01/31/20 01/31/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: f from the sundance film festival in papark city, utah, this is democracy now! >> they have gone to extraordinary links to put a muzzle on john bolton, to avoid calling him as a witness, to avoid letting the american people hear what he has to say, to try to stifle his book, to becauseg him publicly they fear what he has to say because they already know the

president scheme has already been exposed. amy: the republican-led senate appears poised to acquit president trump as early as today in the historic impeachment trial after republican senator lamar alexander of tennessee announced he would vote against calling witnesses, likely leaving democrats one vote short. alexander said the house impeachment managers had proven their case but that trump's actions did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense. we will get the latest. then as south dakota's republican-controlled house criminalizing transgender youth, we look at a ououndbrkingng fm thatatust premiered here aththe suancece film fesvaval. it's called "disclosure: trans lives oncreen." >> ware e trs people ululd be celebratedn or offhe scree >> tha y youthanank u so m mh fofothis momt. folkare nevethat the media would stop asking horrible quesonons. hohow doou hide your pemis?

and start treating us with respect. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the republican-led senate appears poised to acquit president trump as early as today in just the third presidential impeachment trial in u.s. history. on thursday night, republican senator lamar alexander of tennessee announced he would vote against calling witnesses, likely leaving democrats one vote short. if the vote to call witnesses fails, the republican leadership is expected to move quickly to end the trial and vote to acquit the president. we'll have more on the impeachment trial after headlines with dahlia lithwick. the world health organization has s declared an international public health emergency as the death toll from the coronavirus tops 200 in china, with nearly

additional 10,000 cases of infection in 20 countries. >> i am declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of the coronavirus. let me be clear. this declaration is not a vote of no competency in china. on the contrary, the who continues to have confidence in china's capacity toto control te outbreak.. amy: the u u.s. state department is warning americans not to travel to china, the epicenter of the virus. the u.s. special envoy for syria james jeffrey is warning of an international crisis, as nearly three quarters of a million syrians have been forced to flee their homes in the northwewesten prprovince of idlib asas the russian-backed syrian government continues its offensive against the rebel-held territory. regimerussian and syriann

airstrikes in the last three days, mamainly against civilian. the secretary-genereral is so alarmemed he has crereated a bod of inquiry into the attacks on civilians. massive numbers of troops pushing back hundreds of squares of kilometers, and setting, i think n now, 700,000 p people ae alreready internally d displacen the move once again toward the turkish border, which would then create an international crisis. amy: britain is formally withdrawing from the european union tonight, ending its 47 years of membership in the eu. tonight's withdraw will initiate a nearly year-long transition period, set to expire on december 31, in which the eu and britain will continue to negotiate the terms of britain's future relationship with europe. brexit has created massive turmoil in british politics ever since british voters narrowly approved the country's departure in a highly polarized 2016 referendum.

the pentntagon has d deployed de first submarine e armed with a low-yield tridenent nucleaear ia -- trident nuclear warhead in a move that anti-nuclear activists say increases the threat of nuclear war. the uss tennessee is currently patrolling the atlantic carrying a nuclear warhead with a third of the explosive power of the atomic bomb the u.s. dropped on hiroshima. this comes as the trump administration is slated to announce today it is loosening restrictions the use of landmines in order to roll back an obama-era policy that restricted the use of landmines to the korean peninsula. the new policy is expected to allow the u.s. to use landmines anywhere in the world. this could make the united states one of only a few countries, including burma, syria, and north korea, that would continue to use landmines despite an international treaty banning their use. human rights groups are condemning the mexican government for its crackdown against central l americans who travel through mexico en route to seek asylum in the united states.

mexico has deported over 2000 central americans over the last two weeks and has temporarily suspended all ngo's and faith organizations from accessing detention centers. this is tania reneaum of amnesty international. >> we are talking about the signals that are given that give clear indicators of a micra policy that does not respect human rights, which also goes with the zune of the policy of this event trump's ideology. -- xenophobia policy trump's ideology. amy: this comes as the trump administration says it will expand the "remain in mexico" policy to brazilian asylum seekers, who will now be forced to await their u.s. court dates in mexico. 60,000 asylum seekers have already been subjected to the "remain in mexico" policy, where doctors without borders says 80% of them report being victims of violence. and mexican butterfly conservationist homero gomez gonzales has been found dead two weeks after he went missing. an official with michoacan's human rights commission says he might have been targeted by illegal loggers operating in the

