Original subtitles

You taping me now?

I'm sorry.

Say something! Anything!

What do you want me to say?

I'm out of words now.

I already said what I said.

Say it all again one more time!

Do you worry, what this doc...

How this documentary is gonna affect your life?

No.

You're not bothered about that?

No.

I don't have nothin' to hide.

There's nothin' that I have to hide.

Is that a new tattoo?

This one might be new, this one is new...

and this one, and this one.

I only had this one.

What's up with the hair?

Low.

No haircut but low.

Lemme see.

"aggressive"...

I used to get excited about that word,

I don't wanna be labeled.

So you're serious about it?

You're, totally anti being labeled "aggressive" anymore?

I don't wanna be a label.

I don't wanna be labeled,

I...

call me "Kisha," man.

Call me "Kisha."

♪ exciting house music slowly fades in ♪

I was raised in the street.

I'm like a motherfuckin' legend!

You see me.

Because I'm aggressive?

That doesn't matter!

Let me be feminine!

Salt and peppers and...

One Christmas, I bought myself a camera,

and I fell in love with photography instantly.

I taught myself how to shoot.

And I realized, that's it!

I wanna share what I see.

I want you to see the beauty in it as

Smile a little bit, because you got nice teeth!

I have so many queer friends,

so many trans-masculine and non-binary friends,

and I decided I wanted to make a new series of portraits.

That's beautiful.

I like that.

And I wanted to start with the BIPOC folks,

who are still underrepresented.

♪ Uplifting piano music ♪

I also wanted to meet the younger generation and see who

they are,

and how they were impacted by our first film.

When I first saw the documentary

'The Aggressives, ' I finally saw a representation of me.

I actually appreciated the rawness because it allows for

evolution.

Seeing that representation, for me,

opened up a door.

I don't wanna be boxed in.

My masculinity is mine to make.

For me, masculinity is not about being society's definition of a

man, but about being in harmony with my femininity.

The first time I saw 'The Aggressives, '

I was a freshman in an all-female Black college.

I instantly felt connected, because I always felt like I was

extremely different from everyone else,

and then seeing the film and saying,

You're not different."

That film is what helped me kick off my transition,

feel comfortable in changing the way I was presenting,

and carrying myself in confidence.

We have always been looking for people who reflect

us and look like us.

I'm very thankful.

I consider all the people in 'The Aggressives' to be my

"trans-cestors."

their existence was affirming.

Because they have existed and lived through their experiences

and have gone through their adversities,

I'm able to be more free in my body.

I feel like "AG" or "an aggressive" is kind of a

dated term.

The language has changed and some of the stuff that was in

'The Aggressives' originally might not correlate,

with how someone like me would identify.

The one who I identified the most with was probably Kisha.

I thought she was absolutely beautiful,

but still able to own her masculinity without having to

compromise who she is.

Even that's cool, what I'm saying?

Because you're

doin' you, you're being you.

Exactly.

This series is close to my heart.

I see myself in all of their faces.

I wanted to capture their strength,

and grace, as human beings,

and show you how to see past the labels and the tags.

Because they are me,

and I am them,

and we are you.

I'ma hit you up in,

a half an hour, and I'ma come link with y'all.

Like in the old movie!

I'm getting flashbacks, too!

It's like...

super strange.

What's up?!

Her eyes were like summer!

To you.

Don't wear it out.

There's a thing called "femme aggressive,"

and that's what I considered myself when I was younger.

And it's probably still what I would consider myself now.

Good.

But personally, I'm not into the labels

anymore.

After the first film, I kinda got stuck with the tag,

because that was the time and the film and...

we've all kind of outgrown those labels.

I came out a little bit cocky,

and I kinda was, because I was young and crazy,

and it's grown from being,

cocky to, confident and understanding life and

experiencing life.

I'm still the same person, I'm ...I don't have so much of a

six pack.

I feel like I had a six pack back then.

I might have like a two pack.

My weight kinda fluctuates because I'm older.

Through the years, you k I've had difficult times.

Everybody has difficult times,

good times, bad times.

Because there was parts of that film that I was very vulnerable,

because I was still so young when we finally released it and

showed it around the world.

And it made me emotional to see all the things that other people

in the film went through, what I mean?

And it made me feel"

we need to support each other more."

Everybody should be helping each other.

You don't have to be from someone's community,

you could be walking past.

If somebody's laying down on the floor with a cut,

look for a t-shirt, take the t-shirt off your back!

Since the film, I spread my wings.

Worked on a couple different independent films,

couple television shows, couple of Spike Lee films.

Art, acting...

sometimes, that's what you gotta do as a creative,

I'm hustlin' and bustlin'.

I have a 1964 Dream 305,

and then I have a TMAX with a Yoshimura pipe on there,

I have a Honda Reflex,

and I have a Can-Am Spyder.

That's my latest baby, because the trunk on a Can-Am Spyder,

you could put a newborn baby and a weekend bag

and we're outta here.

