L.E. Dawes is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and mother of a trans-identified child. Her documentary and narrative films have been screened at film festivals around the world and on Netflix. “Affirmation Generation” released Feb. 18 on Vimeo and www.AffirmationGenerationMovie.com. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.
Feb 17, 2023
Filmmaker: I believed in gender affirming care. Then I saw what happened to my son
I’m a liberal filmmaker. I can’t be silent about what is happening.
"Politically, the documentary film community is left of center. Very left. Over the last 10 years, I fit right in. I made films about women and children of diverse identities coping with sexual assault trauma, racism, homophobia and mental illness. Then in 2020, after I had sold my last film to Netflix and was wrapping primary photography on my next feature, I chose to begin a new film, one that I was driven to make despite my community’s disapproval.
It’s a film that is full of viewpoints that may be mistakingly characterized as conservative. I’ve done my best to ensure my work does not become fodder for right-wing hit pieces. But I need to tell the truth, and truth doesn’t always align with a political side.
COVID-19 had been hard on my youngest. Previously an extroverted, active and affectionate boy, over the lockdown he became quiet, easily agitated and withdrawn. He spent most of his time online.
Then he told us he was transgender.
He said he wanted puberty blockers and then he would go on estrogen. He matter-of-factly stated that he didn’t plan on getting “bottom surgery,” but would probably want electrolysis, voice training and facial feminizing surgery such as a tracheal shave. He knew our insurance would cover it all.
My husband and I were shocked at his pronouncement. Not because we are transphobic, but because our son had never exhibited any discomfort with his body or identity.
We had not imposed gender stereotypes on our children. Still, he was such a typical boy. Because we didn’t believe in toy guns, he turned his stuffed elephant into one. Spider-Man was the only thing he would be for Halloween — for years. He was well known for spending most of his time shirtless. And he loved to make everyone laugh doing pratfalls, farting on demand and making silly faces.
Despite our shock and confusion at his announcement, we were still liberal California parents. When he told us he was transgender, we nodded and said, “OK. We love you. We support you.”
Fearful of the pervasive mantra “Better a live daughter than a dead son” that insists non-affirmed trans kids are likely to kill themselves, we started using she/her pronouns and his new chosen name. I offered to take him shopping for women’s clothes, to do his nails, to teach him to shave his legs and to use makeup. (He declined.)
We called three local adolescent gender clinics, but in 2021, we could not get an appointment. The clinics had seen such a huge increase in new patients, they couldn’t even put us on a waitlist.
That’s when we realized we are not rare. Transgender identities were spreading rapidly, often within social networks. Five of the 10 kids in our son’s closest friend group are now identifying as trans or nonbinary. Our neighbors on both sides each have a trans kid. One of our son’s teachers told us he had so many kids with new identities, some “out to” their parents and others not, that he had to make a chart to know when to use which names and pronouns.
I joined a local support group with more than 100 members for parents of kids with rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Hearing their stories, with so many similarities to ours, I couldn’t help but think that something other than kids finding their authentic selves was going on here.
Feb 17, 2023
Filmmaker: I believed in gender affirming care. Then I saw what happened to my son
I’m a liberal filmmaker. I can’t be silent about what is happening.
"Politically, the documentary film community is left of center. Very left. Over the last 10 years, I fit right in. I made films about women and children of diverse identities coping with sexual assault trauma, racism, homophobia and mental illness. Then in 2020, after I had sold my last film to Netflix and was wrapping primary photography on my next feature, I chose to begin a new film, one that I was driven to make despite my community’s disapproval.
It’s a film that is full of viewpoints that may be mistakingly characterized as conservative. I’ve done my best to ensure my work does not become fodder for right-wing hit pieces. But I need to tell the truth, and truth doesn’t always align with a political side.
COVID-19 had been hard on my youngest. Previously an extroverted, active and affectionate boy, over the lockdown he became quiet, easily agitated and withdrawn. He spent most of his time online.
Then he told us he was transgender.