area where he managed a sanctuary for monarch butterflies. in bolivia, massive crowds gathered at the airport earlier this week to welcome the movement towards socialism's presidential candidate luis arce back to bolivia. he will be running against the far-right self-declared interim president jeanine añez, who sparked massive backlash by announcing shehe plans run in te may 3 election. the political turmoil in bolivia comes after longtime president evo morales was ousted in what -- in a military coup. ununited s states is pushing tod chemical washed chicken as s pat of the negotiations for the transatlantic trade deal known as the transnsatlantic trade and investment partnership. the european union prohibits them treated with chlorine dioxide, but u.s.s. agricultural secretary sonny perdue is prpressuring europe to reconsidr this ban and truck has threatened to pose tariffs on

cars imported from europe if the eu does not agree to the trtransatlanantic trade deal. the colorado senate is expected to vote today on legislation that would repeal the death penalty. on thursday, senators voted in favor of advancing the measure, with enough republican lawmakers joining democrats that that the legislation is expected to pass the final vote today. if signed into law, colorado would join states and the 20 district of columbia which have already banned the death penalty. and saturday marks the 60-year anniversary of the greensboro four sit-in protest at the lunch counter at woolworth's s in dodowntown greensboro, north carolina. on february 1, 1960, four freshmen students at north carolina's a&t university -- ezell blair, jr., franklin mccain, joseph mcneil, and david richmond -- refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter after being denied service. their action inspired a nationwide wave of sit-ins aimed at desegregating businesses and public spaces. within weeks of their action, sit-in protests spread to over

250 cities and towns across the country, sparking a nationwide movement that saw more than 400 protests by the end of the year. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracacy now!,, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from park city, utah. the republican-led senate appears poised to acquit president trump as early as today in just the third presidential impeachment trial in u.s. history. on thursday night, republican senator lamar alexander of tennessee announced he would vote against calling witnesses. alexander said it was inappropriate for trump to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. but he went on to say -- "there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the united states constitution's high bar for an impeachable offense." democrats need four republican senators to support calling for witnesses, but it appears they

will fall short. democrats were hoping to hear testimony from former national security advisor john bolton. in a forthcoming book, bolton has reportedly written that trump personally told him he wanted to maintain a freeze on military aid to ukraine until ukraine turned over materials related to his political rival, former vice president joe biden. republican senators susan collins and mitt romney have said they will vote yes today on witnesses. if lisa murkowski of alaska votes with them, it will result in a 50-50 tie meaning no witnesses will be called unless chief justice john roberts casts a tie-breaking vote, which is seen as high unlikely. if the vote to call witnesses fails, the republican leadership is expected to move quickly to end the trial and vote to acquit the president. hours before he made his announcement, republican senator lamar alexander, along with lisa murkowski, submitted a question during the senate trial asking if bolton's testimony would even matter because trump's legal defense team claims the

allegations, even if true, don't rise to the level of an impeachable offense. white house deputy counsel patrick philbin and lead house impeachment manager congressman adam schiff both responded. this is philbin. >> there was no quid pro quo. and there is no evidence to show that. there was not that sort of linkage the house managers have suggggested. but let me answer the question directly, which i understand of the assuming for the sake of argument, that ambassador bolton would come and testify the way "the new york times" article alleges with the book describes the conversation, didn't it is correct that even if that happened, even if he gave that testimony, the articleles of impeachment still would not rise to an impeachable offense. >> we know why they don't want john to testify. it is not because we don't really know what happened here. they just don't want the american people to herein all of its ugly graphic detail.

amy: to talk more about the impeachment trial, we are joined by dahlia lithwick, senior editor at slate.com, where she is the senior legal correspondent and supreme court reporter. welcome back to democracy now! so this is a crucial day. explain what is going to happen today stop what we know and what we don't know. >> i think we are going to see a whole bunch of motions, amy, much as we saw in the first day where democrats try to bring forth motions to hear witnesses testimony,ave more to have more evidence. and i think, as you just said, they are likely to be roundly defeated. it looks as though they just don't have t the four codes they need to proceed. maybe we will be surprise. but if that is the case, it will be a lot of skirmishing about procedure. and i think the plan is to go to closing arguments and then probably as late as 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, late tonight,

there will be a final vote to in this whole thing. people could wake up this time tomorrow and it was all over. amy: so explain how this all goes down. even as we speak, we may hear what senator murkowski of alaska has decided to do, whether she wants to call witnesses. romney has said yes. collins, who is in a very close race in maine, has said she wants to have witnesses. then there was lamar alexander. i want to read some of what senator lamar alexander statement is. he wrote -- john "the western is not whether the president did about whether the u.s. senate or the american people should decide what to do about what he did. i believe the constitution provides the people should make a decision the presidential election that begins in iowa on monday." he actually said president trump was wrong but itit did not riseo the level of an impeachable

