Jennifer Lopez, took to her social media and introduced her transgender family member, Brendon, to the world. Lopez shared a short video about Brendon’s tale of coming out and called them a ‘nibling.’ This video also speaks about how art played a vital role in helping Brendon survive all their difficult times.
‘Draw With Me’:
This hollywood’s superstar took to Instagram over a weekend and shared a clip from her nibling’s new short film. ‘Nibling’ is nothing but a gender-neutral term for a nephew or niece. This film Draw with Me speaks about Brendon’s experiences while coming to terms with his gender identity as a trans; and the usage of art as a medium of an outlet.
Image Courtesy: Cool Hunting
“Draw With Me is a short film about a transgender youth and their journey of coming out to their family and also engaging in their art to help them cope with the feelings they were having during this time,” Lopez explained in her social media post.
Niblings:
Nibling is a gender-neutral term which is used to refer to a child of one’s sibling; acts as a replacement “nephew” or “niece.” This word is assumed to have been coined in the beginning of 1950s. However, it was relatively dead for many decades before given life again in recent years.
The term’s coinage is famously credited to Samuel E. Martin. He is a professor of Far Eastern linguistics at Yale University and is better known for many things. And among them is developing a romanization system for transliterating Korean.
Lopez explains why the video is important:
Lopez shared a five-minute clipping of Draw with Me, which basically tells the tale of Brendon’s experiences through their own words. As well as their parents and others. Brendon is Lopez’s brother-in-law and sister’s child, Rob Scholl and Leslie Lopez.
“The film is important and timely in its story and message and can have a huge impact on those of us who watch and experience what Brendon and their family is going through in this time of acceptance and admission,” Lopez explained.
Brendon spoke about their experience:
The short film ‘Draw With Me’ features Brendon, who uses pronouns they/them. It also features their parents and aunt Lynda Lopez.
In the video snippet, Brendon says: “It was an eighth grade when I finally felt comfortable with saying that I’m trans.
“The darkest point was definitely when I wasn’t out to any of my teachers or my parents… I was worried about when I came out, that would be like the last straw, so to speak.”
Brendon decided to hide their gender identity from their family. They only came out to their mother Leslie much later, when she happened to come across a binder in their room.
Image Courtesy: Reddit
They recalled: “At that point I was just tired of lying to them, so I just told them the truth… I told them it’s a binder and makes your chest look flat.”
It took Brendon’s family a long, long time to process the information about Brendon’s gender identity. Leslie admitted: “My child’s told me, ‘When I look in the mirror I don’t feel comfortable in the body that I’m in.’ I mean, a lot of people can understand that.
“It does cause a strain, between the parents. It caused a strain between me and Brendon. We had some knock down drag-outs.”
Brendon also attempted to end their life:
Brendon told: “I spent a lot of nights crying, because I was so terrified of like what my life would be like… art gave me an outlet for the things that I couldn’t say out loud but things that I needed to get out of my system.”
The movie also revealed that Brendon attempted suicide when they were struggling to deal with their folk’s response to their gender identity.
Leslie explained: “When it finally hit me, like, oh my god my kid just trying to kill themself, it just hit me.
“When you finally get to the acceptance part, then you realise it’s not about you. You know, this is about my child.”
Their tale does end on a happy note at least, with the family now accepting Brendon; which also includes their most famous member.
Brendon said: “I’m just hit with how lucky I am in terms of family and friends, When Jen made a post using the right pronouns, it felt really nice to have a family member; in a very public way, show their support. It makes me appreciate things that other people will do for me. And for anyone else who’s struggling.”