♪ Smooth funky music ♪

Approaching my 40-year mark, I feel like I've been reborn.

I feel as happy as I was when we did the first

documentary.

Sometimes I'm dating women and they act like they've never seen

the documentary, and then they're

"you're a player!" and I'm...

eventually, I find out that they saw the documentary,

and I'm " that was like 100 years ago,

And I was a child, and I was single,

and I was living my life."

I usually have a special woman in my life.

Almost all the time.

Because I'm a one-woman woman.

I'm not necessarily a player,

but I like to be free.

Since the first film,

I've grown.

I've learned to not have so much expectations in life and,

to work through things with patience and love.

And to, never take moments for granted.

In the first film, the thing that connected all the cast

members was that they were all assigned-female-at-birth

people of color with masculine presentation.

But the character I identified with the most was Trevon because

I feel like they embodied both masculine and feminine

characteristics.

The late '90s/early 2000s, there wasn't language to

describe what that was.

♪ Ethereal R&B music ♪

To be honest, when 'The Aggressives' came out,

I didn't think that it would...

become what it was.

I didn't think that people in my neighborhood and stuff like that

would see it,

I was embarrassed of my lifestyle.

It's 3 o'clock!

Run around and be me.

I was young.

I was headed down the wrong path.

It wasn't too many good things in my future if I kept doing the

same things that I was doing.

It makes you wanna change something.

One day, I sat in my house...

The one that you filmed me at last.

I told myself that there was some things that I needed

to work on.

I started writing down some goals...

GED, college, work, name change.

It took a while.

Three years later, I had my GED,

I was in a better living situation,

changed my name.

'The Aggressives' helped me evolve.

It pushed me.

When people started hitting me up and telling me that I changed

their lives, that... That was a big thing for

me, and that is why I still live my life in a unapologetic way.

These days, I don't consider myself to be an aggressive,

mainly because of... when I hear somebody say a "AG" or

"aggressive," of an aggressive female.

I consider myself to be male.

I'm not a cisgender male...

I wasn't assigned, that gender at birth...

But I'm a transgender male.

I've always been a trans man,

I didn't know the terminology,

so I stuck with the fact that I was an "aggressive"...

a "AG"... because that's what I was taught.

When I look at other trans guys and I see that they

have the full facial hair,

the full beard, or they have their top surgery,

or they're...

swole up, I tell myself,

"First of all, not every man is like that."

Overall, I'm probably more considered "non-binary."

But I'm not sure.

I still have an insecurity with my chest.

I don't want them there, I don't like them,

I want a flatter appearance, for sure,

but with the scars, I'm gonna be... I'm gonna feel

uncomfortable.

That makes me think, what's the point of going from

one uncomfortable state to another?

I call it like a spiritual warfare,

because I fight with myself probably almost every day,

with the bordering or the straddling of the fence.

Why change myself for people?

'The Aggressives' showed me a side of myself,

that I may not have been as aware of.

I did connect with Octavio...

How unapologetically queer they were.

"This is who I am.

If you have a problem with it, get out of my face."

When I watch 'The Aggressives, '

I see my growth.

I was what, 18 years old?

It do remind me of things that I don't wanna go back to.

It's like a lesson learned.

Things was difficult for me back then.

So this is... it's like a whole story with me where you young,

you in a group home, and you in the street and things like that,

your parents is on drugs, and you gotta fight for yourself.

21 years later.

I'm always gonna be aggressive.

I am the dude.

I am that man.

I am that motherfuckin' fly guy.

Do you feel like your identity has changed

since the last time we filmed you?

If I had a choice to change my gender,

I would.

How many friends that's men now?

A lot.

I'm, still stagnated in this.

The reason why I don't change my gender is because I have a son.

I'm probably the only one out of my friends that have a kid.

You understand?

And I didn't have a kid...

like I willingly wanted a kid.

I was 15 when it happened.

That's something that...

I don't even wanna, have a conversation about.

If it wasn't for my son, I would be trans.

I don't want him to have to deal with society judging him for who

his parent is.

My aunt adopted him when I was younger because I didn't have a

choice at that time.

It was difficult.

Being that she had adopted him, and she knew my lifestyle,

she said, "Don't come by here.

If you come by here, I'ma call the cops."

I already had a criminal record.

If I go by there, it's like I'm harassing them.

When she passed away is when our relationship got closer.

He thought that, I didn't want nothing to do with him,

so I had to explain all of that stuff to him.

I wanna live different.

You think I wanna die in the hood,

go to jail in the hood, with my rest of a life?

Hell no, man!

I want a fuckin' house with a motherfuckin' boat and go out

there and mind my motherfuckin' business;

that's how I wanna live.

Last year, I cut my hair off,

and...

a lot of people have been calling me "sir,"

and I kinda like the confusion that...

I cause people.

The way the people in the first film,

'The Aggressives, ' said it was:

"I am me; this is who I am."

I'm excited to see what happened with Chin.

♪ Ominous ethereal music ♪

Hello, this is a prepaid collect call

from...