offense. we will see how that affects murkowski. i joe mansion who could split with the democratsts and vote wh republicans on this. then you areis and a longtime chief justice john roberts watcher. if they do tie, what does this mean? chief justice roberts would be the tiebreaker, but he doesn't have to be. >> as to the first point, i think the most interesting thing to me about senator alexander's move is there are two things that he did. one, he essentially said a week ago we were all saying this did not happen, it could not have happened, there was no quid pro quo. now we are all conceding it happen, but it is not bad. i think it is really important to see how the marker has shifted, that it seems a week ago, we were arguing the fact, maybe the fax did not happen, maybe it did not happen the way it is alleged.

with bolton's two allegations, i think everybody now stipulates it happened, it was really bad. and we have seen in this -- this is profound -- alan dershowitz saying, well, it is ok, presidents do it all the time as long as the president wanted to influence the election because he believed it was in the good of the country, that it is perfectly fine. republicans in the senate fell in line. i want to be super clear. what just happened is defining teachability down is is almost impossible now to meet the standard with they set the bar and that is really a change that happened in the blink of a night. your other point about lamar alexander, an amazing abdication of senatorial responsibility to say, we don't know what happened, but let the people decide. there is no point in having a senate or a trial if you don't step up right now. as to the question of john roberts, i think you and i have had this conversation a few

times in the last few weeks. john roberts has one preeminent predominate interest, and that is not getting involved. he does not want this sort of stink of politics to be on him. he has very masterfully gotten through these last couple of days i just sort of figuratively and literally rising about it. i think anyone who believes he is going to throw in and be the guy who decides a fundamental question in this impeachment trial just is not watching john roberts. if he decides and it has happened historically in 1860 it would chief justice chase did break some ties when he presided over andrew johnson's impeachment, i don't think john roberts is a chief justice in that model. i think he is going to very very much do everything he can not to be involved. if it comes to this question of do you cast the tie-breaking vote, i think you will say, i'm out, and leave it to the senate, in which case there is no

conviction. a tie would mean that president trump is acquitted. but wouldn't that be chief justice weighing in and very big way because he knows this? >> it is such a fundamental question. is neutrality neutral? of course it is not neutral. he would be throwing in his lot with republicans. but i think he would also be able to have a kind of plausible deniability, amy. he would be able to say, i did nothing. i did not insert myself. i let the procedure go as it needed to go. i think he would claim that he really only had ceremonial role. there has been a lot of good op-ed this week i law professor saying, look, the constitution says he shall preside. that means when the vice president presides over the senate, he has a real role in breaking ties. he has an absolute

non-ceremonial role. i think that is being urged on john roberts. but i think very, very much clear to me that what he cares about first thing in the morning and last thing at night is that the courts be about this, that the courts not be dragged into this. senator elizabeth warren tried to drag him into it with a question yesterday. you could just see him bristle. he does not want to be told that this is national in amy: let's go to this moment when chief justice john roberts read a question submitted by the presidential candidate democratic senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts. this is roberts followed by a response from democratic congress member adam schiff, the head of the intelligence committee, the chief house manager. >> the time when large majorities of americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over impeachment trial in which republican senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence

contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, the supreme court, and the constitution? >> i would not say it contributes to a loss of confidence in the chief justice. i think the chief justice has presided admirably. >> it does not reflect well on any of us if we are afraid of what the evidence hold. this will be the first trial in america where the defendant says at the beginning of the trial, if the prosecution case is so good, why don'n't they prove it without any witnesssses? that is not a model we can hold up as pride to the rest of the world. senator, i think it will feed in cynicismabout this -- about this institution. amy: dahlia lithwick, explain. >> there is a small part of me having just that being neutral is not neutral that my heart does go out to the chief justice. if you read his state of the judiciary speech that went down

right before new year's, it is clear he feels as though the courts are facing this existential crisis that the public does not believe their legitimate, that the public believes they are political, and that they are driven entirely by sort of craven political motives. that is killing him. it is why last you went donald trump went after "obama judges," for the first time the chief justice really called him out and said, no, no, we are not obama judges and bush judges, we are judges. i think there is this anxiety and you have to kind of conceit it is an exciting for him that is i have to bolster the reputation of the entire article three judiciary because donald trump is trying to drag it down. i think that is why adam schiff was saying, no, no, mr. chief justice, we have ultimate fate and you. i think the larger problem is come in a sense, john roberts does what you just heard ella mai alexander statement, --

