair, explaining their message in extremely convoluted language that really boiled down to “you don’t have to be gay”. As a teenager who is an active member of Blair’s Gay-Straight alliance and who identifies as a member of the LGBTQA community, I was personally offended by the fliers. At the time, I did a fair amount of research on PFOX, but when presented with the opportunity to make a documentary, I hoped I could find out more about their perspective. 

We originally set out to write an impartial piece about what PFOX was and what it stood for. Because of their refusal to talk to us, the piece became much more biased, ultimately being about the inconsistencies and intolerance within the group.

I don’t regret picking PFOX as the topic of the documentary; however, I did find it a frustrating topic. I’m not sure that there is much left to explore about PFOX. There isn't that much information about them to be found. Their is really only two very polarized versions of their story to be found. One by them and those who agree with them, and one by those who are very strong supporters of LGBTQ rights. No one else seems to care enough to pay much attention to them. 

I think that the choice of topic shapes the whole documentary project. Our topic turned out to be about a subject who refused to talk to us and about which there wasn't that much information or b-roll to be found. Because of this, our final product was very different from that of a group whose subject was willing to be interviewed and who had plenty of sources of b-roll. 

One of the most surprising things that I learned from this project is how small the organization PFOX really is. When I began this project, I knew that they had sued Montgomery County repeatedly and had a history of handing out their fliers to different schools. Based on that, I assumed that they were a large and well established organization with a big membership. What became abundantly clear as I worked on this documentary is that PFOX was actually a tiny organization and most likely just a front for the Family Research Council to reach out to schools.

My group faced many challenges in this project, from technical difficulties (we had to try five computers before we finally found one that worked, one of our interviews got deleted, our computer wound up being used to film the school play and went missing for a few class periods, etc.) to issues with final cut (some of our audio clips were individually locked and it took us a couple of days to figure out how to fix it) to issues with the topic itself (PFOX refused to talk to us, there was lots of drama over whether PFOX would sue us, there was no footage available anywhere of anyone in PFOX doing anything but talking) to the fact that one of our group members dropped out of CAP halfway through the project. It was one of those projects in which everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong.

 I’d probably say that our biggest challenge was that PFOX was not an active organization who did much of anything, but was really just a website. Because of that, it was impossible to find b-roll footage of people who were a part of PFOX doing anything besides talking. We tried to overcome this by using still frames and pictures; however, in my opinion, the lack of b-roll made our documentary less interesting.

In spite of all of the problems that we had throughout this project, I did enjoy myself and I did learn a lot, both about PFOX and about the documentary making process. The subject of the ex-gay movement as a whole and groups which oppose homosexuality is one which interests me immensely. Although I completely disagree with their beliefs, I am of the opinion that the best way to counter beliefs with which you disagree is to learn more about the root of those beliefs and the people who hold them. This project has given me the opportunity to do that to a depth which I most likely would not have otherwise. In addition, this project was the first time that I felt somewhat confident in using Final Cut and editing. Overall, although this wasn't the smoothest of processes, I do think that it was beneficial to my experience in CAP.