Chin.

An Inmate at the Irwin County Jail.

Hello?

My God, Chin...

What's up?

How are you?

How are you mentally doing?

But...

Boy...

This call will be terminated in one minute.

I was born in the Bronx,

I was raised in Brooklyn, and what I say is that I grew up in

Harlem.

Let's get a Spanish coffee.

♪ Upbeat bachata playing ♪

I've been in Harlem since my late teens.

This is where I had my first apartment,

and this is where I've been ever since.

Harlem got flavor, almost like Hollywood.

There's a certain swag.

You like my tattoo of Jesus?

Thank you.

Nice!

Thank you.

I got back in touch with my father after being

with my mother for many, many years.

He was Christian, and he tried to give me a speech

about my sexuality.

"the Bible says this, and the Bible says that."

That's not the way I read the Bible,

and that's not the way I grew up spiritually.

It was believing in God,

believing a higher power,

helping others...

It was instilled in me from my mom.

As a little girl, Kisha was always on the go,

always wanted to experience things.

She loved the outdoors.

Very curious.

She was very strong-minded.

She was more boyish.

As a mom, you're always putting cute dresses on little girls,

and it got to the point where Kisha didn't wanna wear dresses

anymore.

So I said, "Okay, so we'll go for the pants."

A lot of my family was involved in the church.

I didn't see any kind of...

same-sex love.

So for me, it was trying to understand me

and what I was feeling.

She started getting very angry and

rebellious, and...

I got a call from her school that she was up on the roof...

threatening to commit suicide...

and that they had called the cops,

and they were gonna take her to the hospital.

The social worker said to Kisha, "Tell Mom what's the problem."

And she said, "I'm gay."

I said, "Okay.

You are who you are.

You're my daughter."

Finding out, it opened up my heart.

She started not being so angry all the time.

We started getting closer.

I loved her for who she was, and I still do.

She's come a long way, and she's accomplished a lot of things

that she wanted to accomplish...

her way.

♪ Tender ethereal music ♪

Which I'm also very proud of.

It's quiet, there's no New York City traffic,

there's no horn honking.

It's peaceful.

I like to be out here in Joshua Tree,

about 45 minutes away from home.

We moved to Palm Springs because of how open it is to the LGBT

community.

We're doing food delivery and

stuff, still trying to figure it out.

I met Jade in 2013, downtown in the city at a club

called Esquilita's.

Jade had one of her, buddies approach me

and ask me if I liked girls.

Because of the film.

I got to know him through the film.

He was into transgender females, so I didn't know if he was still

into cisgenders.

Because I'm not trans,

that's why I had my friend approach him.

I always get asked am I trans,

and I don't take no offense to it,

because trans women are beautiful.

♪ Tender synth music ♪

- So our first date was... - Was it the steakhouse?

No... our first dinner date.

Or was it church?

It was church.

- That's what I was... - It was church.

I fell in love.

We've kind of been together ever since.

Trevon is the first trans guy I ever dated,

so it was something new to me.

He's very charming and sexy.

Before that, I was dating aggressive females.

I did identify as being a lesbian,

and he says he's non-binary

our relationship is our relationship.

I don't put "lesbian" or "straight" on there.

It's us,

When I first came out,

like most trans guys, I identified as an...

as an aggressive female in the lesbian community,

especially because, "trans" wasn't a thing.

I don't even know if I wanna consider myself "non-binary."

I don't want these stereotypes.

Let me be who I wanna be.

Let me be the individual I wanna be.

If I don't wanna play basketball,

I don't wanna play basketball.

If I don't wanna...

sit on the wall during the club and I wanna...

do a one-two switch, let me do my one-two switch!

You k what's the problem?

Even Jade still expects different things from me

sometimes, because she looks at me as a man,

and that that's not fair.

It's a touchy topic for her sometimes.

Jade and I moved out here because I had messed up

in our relationship.

I cheated,

and...

we needed a fresh start.

I couldn't see myself without being with him.

I'm about to get emotional.

I realized how much I loved him.

We ain't dealt with a lot of stuff.

We kinda left it back in New York.

Once we get stable, we wanna have kids.

We're looking into freezing his eggs.

I'm 36.

And I'm 32, so I can carry his child,

so we wanna do one and one.

It's a lot with that, with money and stuff.

And then getting married.

In like two year...

- In two... in two years? - I hope

I hope so.

Some bug spray.

I was about to say, please,

they trying... the bees trying to eat me and everything over here.

I would never have thought,

the last time I interviewed you back in the day,

that I would be interviewing you by a pond.

Daniel...

When I get home from work, I sit here.

I enjoy this because it's peaceful.

When you're younger, you do foolish things, and...

the foolish things left me to being incarcerated,

and at some type of point in my life,

I've had to think,

"Okay, do I wanna keep going back to prison?

No.

I wanna actually enjoy my life, be free,

don't have to look over my back, worrying about the police or

people after me because of the foolish things I was doing."