lamar alexander statement, just i had no role to play here, i guess that people should decide. the process is a neutral process in which nobody apparently wants to hear witnesses. nobody apparently wantnts to stp forward and make a decision. that is a decision to put a thumb b on the go for mitch mcconnell whole sort of show trial here. can empathizeyou with the inside he feels about getting his hands dirty. recognize that history will probably remember, if it comes down to these three votes and john roberts is the tiebreaker, that he come in deciding not to decide, did not necessarily do the integrity of the judicial branch or of this "trial and the senate" any favors. amy: i want us to go to another moment supreme court chief justice john roberts declining to read a question submitted by republican senator rand paul of kentucky. the question included the name

of a person some speculate is the cia whistle-blower whose complaint catalyzed the impeachment inquiry. this is the moment. >> presiding officer declines to read the question as submitted. amy: on thursday, senator paul tweeted -- "my question today is about whether or not individuals who were holdovers from the obama national security council and democrat partisans conspired with schiff staffers to plot impeaching the president before there were formal house impeachment proceedings." dahlia lithwick, take it from there. >> i think this goes to an important criticism that a lot of at least democrats have hadd of the chief justice. he did absolutely the right thing. he refused to name the whistleblower and senator rand paul's letter. he declined to do something that -- we just do not out whistleblowers. in some context, it is a felony. rand paul got up and left the chamber, read the statement, named the whistleblower, went

ahead and did on television the thing that john roberts had declined to do sort of in real-time in the chamber. this is another of many examples where i think there was some sense that the john roberts who called out, if your member on the first out of the trial, called out both sides for inappropriate language, for being overtly destructive and really, in his view, unfortunately, partisan. he has just stood back and let senators amble around, leave the chamber. there have been moments where after they were not there, standing in the back talking, taking phone calls and the cloakroom, doing interviews in the hallways. and he has had nothing to constrain realally unseemly behavior that has happened throughout the trial. i think that has been a criticism of him. for him to say "i won't read the name of the whistleblower" within rand paul does it on realityon, not clear in it made a huge difference.

amy: dahlia lithwick, thank you for being with us. we willracynow.org, livestream all of the proceedings from gavel to gavel. they begin today at 1:00 p.m. eastern standard time. tune in at democracynow.org. when we come back, "disclosure." it examines more than a century of trans representation on screen. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: amy: "warrior heart" by shawnee.e. this is democracy now, democracynow.org the war and peace report, i'm amy goodman. we're broadcasting from the sundance film festival in park city, utah. in south dakota, the republican-controlled house passed a bill wednesday y that criminalizes gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth. the bill would sail through the house by twowo to one margin. it would make it a felony for doctors to provide anyone under the age of 16 with puberty blockers, hormones and other transition-related healthcare. medical professionals who provide this care could face up to 10 years in prison. parents and health professionals say the bill will take away life-saving treatments for transgender youth. this came the same week a south dakota lawmaker introduced two more anti-trans bills into the legislature, the latest of more than 25 anti-lgbtq bills introduceded around the country this year. as this assaulult on traransgenr lives takes place in south dakota and across the country,

we turn now to a groundbreaking film that just premiered here at the sundance film festival in park city, utah. it's called "disclosure: trans lives on screen." the documentary examines the depiction of transgender people in television and film over more than a century from the 1914 silent film "a florida enchantment" to the oscar-winning 1999 film "boys don't cry" to the new hit television series "pose." through in-depth interviews with transgender actors, activists and writers, the documentary reveals the way hollywood and the memedia both m manufacturerd reflt t widereadad mindnderstdings and prejudes against tranenender oplele. the lmlm alschamampis the trans people in filmndnd television tt t haveoughght d are ghghtingirelesslforr accurara and dignified representation oscscreen in this ipip frothe e benning of "disclosure," we first hehear the voicof legenry transgender trtress d acactist larne cox. >> i never thought would lee in world wrere tra p peopl wod be celebrated on or off

ee screen. >>hank youthank you so much for th m momen >> iever t tughthe media would stop askinhorrrrib quesons. w do youide your penis? d start treating us with respect. you kept it quiet because you sa y you d notot wt to b bome othered. >>ook how r we havcome. >> we have so much mee presesention i igovernment and media. >> we are everywhere. >> you never know what those positi i imageto f forther ople.. you nener know. >> for the first timtrtrans pepeop are taking center o thei own storytelling. at this point we are taining about unprecedented trends livery. ans peop are being murdered dispropoionately still. >> that is the paradox oouour reprprestationon is the more we