He said he wanted puberty blockers and then he would go on estrogen. He matter-of-factly stated that he didn’t plan on getting “bottom surgery,” but would probably want electrolysis, voice training and facial feminizing surgery such as a tracheal shave. He knew our insurance would cover it all.
My husband and I were shocked at his pronouncement. Not because we are transphobic, but because our son had never exhibited any discomfort with his body or identity.
We had not imposed gender stereotypes on our children. Still, he was such a typical boy. Because we didn’t believe in toy guns, he turned his stuffed elephant into one. Spider-Man was the only thing he would be for Halloween — for years. He was well known for spending most of his time shirtless. And he loved to make everyone laugh doing pratfalls, farting on demand and making silly faces.
Despite our shock and confusion at his announcement, we were still liberal California parents. When he told us he was transgender, we nodded and said, “OK. We love you. We support you.”
Fearful of the pervasive mantra “Better a live daughter than a dead son” that insists non-affirmed trans kids are likely to kill themselves, we started using she/her pronouns and his new chosen name. I offered to take him shopping for women’s clothes, to do his nails, to teach him to shave his legs and to use makeup. (He declined.)
We called three local adolescent gender clinics, but in 2021, we could not get an appointment. The clinics had seen such a huge increase in new patients, they couldn’t even put us on a waitlist.
That’s when we realized we are not rare. Transgender identities were spreading rapidly, often within social networks. Five of the 10 kids in our son’s closest friend group are now identifying as trans or nonbinary. Our neighbors on both sides each have a trans kid. One of our son’s teachers told us he had so many kids with new identities, some “out to” their parents and others not, that he had to make a chart to know when to use which names and pronouns.
I joined a local support group with more than 100 members for parents of kids with rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Hearing their stories, with so many similarities to ours, I couldn’t help but think that something other than kids finding their authentic selves was going on here.
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Like so many of these kids, our son is fixated on medical transition. He knows he is welcome to dress and present however he wants. But he still looks, dresses, and acts like a “typical” teenage boy because first he wants to transform physically. You’d think a therapist or a gender clinic would be able to assess if this is the right or wrong thing for him. But I’ve listened to enough parental accounts and interviewed enough detransitioners, doctors and therapists to now know that this is not true.
Therapists are not free to explore teens’ transgender self-diagnoses for fear of losing their licenses. They, like gender clinics, operate under the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy that any kid who says they are trans is affirmed.
As Portland, Ore., pediatrician Julia Mason says in the film I made, Affirmation Generation, “Every kid I was sending to the gender clinic was being transitioned.” Without comprehensive assessments, while other mental illnesses are ignored, these kids are put on lifelong invasive, experimental and costly medicine. Thus, as journalist Helen Joyce, author of TRANS: When Ideology Meets Reality, says, this means they are “getting very poor treatment.”
Earlier this month, gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed, a queer woman married to a transgender man, went public with her experience as a case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to ‘do no harm.’ Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care,” she said.
As psychologist Stella O’Malley says in my film, “If it was a solution, if it worked, I’d be very open to it. But I’ve met too many detransitioners who said ‘I was constantly fighting against nature. It’s like putting diesel in the [gas] tank.’”
These kids are risking sterility, sexual dysfunction, a range of complex medical issues from stroke to cancer, and increased mental instability for a treatment that has not been proven to work. Most frightfully, studies have shown that transition does not reduce the risk of suicide in this vulnerable population.
Several European countries such as Sweden, Finland, the U.K. and France, have come to learn the hard way that the benefits of medical transition have not been proven to outweigh the risks. In some cases, they believe the harm outweighs the benefit. Those countries, leaders in protecting the rights of transgender people, are closing clinics, reversing course.
That is where the course correction must come from: Progressives willing to ask hard questions and speak hard truths. As journalist Lisa Selin Davis says in the film, “It’s up to us on the left to walk this back. I want liberals to make room for gender diversity without telling kids they need to leave their sex category.”
And that is why I made this film. Even if my community disapproves. Even if I have to use a pseudonym to protect my son. I made this film because too many parents believe what I used to believe: That kids’ trans identities should not be questioned, and that medical transition is the only path. The truth is so much more complicated than that.