That's what made me wanna go back to school and continue

education and to do better for myself.

I went to Hudson Valley Community College for my degree

in electrical construction and maintenance.

I'm a mechanic maintenance worker.

Back then, I wanted to be around a whole bunch of noise.

Where I'm like of middle age and I wanna relax.

That's why I decided to move up here.

♪ Cool jazzy hip-hop ♪

♪ Lights ♪

♪ Camera, action... ♪

I stopped taking my hormone therapy when I moved out here,

because they didn't have no service out here.

This year is the year that they actually started that service.

I take my injections once a week.

I'm changing, Daniel!

I'm getting little hairs.

I'm starting to slim down, I've noticed.

My face and stuff is starting to get a little bit masculine.

I believe the reason why I didn't come out on the first

documentary as me being a trans man is because of my family;

I was so young when you was interviewing me and I was living

with family, so I didn't wanna have that problem where I would

have to be homeless...

because of who I am.

There's never a time where... Ever!

That I ever felt like a woman.

I never wanted to have breasts, never.

I'm hunched, and my spine is starting to shift

because they're so heavy.

I heard about top surgery, but I didn't have the funds to...

actually do that.

I have to pay for that out of pocket.

My whole life I had to deal with this,

I want to get rid of them.

Then I can actually be who I wanna be and who I need to be

for myself, who I should be.

♪ Tense hopeful music ♪

I agreed to take Chin's case because,

when I watched 'The Aggressives, '

I was able to connect to Chin on more of a human level,

and I realized that Chin's experiences as a trans man were

of historical significance to the LGBT community.

I was moved to try to see a little bit of hope in

his case, where other attorneys may have seen it as

a done deal.

He came here when he was nine years old

with the rest of his family.

They entered as legal permanent residents.

When he was young, he was living as a lesbian.

He was living with his grandmother and had a girl over.

His grandma flipped out, put his stuff in trash bags,

and put him and his belongings out on the curb.

Then, he ends up joining thousands of other LGBT youth

who were living homeless in New York City.

Around this same time, he loses his ID and green card.

Immigration confuses his with somebody else's,

and he's not able to get it reissued.

So he resorts to, some kind of survival:

crime.

There are various points where he's incarcerated in one state

or another.

That's why, in 2016, you know he's kind of...

he got his life turned around.

He has this employee that says,

"I got this friend that works at the DMV,

and she can get you an ID."

So he ends up forging his own social security card,

and she issues him the ID,

And so for...

about two months, actually, he's...

doing great.

For the first time in,

20 years, he legally exists,

he's on the books, he's paying taxes,

he's happy.

And then, early 2017,

the Sheriff and ICE come knocking at the door.

♪ Tense ethereal music ♪

They've been holding him since.

He's been in solitary for over a year now.

This is simply because he's transgender,

period.

They're doing this to try to force him to give up his case

and to self-deport.

There's no way that that is constitutional.

Art has been my life from the beginning of time.

This is actually the first time in my life where I fell in love

with a process that I feel like I can never fall

out of love with.

I always loved textures and working with my hands.

The black takes nice into the wood.

Sometimes I add paint,

sometimes I wood-burn, sometimes I carve things into the images.

There's spray paint on some of these.

It seems like it's simple; it's not.

It's super tedious, it's super sensitive,

super...

complicated.

But I've learned to... to love it.

♪ Cool R&B music ♪

I call this series "A Gentleman Never Tells."

It's a series of ex-lovers that I've had intimate moments with.

The thing between two people learning each other

is beautiful.

I'm the gentleman that never tells,

and that's why they're images that you don't see straight-up.

My art allows me to savor these moments.

It allows me to also move on a little easier if... if it's not

the greatest break-up.

I used to get hurt a lot.

I used to fall in love a lot.

Because I love beautiful women!

And that's how I ended up making this art!

I would love to be in a relationship and settle down.

Actually, I would prefer be in a foreign country somewhere in

love with a complete stranger, but I wouldn't mind being

committed, and I wouldn't mind falling in love,

and I wouldn't mind it being temporary either,

because the temporary moments,

is what gives life to this work.

Art has always been my first love... my mother will tell you

since a child.

I feel like my art is for everyone.

I socialize with all types of people.

I travel with an open heart.

I could learn something from everyone.

By sharing your story, that's how you bring people together.

I like to go to where the party is,

and I like to come home in quiet and peace.

I've grown to appreciate my solo time more;

I do.

I wanna create art, love, be loved,

take care of my animals, take care of my family,

share my life with the world.

The hell?!

When my mom died, my aunt was my second mother.

She did take me in.

She changed my life a lot.

My name is Greta Allen.

I'm a 76-year-old young lady.

How you like that one?

You're my aunt!

My... I'm Tr... Trevon's mother's sister.

She was the greatest.

This is my mom.

My mom passed away when I was 13.

She was going with this guy,

and he had the virus,

and she didn't know it.

AIDS, that's how she passed.

I wanted it to be in a spot where everybody could see

my mom.