e seen, the more we are violated. >> more positivrepresention ere is, e moreonfidenc the community gains, which then pu u us inoree danger. >> i go in the women'ss stroroomthen i i committed a crime. if i go in theen'rerestro,, .n everybody knows >> i think a o of us in the communy have h those moments. is this going to somehow aliena people who are't adyy yet? trans issue that haveecome a onont ancentnter issue the c cture ws? >> think i's got opople's s fe have hope onow you one de and fear on the other. >> i think for a very ngng tim the ys i inhich t tns people have been reesented screen

have suggested tha we arnot real, ha suggeed we are meally ill, th we don't exist and yetere i am. here we are. we have alysys beeherere. is trans actress laverne cox with a clip from "disclosure: trans lives on screen." well, thisis week we spoke w wih the film's director sam feder and as t o of the docucumentar's subjects, actress jen richards and award-winning director yance ford. they were here in park city, utah, for the world premiere of "disclosure." i began by asking director sam feder why he decided to take on the subject years ago. >> first, thank you for having me here. i think maybe the one thing i would be more excited about than having a sundance from your is being onon this show. so thank you very much. i am thrilledd to be here. what made me decide to make this film? the014, laverne cox was on cover of "time" magazine and i remember seeing her in this beautiful blue dress and the

headline read "the transgender tipping point." there was all the celebration around that. when i looked off the page and real world, that was not the reality. something felt amiss with that. are three times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the population, four times more if you're a trans person of color. we are witnessing an epidemic of trans women being murdered. the suicide rates are surging. that is the reality i was witnessing and living in. i was trying to r reconcilele te two things happening at the same time. at the legacyok of those images to understand how we got there and to understand how to use the excitement around positive visibility to work on pushing back against the legislation that is trying to legislate us out of existencece. amy: why did you call the film

"disclosure"? >> i think one of -- one of the most ubiqiquitous tropes about s disclose, that the onus is on us to reveal something about us that is a secret that no one else knows, that we are using to deceive or even to get to something. and that we have something to disclose as if not everyone has information that doesn't need to be shared. beautifullyout a and the film. the idea of disclosure is prioritizing someone else's asked earrings over your own. that is such a rampant notion in most trans people's minds. in most conversations around trans lives is the idea of disclosure. and so that is why i wanted to call it that. amy: and how does it feel l to e premiering this at the sundance film festival w wre there a areo

many hollywood gatekeepers? if you can describe that and then also give us sortrt of a history in a nutshell of representation. >> it is thrilling for me. to be here with all of the hollywood gatekeepers. as a documentarian, you get to explore these issues with such opposed to theas actors who want to get work and want to speak their truth but also want to have a career. i am thrilled to be the one to push back and explain how violent these images are and the fact that they might be heard by the gatekeepers is incredibly exciting. amy: thehe goalpost of history in a nutshell. >> what was so amazing about

doing this research was finding clips from the 1890's. i think the first clip we show in the film is from 1901. it is one of the productions -- i think it is one of the first on-screen we see. i was taken aback by how this idea of transgressing gender has been a plot device since the beginning of celluloid and how it is so ingrained in the dna of film. you see that imagery of putting a man in a dress as a joke evolve from making fun of women to making fun of gay men to that a stand-in for t trans women. there's a film called "florida enchantment" from 1914 and there you start to see how gender transgression and racism have been so deeply embedded,

intertwined together and embedded in our fellow history. amy: and right around that time, "birth of ais nation." you go into the disclosure of the horrific racist film that wass premiered at the white houe under president wilson. dwwhat is remarkable is griffith ithisis eodimimen of the begininnings of to sort of massacring the reaty of what it means tbebe bla in america, what it ans s to be trans in amameric he tes t theost t vuerablele people a turns tm into devis foris narrave pleasure to reinfor theredatory blalack that, then to top of body in anrans

ject of ridiculto be laughed aty us all but ao to be scarded,hrownway. have gotten would to advance the story, a great editing moment in history of film, but i alsoso think the fat we don't talk about how problematic the images he createdd are helps to peperpetue ththe use images.s. -- these images. that is one of the reasons w why i'm so glad "disclosure" exist because it forces people to look. p people have long, consumed images without thinking about what they are saying. "disclosure" makes you think about what you're watching in a way in my expense of watching the film for the first time come helps to undo all of those

stereotypes and all of that damage, begins to turn back upon itself and turn into something that h has potenential healing. " "birth of a nation" became a major recruiting film for the ku klux klan. >> it still is. amy: i want to turn to another clip from "disclosure." this begins with juncker le >> aa a tran perso you hav the most sensitive radaro tell the differenen b beten you a laugng with this -- dylan clubs in the phoneook, wer listeds devoe. frank,snds for n.. you are laughing ats.s. i know. i'm dude. >> trans jokes, really? >> i'm jackie hooks most of us have a good sense ofumor.