Being liberally minded means keeping an open mind. Give me and the 12 experts, six detransitioners and more than 40 articles and scientific studies cited in the film a chance to present the evidence."
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/02/18/i-made-a-film-about-transgender-kids-that-doesnt-align-with-my-politics/
Therapists are not free to explore teens’ transgender self-diagnoses for fear of losing their licenses. They, like gender clinics, operate under the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy that any kid who says they are trans is affirmed.
As Portland, Ore., pediatrician Julia Mason says in the film I made, Affirmation Generation, “Every kid I was sending to the gender clinic was being transitioned.” Without comprehensive assessments, while other mental illnesses are ignored, these kids are put on lifelong invasive, experimental and costly medicine. Thus, as journalist Helen Joyce, author of TRANS: When Ideology Meets Reality, says, this means they are “getting very poor treatment.”
Earlier this month, gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed, a queer woman married to a transgender man, went public with her experience as a case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to ‘do no harm.’ Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care,” she said.
As psychologist Stella O’Malley says in my film, “If it was a solution, if it worked, I’d be very open to it. But I’ve met too many detransitioners who said ‘I was constantly fighting against nature. It’s like putting diesel in the [gas] tank.’”
These kids are risking sterility, sexual dysfunction, a range of complex medical issues from stroke to cancer, and increased mental instability for a treatment that has not been proven to work. Most frightfully, studies have shown that transition does not reduce the risk of suicide in this vulnerable population.
Several European countries such as Sweden, Finland, the U.K. and France, have come to learn the hard way that the benefits of medical transition have not been proven to outweigh the risks. In some cases, they believe the harm outweighs the benefit. Those countries, leaders in protecting the rights of transgender people, are closing clinics, reversing course.
That is where the course correction must come from: Progressives willing to ask hard questions and speak hard truths. As journalist Lisa Selin Davis says in the film, “It’s up to us on the left to walk this back. I want liberals to make room for gender diversity without telling kids they need to leave their sex category.”
And that is why I made this film. Even if my community disapproves. Even if I have to use a pseudonym to protect my son. I made this film because too many parents believe what I used to believe: That kids’ trans identities should not be questioned, and that medical transition is the only path. The truth is so much more complicated than that.
Being liberally minded means keeping an open mind. Give me and the 12 experts, six detransitioners and more than 40 articles and scientific studies cited in the film a chance to present the evidence."
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/02/18/i-made-a-film-about-transgender-kids-that-doesnt-align-with-my-politics/
The Dallas Morning News
Filmmaker: I believed in gender affirming care. Then I saw what happened to my son
Editor’s Note: At the columnist’s request, The Dallas Morning News is using a pseudonym for the writer of this essay to protect the identity and safety of...
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Robin Monotti
Like so many of these kids, our son is fixated on medical transition. He knows he is welcome to dress and present however he wants. But he still looks, dresses, and acts like a “typical” teenage boy because first he wants to transform physically. You’d think…
You Can Watch "Affirmation Generation" Here ⬇️
https://lisaselindavis.substack.com/p/you-can-watch-affirmation-generation
https://lisaselindavis.substack.com/p/you-can-watch-affirmation-generation
BROADview by Lisa Selin Davis
You Can Watch "Affirmation Generation" Here
Watch now (94 min) | Because: Tech censorship
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Forwarded from Oracle Films
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"I've got to end it there"
Translation: when all else fails and you realise the 'safe and effective' lie you've been promulgating for two years doesn't hold up to even the most basic level of scrutiny.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. completely outclassing the establishment propaganda mouthpiece that is Piers Morgan.
Censorship and insults are all this side of the argument has left.
Translation: when all else fails and you realise the 'safe and effective' lie you've been promulgating for two years doesn't hold up to even the most basic level of scrutiny.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. completely outclassing the establishment propaganda mouthpiece that is Piers Morgan.
Censorship and insults are all this side of the argument has left.
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Forwarded from freedomtirade
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
After a pLandemic coup d'etat...