When his mother passed,

I was right there for him.

We used to do a lot of things together:

play together, play basketball together,

you k different things.

But we was always together.

When Trevon was young,

She always told me, she says, "I wanna be like you one day."

I never knew what she was talking about.

What he was talking about.

I loved it, because we could relate!

Me and my wife, we've been together for 21 years.

Never broke up, I never cheated on her,

and I love her to death.

Love is a very important thing

And I'm proud of who I am, even though I'm gay as hell.

I don't care what people think.

You think I care what people think?!

Hell fuck... Excuse me.

Hell no, I don't.

Now you know where it comes from.

♪ Pensive hip-hop instrumental ♪

Uncle Purcell.- ..

- That's... - That's Grandpa on the end.

I k and that's you.

And who's this?

Because you my great-grandmother.

- Take it up! - Yes, Grandma.

That's Daddy's, father.

Grandpa!

That's my great-great-great-grandfather.

And these all my grandchildren.

I'm my mother's only child

Once... once I go, that's it!

There's no legacy

I feel like I need children.

This is my grandma,

That's my dad.

And this is my pops.

I don't know if I got too much to say about him.

My grandma sent it to me when he passed away.

To me, legacy means bloodline.

During your transition, especially if you want more

masculine features,

you wanna take hormones, of course.

I was taking hormones for a short period of time,

we decided to have children.

It had to be soon.

When going to my GYN one day, she told me that she found,

a stage of cervical cancer,

and that I should get a hysterectomy.

I've been a little taken back by that,

only because my main purpose in life, I felt

was to have a family.

I told myself that I'm not gonna take any hormones until

we can get the money up and I at least freeze my eggs.

Taking the hormones, no kids.

I pray on it for healing.

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

- Free! - Chin!

My brother is Chin.

He's been locked up for the last 15 months,

and it's inhumane.

It's not right.

We have to free Chin, because we sure miss him a lot.

Because Chin is trans,

ICE doesn't know what to do with him!

So they have placed him in solitary confinement!

It's a form of torture under human rights conventions!

We must free Chin now!

Free Chin now!

Free Chin now!

This is so hard.

Chin met the wrong people.

It's sad.

All he did was credit card thief.

It's not like a... a crime that he's killing somebody!

He did his time!

He did his time!

He doesn't need to be locked up,

and then for have Immigration to put you in isolation?

It's like putting my child in a closet!

No ice for Chin?!

No peace for ICE!

We shut this down!

- Who shut this down?! - We shut this down!

- Who shut this down?! - We shut this down!

- Who shut this down?! - We shut this down!

- Who shut this down?! - We shut this down!

My name's Tyquan Sanders.

I'm Octavia's son.

I kinda started to get to know Octavia.

What made me do the top surgery now versus then

is because of my son.

I didn't know how he was gonna feel about that.

I was wondering if...

she was gonna actually transition...

or not.

She mentioned it to me one day.

"This month, I'm actually gonna be doing surgery

to get rid of this."

Kind of did, hand signs or whatever.

And...

I was "Okay, that's nice!"

I'm happy for my mom.

He's very supportive of me.

♪ Hopeful ethereal music ♪

I can't wait to be sleeping,

and then wake up and...

don't have to feel this on my damn... damn near my damn stomach

anymore.

I've always been top-heavy,

and always had, a complex behind that,

because I don't feel like a woman.

My best friend is my fiancée;

everything we do, we do together.

The thing is with her is she's into feminine women.

How we got together, Daniel,

I don't k because... you see... there's nothing feminine

about me.

If you truly love a person, I don't think that that will stop

your relationship.

We're gonna start giving you some relaxation medication,

so why don't you say bye.

Love you!

♪ Tender ethereal music ♪

how many years we know each other?

How long, Daniel?

Say it right please?

Daniel...

a little.

Soundbites.

What do you want me to talk about now?

What should we talk about?

I've been incarcerated for three years now.

In that solitary confinement, I wanted to kill myself,

because I was gonna...

I didn't know what to do.

When they put this in facility out here in Texas,

they treat me better.

I want people to know the life that I went through as a...

immigrant.

I have three strikes, okay?

One, Asian;

two, I'm a transgender male;

and three, I have a criminal background.

In 'The Aggressives, ' I never spoke about my personal

life.

Me and my sister, we raised our own selves.

We grew up not a typical Asian family.

Our parents separated when we was young.

We was all at home, and my mom said,

I'm gonna run out real quick;

I'm gonna go get something," and she never came back.

Our dad was left to raise three kids on his own with his

mother's help.

My grandmother, she used to say bad things to me,

you could say, and kinda made my self-esteem low,

made me feel ugly, and...

I didn't look...

like the granddaughter she want...

feminine, pretty, playing piano, stuff like that.

I was different.

Chin turned to the street because he felt unloved.

He didn't have the support system that he wanted,

where to be loved, to be accepted for what he is.

Him being on the street was hard.