we havtoto. why am i being arrested >> we will call it unclassifdd sdememear. we do not want to be butt kes. >> c you tallike a wanan? >> like this? >> can you do bett t than that? >> no. >>very tra person carries history with them. >> why don't you li w with and willll byour wif >> but trans people real n need, ththou, in t t sense of a broader hihistory t that representation that they c ki of fi themselves in it. amy: that clip from the new trans life documentary that t hs just premiered at the sundance film festival called

"disclosure." that was actress and writer jen richards, one of the starsrs of the netflix s series and primete meeting nominated web series, her story which richards also cocreated. jen i am a real fan of your work. continue what you are saying in this clip. >> there is a lack of historical context for trans people, which we actually see in the legislation as well. there is this notion that it i s a new phenomenon that trans people are sudden trend that need to be combated because we have this continual historical forgetting. we don't know our own past. we don't know that we have been around because we don't get to see those images. what sam's film does is situate us today in a historical legacy. i think a lot about one specific idea, just this notion of who gets to play trans people

on-screen. i have heard so many times from producers in hollywood that, well, we have to put this particular star, this man to play this trans woman in order to get the film eight and push the conversation forward. one of the moments we discuss in the film is this practice has been going on for over 40 years. this ahistorical reading. amy: let's talk about some of these films. and some of these films as sam brings us in "disclosure" were considered groundbreaking, esespecially around trans lie. you had "the crying game" of 1992. of open boys don't cry" 1999. talk about what you felt was so critical, why they were such a turning in, but also problematic. " is an crying game absolutely beautiful film. there was something incredibly

galvanizing and exciting about seeing that character on screen because it was someone i could identify with, but there is also -- amy: in a nutshell? >> are we allowed to spoil " crying gam n now aer 2 20 years? a character fall orort stts dati this show girl he sees. in the moment of her disrobing t they e nonot have sesex, he peni andt she has a is a man. she flees to the bathroom and aggressively vomits. this trope admin vomiting and response to the disclosure of a trans body has been repeated endlessl in "ace ventura" and "family guy" over and over again. imagesns people, those just get placed in our brains and our really hard to dislodge. i have dated men for many years. that image was always running

through my mind. every time i went to disclose to someone i was trans, that is the image of my head was a man responding. amy: vomiting. >> yes. at the reality of my body. that is the only response i had ever seen was on screen. that is what i am taught. that is what men are taught is an appropriate reaction. that is what the whole world is taught. that i am a legitimate object of disgust. there's also the fascination with the trans body, and that is the part i can at least identify in a somewhat positive way. there's a certain glamour and beauty on-screen as well. but it is always coupled with this violent reaction. amy: and "boys don't cry"? >> i hear this over and overer agagain from transmitting particular. there is an excitement and a thrillndnd a dp sesens of identificaonon with eing a trans character on screen who is opatating lly y an openly

his masculinity and join his maleness but then againit is andled with a violent rape a homicide, a murder. amy: that story is based on a real story, rayna and tina. >> and we carry those stories with us as we move through the world. we have this dual consciousness from these images. amy: if you could talk about who people on television and in film. >> one of the biggest issues i have had with the way hollywood has represented trans people is it is very common for hollywood trans and inen as doing so, they're always reinforcing this notion that at the end of the day, the trans person is really the gender they were assigned at birth rather than who they actually are in the world. for the most part, it is a narrative trope, a dramatic device because the disclosure

itself is considered so dramatic and there is this notion of deception that always runs through it. but then there is this additional layer we talked about in the film where when we lavish awards and attention and praise under the actors doing this for this incredible transformational act they do on screen, we are also continually seeing those actors in their assigned gender, seeing jared lehto, jeffrey tambor and, eddie ran main, hilary swank -- which reinforces in the minds of the public that a trans person is really that gender. amy: hilary swank for "boys don't cry, and eddie maine for the danish girl. talk about what the danish girl." >> i have complicated feelings. littled with eddie for a bit. he took the role seriously and i thought he found some beautiful moments. of film did open up the idea trans people to many people who