Political desperados cling to their depleting domination with depleted uranium while Russia warns against further escalation.
FEAR...That's all it is
Five minutes on Odysee
https://odysee.com/@FreedomTirade:f/fear:47
Starring Darth Vader's zit and Dr.Evil.
From COVID to UKRAINE...
it's all been planned via the
PUTSCH TRAP.
Disclaimer:
This @freedomtirade
HeuRistic parody montage is intended to dissonate our cognition in order to enable the...
Pursuit of HEALTH and
Rejection of TYRANNY
Be the resistance
Download-copy-upload-share
Political desperados cling to their depleting domination with depleted uranium while Russia warns against further escalation.
FEAR...That's all it is
Five minutes on Odysee
https://odysee.com/@FreedomTirade:f/fear:47
Starring Darth Vader's zit and Dr.Evil.
From COVID to UKRAINE...
it's all been planned via the
PUTSCH TRAP.
Disclaimer:
This @freedomtirade
HeuRistic parody montage is intended to dissonate our cognition in order to enable the...
Pursuit of HEALTH and
Rejection of TYRANNY
Be the resistance
Download-copy-upload-share
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"The goal of Tucker’s show isn’t to challenge the elite; it is to make sure that you never realize who they are. To get you so mad at atheists, feminists, immigrants, millennials, trans people, pot smokers, college students, vegans, the NFL, Brooklyn witches and Lena fucking Dunham, that you don’t get mad at the people who are actually in charge.”
https://www.mintpressnews.com/tucker-carlson-biography-nicaragua-cia/279782/
https://www.mintpressnews.com/tucker-carlson-biography-nicaragua-cia/279782/
MintPress News
Tucker Carlson: The Elite Pedigree of a Brilliant Cosplaying “Populist”
Alan Macleod reveals populist firebrand Tucker Carlson's to the CIA and multiple trips to Nicaragua as a "freedom-fighter" with the Contras.
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Forwarded from freedomtirade
From the assassination of JFK
To 911
To needles in arms....
The ripe fruits of Operation Paperclip.
Sixteen minutes to...
GET THE TRUTH TO THE PEOPLE
....as best we can.
On Odysee:
https://odysee.com/@FreedomTirade:f/GET-THE-TRUTH-TO-THE-PEOPLE:7?r=
Saluting Andrew Bridgen the only UK MP with the fortitude to question the false COVID narrative.
Confronting big pharma corruption and Government contempt of Nuremberg code .
Unraveling the conspiracy one montage at a time @freedomtirade
PURSUE HEALTH
REJECT TYRANNY:
download-copy-upload-share
To 911
To needles in arms....
The ripe fruits of Operation Paperclip.
Sixteen minutes to...
GET THE TRUTH TO THE PEOPLE
....as best we can.
On Odysee:
https://odysee.com/@FreedomTirade:f/GET-THE-TRUTH-TO-THE-PEOPLE:7?r=
Saluting Andrew Bridgen the only UK MP with the fortitude to question the false COVID narrative.
Confronting big pharma corruption and Government contempt of Nuremberg code .
Unraveling the conspiracy one montage at a time @freedomtirade
PURSUE HEALTH
REJECT TYRANNY:
download-copy-upload-share
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The 2006 U.N council chemtrail presentation
https://rumble.com/v256alg-the-2006-u.n-council-chemtrail-presentation.html
https://rumble.com/v256alg-the-2006-u.n-council-chemtrail-presentation.html
Rumble
The 2006 U.N council chemtrail presentation!
This is one of the hardest videos to find. Been scrubbed from everywhere! From a u.n council assembly meeting in 2006 on chemtrails and what they’re doing!! SHARE the hell out of this !!