No one can ever say what you would do when you don't have a

place to lay your head,

don't have clothes, don't have food.

And Chin got caught up in the wrong crowd of people.

That could be any of us.

Chin served his time.

What happened to second chances?

What happened to, how the ice system is supposed

to actually work?

Chin ended up in this situation...

Stuck in immigration detention...

Because, initially, of a mistake made by the US government.

Unfortunately, he ended up in a situation where he was coerced

to engage in some illegal activity.

That's called "human trafficking."

Trafficking victims are not supposed to be held in

detention;

it's in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act!

They know his convictions are tied to trafficking.

The reason he was vulnerable in the first place was because of

Immigration's own mistake!

I want to win my case and stay...

in America.

I have to take care of my father,

no matter what.

I'm his first child.

I get asked a lot why Chin is being targeted to be

held in detention like this.

"Is it because he's transgender?

Is it because he's Asian?"

I actually do think it's because he's transgender.

What happens now is we continue to fight.

There's one thing my attorney said to me;

she said...

she's gonna fight for me until...

her hands... I mean her hands against the wall.

That's...

that's real.

I never liked New York.

New York's never been my thing.

Most people, that are born here

fight to get out,

and most people that aren't from here fight to get in.

Eight long years.

Never thought I would be with somebody this long.

We decided to come back because

it was too far from the family,

and then Jade has to get surgery.

I do too, but overall, Jade's surgery is set first.

I have to remove my butt implants and my silicone

injections.

My doctor said it's gonna start becoming a health issue for me.

I was in the dancing industry, and,

looking at the other girls and the money they was making,

and, me being small... and I was only 18.

If I could change something, I would have never got it.

Since I've been back,

I haven't been to the doctor.

When I tried to call a clinic to,

start talking about the hysterectomy process,

it was bad.

The phone call went like this:

"Are you calling the right clinic, sir?"

"Yes, I'm calling the right clinic."

"You calling to make an appointment for your wife, sir?"

"No.

I'm calling to make an appointment for myself."

So then I explain:

"I'm trans,

my doctor thinks it's best that I get a hysterectomy."

"Okay, miss."

"No, I told you that I'm trans."

I never went with them.

I don't know what's going on with me.

Once settled in the apartment,

I plan on taking all the necessary steps.

As a trans guy, it's hard.

Come up!

Come here!

You filming right now?!

I feel like somebody done, pulled the carpet from under my

feet, like...

because it happened so sudden.

I feel lost and confused.

♪ Melancholy music ♪

I'm preparing for my mom's memorial,

and I'm getting...

all my mom's images together so we could do a slideshow.

She had been fighting bladder cancer.

She had a stroke.

And, we rushed her to the hospital,

This is her when she was pregnant with me in the '70s.

And this is her famous fur coat.

And this is all of us together...

My and all my siblings with my mom.

She was so sassy when she was young!

We look alike.

These are her memories.

The fact that it was sudden,

it wasn't...

it wasn't expected.

I...

I put myself on timeout for a bit.

You think that there's more time and...

you never know?

And...

that's the thing with that, with life,

it's like...

you don't know.

Sometimes I feel sad, but sometimes I feel extremely,

powerful.

Because I feel like she's with me

And I know that she's proud.

It's beautiful.

I'm carrying the torch of my family now.

It wasn't 'til I became adult that I realized she took

the time to get to know me.

She's dragging me to the park.

That made me become more and more

appreciative of her.

And it showed me that she accepted me for who I was.

That made our bond stronger.

Come here!

This feeling I'm feeling right

it's temporary.

That, I know.

It takes time to get to a place of healing.

I am so excited to be here.

It's a culmination of a lot of work for a lot of people.

There have been a lot of people who got us here today,

and I can't wait to see Chin.

Hi!

You look great!

Hey, Daniel!

Gimme a hug!

Can you believe I'm standing here talking to you?!

And Lynly!

- My God! - And Mr. Bailey!

- Yes! - We won!

All my legal documents and stuff.

For two years!

How do you feel?

Excited...

ready for my new journey.

♪ Uplifting emotional music ♪

I got the call, and I was

"What?!"

Lynly was not giving up.

No, not.

Okay, Chin, what's the first thing you're gonna do?

Eat some good food.

Take a bath.

- Thank you. - Welcome home.

Thank you, thank you.

Daniel, you okay?

- Thank you, Daniel! - I love you!

I love you too! I'll call you tomorrow!

Enjoy your night!

It's a year and change later.

Words can't even sum up how I feel;

that's how excited I am about myself right now.

Most of the time, it didn't hurt.

I wasn't in, pain or anything like that.

It was itchy.

Seriously, if anybody wants to do something like that,

that's the best investment you can do for

yourself.

I'm not with that woman anymore;

we was..., we was together, we're not together.

Did the surgery have anything to do with the

break-up?

No, that didn't have nothin' to do with the break-up.

But right I don't think I want no committed relationship,

no.

Sometimes, when you get out of a long relationship,

seriously, you need to have time to...

heal yourself, you get what I'm saying?