would not have otherwise known. whose many trans p people parents loved "the danish girl" and i think that is who the film was made for. when we see eddie being awarded for his performance in that role, we are still seeeeing a mn in this s tuxedo who is gegettig the award. amy: we will continue withur conversation in the new docuntntary isclclose" inn for seconds. ♪ [musibrbreak] amy: we continue our conversation on the groundbreaking film that just premiered "disclosure: trans lives on screen." we spoke with two of the documentary's subjects, actress jen richards, emmy-award-winning director yance ford, aclu lawywr chase strangioio, and the film's didirector sam feder. i asked sandra t talk about depictions on-screen beginning with "boys don't cry."

take it from there in the films you show, specifically transcending per trade in television portrayed in television and on the silver screen. >> we were talking about "boys n'n'cry"y" a what was problematic is it is a true storand we nd tonderstand the realtories, is just why is thathe store that ge told or and over? wh i is thfascination with seeings die? for eing us get ped and killedgain andgain? i am intested in at inteection f a n-trans audience likethat is ere we get our auence? we can only get it through pity and victimhood? that is where have a lot of difficulty with the film and also with the erasure of the black and who was also killed that night in the real story. philip devine. all of the films, there's a lot to talk about with a all of the films s and we try to be new one in our approach to everything.

amy: you point out that man is not in the film. it is because it wawas based on the true story of brandon tina, but an african-american man was also murdered that night. >> three people were m murdered that night and the film only addresses the two white people. i think that -- i don't have the proper word to say on air for that. amy: yance ford, do you have the proper word? [laughter] cry," butboys don't to realize that philip devine was erased from the film, that his death did not matter enough to the film makers to included is another act of

violence. it is erasing him as if he did not matter. but it is also telling evevery black trans person from every black gay person, every black ally that your death does not matter, that your presence in this person's life and your being an ally to that person did not matter. i think one of the things that directors have to do is be more conscious. we have to live in the moment of our creation and understand what we're doing when we make choices like that. you can'n't just wipe someone ot of history. he was there and he is not here now. just like brandon tina. the more people begin to understand the impact of their decisions creatively and the more people realize by watchingg "disclosure" that the accumulation of 100 years of these types of choices have onoa community can have on actual human beings, hopefully, for me, that will move people to be more smarter, more empathetic and more deliberate about their decision-making.

erasing him is an act of violence but it is also just lazy. amy: you say in this very touching moment in the film, an endless stream of deeply moving moments, if we can't see us, we can't be us. >> the wonderful thing about marion is she has such wisdom range of human experience. when she said that about children, i don't think s she would exclude transit children or gender nonconforming children or children who feel like they are non-binary. she meets all of us when she sees that. i think -- again, do have this be homicide victims or to be great victims or both in a violent way and then discarded -- rape victims or both in a violent way in the discarded, we don't need to see that anymore. amy: jen richards? >> i just realized as we were

talking, there's a parallel between "the danish girl" and "boys don't cry" both are written and directed by cis people for a cis audience and in both cases, the complexity is erased in favor of something that is more easy to package. in the case of "the danish girl," lily was this incredible daring progressive woman and it was clear her and her wife are always in a lesbian relationship because her wife went on to do erotic lesbian penny for the rest of their life. they livived as a lesbian couple for many years. it was only after six surgeries that lily did die because she was always pushing the boundary of medical science. and they were operating in this prewar, very artistic kind of queer culture at the time. all of that complexity is lost and instead we have the story of this man who has to become a woman and then his wife leaves him for this strapping austrian

guy. we erase all of the actual clearness of it and it reinforces this historical peopleing as if queer had no it's been around. amy: i want to turn to another clip from this remarkable documentary that has just premiered called "disclosure" were laverne cox discusses portrayals of trans people in the media. it begins with flip wilson playing that famous chacter geraldine onththe fl wililso shshow." > hit it, maestro. ♪ all of me why not take allhahat me can't you see i'm noooood withthouou democracy now! is looking r r feedck froropeople o apprpriate the closed captiong. e-mail yr r commts t to outrtrch@democracynow.org or mail thetoto democracnow!w! p.o.o.ox 693 new yorknew york 10013. >> what is interesting f me ouout gring up imobibile alalama, then having my firs intectioions of trains on televion, evenhen characts re not nessarily trains entified, i think tho

