University Honors

Within the ever-growing complexity of gender and sexual identification of the LGBTQ+ population, those who still question their gender and sexual identities often experience tendencies opposite of societal norms and/or their original birth gender. The purpose of this short film is to inform its intended audience of the complex narratives surrounding the questioning LGBTQ+ individuals in their pursuit to find their own identity and how higher education can aid in the developmental process of determining oneís gender and sexual identity. When creating this short film, the director will provide a short story that is based on the authorís perspectives and personal experiences on gender and sexual identity. The director will do this by introducing a character who is similar to them. With the simple, yet intriguing story of a young and gifted college student who is questioning their sexual and gender identity, this film will follow the basic pre-production planning, production filming, and post-production editing phases of filmmaking. This director also created their own script and filmed the movie. The result of this short film should allow viewers and researchers to survey and understand the complex issues surrounding gender and sexuality questioning and the struggles, insecurities, self-doubt, and isolation of questioning individual experiences while trying to find their place in a society that does not readily accept them. Finally, this short film will further analyze how the queer and questioning individualís involvement in higher education can support, foster, and breed acceptance and tolerance of the LGBTQ+ college student.