Regardless of what changes I go through in life,

for me, I'm still... I was still born a woman,

you get what I'm saying?

So I can relate to them a little bit more than,

the average guy.

♪ Uplifting ambient music ♪

I'm still the same person; that doesn't change you,

you get what I'm saying?

You change your appearance,

It's doesn't change you, your inner soul,

like your inner self.

I'm still the same person.

I'm a relationship person;

that's what I do.

My end goal is a family, marriage, kids.

Jade is not gonna have one,

going through reconstruction

and having to get everything fixed up.

I put your tea bag in at...

I guess 8:20, so 8:35, you gotta come up.

I'ma run to the store.

I'm going to grab these eggs.

Okay.

Can you make the sausage patties?

Because I'm assuming you're gonna get up when we leave.

We're back in Palms because Jade had her surgery on her

butt, she got it removed, so overall,

she doesn't wanna be in New York

with her appearance, I guess, being like that.

But for me, I prefer it here.

Hopefully, we can be bi-costal and be snowbirds,

and, go back and forth.

I've been coming back and forth to Palms...

kinda since I met Jade.

We made a trip out here about seven years ago

and we loved it.

We thought it wasn't affordable because of how beautiful it was,

shockingly, it was affordable.

That was it, babe,

Don't film my butt, please.

My butt is flat and I'm very self-conscious about it.

Going on, social media, when you see certain girls

looking a certain way, you start feeling self-conscious.

You start finding little things wrong with you.

I do think that I have body dysmorphia.

I never liked my nose.

Last year, I went and did my whole face;

I went to Istanbul, Turkey.

I did cat eyes, I did a cheek lift,

a lip lift, a rhinoplasty, and I did fat fillers to my chin.

And I also did a hair transplant,

to my eyebrows.

I looked so different, he made me feel

a little like he didn't like it.

He was "Where's my Pippi"... he calls me "Pippi,"

so he's "Where's my Pippi face?"

I discouraged Jade to get surgery.

That she's perfect the way she is.

I don't think Jade needs surgery.

It's not about him, it's about how I feel about myself.

How many sausage you want?

Four!

My baby puts it down!

Being with Jade taught me to appreciate...

my body in a different way.

When I look in the mirror, I'm okay with what I see.

They're, so small.

I shoulda made more of these.

I went to the doctor and,

thank God, I was able to find out that I don't have

cervic cancer, I had some abnormal cells.

One more!

For a lot of trans men,

it can be triggering to go to things like the OB-GYN because

you have to deal with your feminine parts.

It's uncomfortable to go to a woman's clinic as a man

and need services.

To be honest, I avoid healthcare because it triggers an emotion

for me,

so that's why I don't do it.

It's hard.

It's hard to go through,

what I'm going through right now.

I don't have a stable home.

I'm living with my sister and my brother-in-law.

I still don't have a job because I still have to wait for

Immigration to...

give me my green card back.

The trauma that I went through in my past, and...

being in the Immigration, and how I was being treated...

because of me being trans,

it breaks you.

I had to be strong and have faith in God.

♪ Tense hopeful music ♪

In the beginning, my PTSD was, bad.

I'd wake up thinking I'm still in the detention center.

I don't k it kinda messed me up.

Right I'm focusing on...

being there for my father, making sure my father is okay.

I'm living day by day.

What do you see your future like?

What's your dream?

I don't have any dream right now.

I'm gonna be honest with you; I don't.

Immigration had took my dream away from me.

I'm living day by day,

and whatever comes, comes.

This reminds me of something years ago.

This park situation and bench,

and this damn cigarette.

I was sitting like this in that damn

video, man!

I'm sitting there smoking a damn cigarette,

thinking.

I did mature a lot.

I'm nowhere near, the same person.

I don't wanna be categorized.

I wanna be called my name.

I have a name for a reason!

That's it!

I feel like him identifying as a male

kind of contributed to a lot of the trauma.

He's already been through, the worst.

There was a point in time where,

I kinda didn't wanna speak to him or whatever,

but I've made peace with it.

If it was in his ability to be there,

he would've been there.

There's, this weird stigma with...

Black men in general that, like...

you do a certain thing, you look a certain way,

you wear a certain thing.

So when they see me and I'm, not that,

I guess they think, like...

"I guess he's gay" or something,

and I'm

me."

♪ soft uplifting music ♪

Being authentically yourself,

despite what everybody else is saying is,

inspiring to me.

I'm proud of my mom.

My old ass can barely climb up the edge,

and I gotta help you out!

He is happy.

He always tries to remind me that,

I'm his son,

nothing's gonna change that,

and how, if anything happens to me,

he's gonna be there for me.

If you can have any kind of tag associated to you,

first and foremost, he's a mom.

My son is my everything.

Let me know what you wanna eat for lunch.

- See you later. - You always shocking somebody.

- See you later. - Love you.

I love you too.

When I watched the first film,

it showed...

how Trevon grown from that.