charters affected how thought of myselas a tra pers a and how the general public pbably thinks out ans peop. in one of those early ages for me was theharacter of geraldine fr "the flip wilso show." you ♪ can't stop wanting ♪ with myom watchtt anmy broth and my mothe love gerdine andould let that thacharacte so it is something atat exied in th realm of humor. but whever the was sething ans thisr sex chge that -- >> a sex cnge operation? a sechangeperation >> rht>>. >> i got to o si down. >> i would lean the very sort of discreetl these images tt t don't seem to

comport with like the psoson i knknew was. d so everything that was trans about me maybe just hate. amy: another clip from "disclosure" and that is l lavee cox who is the famouous actresss a trans woman who is also one of the executive producers of this documentary "disclosure." yance ford, as we go through this history, take it to today. the significance o of media representation and whether you think there is hope, where you sesee it changing and the most important ways and what you want to see. >> i am hopeful because there are so many trans young people makers,aspiring film directors, writers, actors who are not asking permission to enter into these professioions. they are not asking g for anyo's approval to pursue their dreams.

when i see these kids and they asked me about filmmaking or documentary filmmaking, they don't realize they are giving me the gift of hope because i knonw afafter my lifetime, these kids will be the ones to reverse this hundred year history the " disclosure" lays out so well and in such incredible manner for us all to watch. thee next 10100 years of cinemae going to be written by trans makers, trans actors and writers and directors. and that for me is an incredible feeling to know anotother generation of trans kids will not have to ingest the things i did when i was growing up and then live out the effects of that over the course of their lifetime. amy: sam feder, you're the director. you have a remarkable statistic in the film. something like 80% -- >> are proximally 80% of

americans said they don't think they've ever met a trans person. they probably have, they just don't know it. that means everything they know about trans people comes from film and television. amy: that is why it is so critical which takes us to chase strangio. chase, work on legislation all over this country. right now we're talking about what is happening in south dakota and in states around the country that are introducingng anti-trans legislation. when it does not pass the first time, they do it again. can you talk about come as you are featured in the film as well, the connection between media representations and the laws that are put into place were fought back against all over this country? >> absolutely. i think this film is such a critical intervention in every aspect of the ways that power is working to erase, diminish, and attack trans people. i travel around the country fighting back against legislation.

i litigate cases. we were just before the u.s. supreme court arguing against the trump administration's position that lgbtq people and trans people in paparticular should not be protected under federal law. there you could see, even knowing there were trans people in the courtroom, you had justices from justice gorsuch to justice sotomayor or, really not being able to imagine trans existence outside those very tropes we see on film and television. judge corsets said come along the lines, wouldn't be disruptive to include trans people in society? is that sense of disruption him superimposing the images that he likely has seen from film and television that this film really does confront as with and putting that over even the trans people like myself who were sitting there right before him. we have to do the work of teaching people what they have already been told and then allowing our trans bodies, voices, and trans selves to undo

all of that work that has been done against us all these years. "disclosure" is critical in the fight and legislatures in congress and before the court. chase, the film highlights andmedia's complicity involvement in sensationalizing and diminishing g trans people d their stories. there is an amazing clip with katie couric and oprah winfrey. can you talk about the role, how that translates stephen the work you do? >> there is this idea that the trans person is always something to be laughed at, something to be dissected and explored, something -- a person whose body is open to public debate, this idea that we could look at someone and ask about their genitals and then laugh at them is the very thing that authorizes lawmakers to think it

is in our best interest to constrain the ability for us to survive in our bodies. the media's mocking of us come the media's insistent democracy insistence -- it is really the natural progression into the legislation that we are seeing. i think we all have a responsibility to tell more accountable stories and contend with our bodies in ways that treat us with just basic human dignity. amy: i want to end with jen richards a and your work as a writer, as an actress, where you see the rays of hope are right now and the kind of work that you're doing and you are saying other people doing, the openings. would you consider it a victory of people did not even say trans actress? >> i love that we are focusing on that because that is an important pairing with the critique is to apply the things

that are done well. "tales of the city" is a contemporary example of a show that has trans directors, trans writers, trans actress. what we have seen is a complicated nuanced portrayal of trans lives. i think a lot about in email i got from a mom who had to tell trans me that she watched her trans daughter sit on the floor and watch my episode of "tales of the city" three times in row back to back. i think about what impact that will have on that child that they get to see that and that is the image and those are the kinds of stories that will carry her forward into her life. i am thrilled those kinds of things are beginning to happen more and more frequently, and it is because of conversations we been having behind-the-scenenes the last decade and will not be brought forward into the public through sam's film. amy: oscar-nominated director chaseford, lawyer strangio, and sam feder. . director i'm speaking today at

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