Ugly Ducklings: The Documentary and the National Campaign
Carolyn Gage’s play about homophobia at a girls’ summer
camp, Ugly Ducklings, is the subject of a remarkable documentary and national
campaign to prevent GBLT harassment and youth suicides.
This project, sponsored by Hardy Girls Healthy Women of Waterville,
Maine, addresses head-on the damaging impact on children when they grow up in
environments of silence, censure, and ignorance about issues of alternative
sexual orientation.
The trailer of this documentary can be viewed on Youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APRCUfHklFM
In the words of activist Kate
Bornstein, “It's emotionally charged, unrelenting, and smart, smart, smart.
The young multi-racial cast is excellent.”
Friends of Gage’s work can
order the documentary for just $19.95, (a discount of $155 dollars!) by ordering
online at
http://uglyducklings.org/store/index.php?cPath=3&osCsid=57a83e6b999e0a6a0104b3fa38fec46f
and entering the code “cgage”or by phoning Hardy Girls Healthy Women
at 207.861.8131
The Ugly Ducklings Community
Action Kit, which includes the documentary, contains:
* A Safe Schools Checklist
* An excellent list of definitions
* Ten easy-to-implement practical things educators can do
* Discussion questions for students, educators, and parents
* Advice on coming out
* An in-depth section on youth suicide: causes and ways to help those who
are considering suicide
* Youth and adult workshops, as well as workshops for actors
* A satisfyingly rich resource guide
* An interactive DVD with the complete documentary
This documentary absolutely
saves lives. Please consider
ordering it for educators and spiritual counselors, for kids you know, for GBLT
parents . . . and for yourself!
Many of us have waited all our lives for a resource like this, and it’s
healing to see a film that could have saved us so much pain.
The website for the Ugly
Ducklings Campaign is www.uglyducklings.org