He was young at the time.

I didn't know him back then.

It's a total difference.

We workin' overtime and double time for

Jade's reconstruction surgery.

No sleep, no rest, straight overtime.

I've come to this point where I'm not comfortable with

not having kids, but I've accepted it,

Before I was doing DoorDash,

I used to work for an adult group home.

When I was a kid, my mom was ill.

My mom passed away from HIV-related symptoms,

so by the time I was like 12, my mother was sick,

to the point where I did everything,

I'm kinda used to taking care of people.

I make sure my people is.

I love working DoorDash because it gives me flexibility to do

what I want.

I don't like authority, so I like being my own boss.

You're welcome, have a good day.

You too.

This is the best part of the day:

buying weed.

It's crazy how, in the first film,

Octavio went to jail for weed.

- Thank you. - He lost his kid.

He went through a lot, essentially for something that

is now legal.

If we go back there, there's people that,

live, like right...

they could reach out their window and grab 'em.

I wish that was me.

I wanna climb a mountain.

♪ Uplifting ambient music ♪

I live a surfer, nomad lifestyle,

and it takes balls to live the way I live.

I don't live my life as what society would...

deem your ideal man or your ideal successful person.

A lot of people...

tend to live in the boundaries and the restrictions and the

constraints, and I guess I'm living for 'em,

because I'm being me, living my life,

doing me, and riding the wave of...

of faith.

That's probably why my life gives off this light.

I can't vogue out here.

Come on, Daniel, I gotta go to work!

I didn't have no...

nobody to guide me to...

to transition.

When I had gotten my top surgery done,

it was not about my appearance.

I was uncomfortable, because once you take off your clothes,

you see...

what you and I was very uncomfortable,

and I've always been uncomfortable.

This is, where I sit when I take my break.

It's hot in there,

Lemme take off my apron.

I enjoy working in this restaurant.

They treat me good and...

I guess you could say "a normal life" now.

I've been taking care of my dad.

I've been saving up my money.

Got myself a nice apartment in Flushing, Queens,

and me and my father is living together,

and we're doing good.

When I first came home,

I Googled myself.

I was stunned.

I couldn't believe how much people supported me.

I'm very grateful.

It's a very emotional issue to me because...

I mean, America is all I know.

I am Chin...

and I live my life as a man, and that's it.

I don't need a label to define who I am.

Next month, I'm gonna be 50 years old.

This the best...

best days of my life.

I'm at peace.

♪ Soft uplifting music ♪

It's a new day.

It's a new season in my life right now.

I'm getting back to my work.

Back to my passions.

Taking pictures.

Making art.

I've been doing a lot of painting... abstract form.

Coming out and being a creative person and an artist,

that's pff, shit, you're not coming out,

you're trying to discover yourself!

An identity is something that you create

yourself... something like art.

It's a process, and it's always changing.

It's an alignment of self and soul.

I rap, I make...

punk music.

It's expressing my...

intense ways.

It's what we artists do.

We feel deeply, we reflect...

take the pain and the pleasure,

and we try to make sense of it all through our art.

Come out... come out again soon.

A lot of my gifts came from my mom.

Count of three!

One!

Two!

Three!

I am beautiful, I am talented.

I'm joyful.

I'm always evolving.

I define myself.

And I choose to be free.

♪ Uptempo house music ♪

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop... ♪

Most of the lives of my trans-cestors are kind of

invisible, so a documentary like 'The Aggressives' brings

something important to light, and...

I'm very grateful for that.

♪ Move left ♪ ♪ Move forward ♪

♪ Move right ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Right now ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ That's how we do it ♪

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Keep going... ♪

Some might refer to me as "an aggressive" or an "AG."

I don't mind.

I still think it's very relevant.

So we will be screening 'The Aggressives, '

which we are excited to be sharing with you right now.

"Aggressive"...

is...

your strength, your courage...

your whole aura.

I love the evolution of the language we now have.

I feel it's very liberating for a lot of people.

We're moving towards language that's a little bit

more inclusive because we are understanding this variety of

gender identities.

People have evolved

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going... ♪

We all have masculine and feminine energy within us.

If a person's presenting themselves the way they are,

accept it.

There's still room to kinda,

challenge perceptions and ideas around... around gender,

and, honestly, not to be reduced to your parts.

As humans, we're all different, but there are certain layers

that are the same.

If we do another one of these in 10,

20 years, it'll be completely different.

As the world changes, the way people identify will

change, the way people exist in that world will change.

It's part of, human progression.

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Move left ♪ ♪ Move forward ♪

♪ Move right ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Right now ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ That's how we do it ♪

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Move left ♪ ♪ Move forward ♪

♪ Move right ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Right now ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ That's how we do it ♪

♪ Left ♪ ♪ Go right ♪

♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Move left ♪ ♪ Move forward ♪

♪ Move right ♪ ♪ Keep going ♪

♪ Don't stop ♪ ♪ Right now ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ That's how we do it ♪