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Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
‘if just six celebrities simultaneously came out and expressed concerns about the mRNA vaccines calling for their suspension this would end overnight’
‘Those people privately send support but are afraid to speak up’
Unless we dare to be wise this horror will continue
Aseem Malhotra
‘Those people privately send support but are afraid to speak up’
Unless we dare to be wise this horror will continue
Aseem Malhotra
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I agree with Aseem above. I also know people in the public eye, "celebrities" if you like, who will support me privately but have not said one critical word publicly in three years. They are afraid of losing their income, and believe the whole thing will fall apart anyway in time. Yet the only reason why it will fall apart is that people like Mike, Eric and I put our heads above the parapet to take the incoming shots. I also think that if those who remained silent only coordinated with each other a time to all jump and "come out" this would be over tomorrow. But they are very scared to do so, as all their business advisors, and family members are telling them not to. This did not stop Mike, Eric or me.
@RobinMG
https://t.me/robinmg/27726
@RobinMG
https://t.me/robinmg/27726
Telegram
Robin Monotti + Dr Mike Yeadon + Cory Morningstar
‘if just six celebrities simultaneously came out and expressed concerns about the mRNA vaccines calling for their suspension this would end overnight’
‘Those people privately send support but are afraid to speak up’
Unless we dare to be wise this horror…
‘Those people privately send support but are afraid to speak up’
Unless we dare to be wise this horror…
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Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death:
"This tells us that the system we have for researching, approving, marketing, and using drugs is totally broken"
British Medical Journal:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/06/16/peter-c-gotzsche-prescription-drugs-are-the-third-leading-cause-of-death/
"This tells us that the system we have for researching, approving, marketing, and using drugs is totally broken"
British Medical Journal:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/06/16/peter-c-gotzsche-prescription-drugs-are-the-third-leading-cause-of-death/
The BMJ
Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death - The BMJ
Our prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer (1). Based on the best research I could find, I have estimated that psychiatric drugs [...]More...
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The logical conclusion of this is:
Medical doctors are third leading cause of death.
Until we, and doctors accept this, Pharma will get away with it.
https://t.me/robinmg/27728
Medical doctors are third leading cause of death.
Until we, and doctors accept this, Pharma will get away with it.
https://t.me/robinmg/27728
Telegram
Robin Monotti + Cory Morningstar
Peter C Gøtzsche: Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death:
"This tells us that the system we have for researching, approving, marketing, and using drugs is totally broken"
British Medical Journal:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/06/16/peter…
"This tells us that the system we have for researching, approving, marketing, and using drugs is totally broken"
British Medical Journal:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/06/16/peter…
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THE SYMBOLISM OF THE DANCING NURSES
What this neo-Socialist Realist form of performance art is meant to subliminally communicating to us is this:
The Collective above the Individual.
"Medicine" above individual human bodies & rights.
Performance is story telling: fiction.
I am not saying they succeeded in communicating this, but that this was why they started these videos in China.
The problem with this is that it's all a cover for oligarchy owned Big Pharma, which harms the collective instead:
t.me/robinmg/27728
@RobinMG
What this neo-Socialist Realist form of performance art is meant to subliminally communicating to us is this:
The Collective above the Individual.
"Medicine" above individual human bodies & rights.
Performance is story telling: fiction.
I am not saying they succeeded in communicating this, but that this was why they started these videos in China.
The problem with this is that it's all a cover for oligarchy owned Big Pharma, which harms the collective instead:
t.me/robinmg/27728
@RobinMG
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Forwarded from Covid Vaccine Victim Awareness Month
TRUTH BE TOLD
13TH MAY 2023
LONDON
1 PM TRAFALGAR SQUARE
🖤🙏 If you can help us print A1 BOARDS, LEAFLETS AND BANNERS we would so much appreciate any help, additionally we would love to be able to hire a good sound system so we can spread our message to passers by and have some fantastic speakers! You can donate HERE 🙏🖤
📢The COVID 'vaccines' have caused catastrophic & unprecedented harm & we continue to give a voice to the injured & bereaved.
📢The Government have committed democide by their use of Midazolam & NG163 Protocol in Hospitals & care homes.
📢In June 2023 the government plans to inject vulnerable Children from 6 months old with the unsafe & ineffective Pfizer 'vaccine', despite data proving unprecedented harms including death.
#CrimesAgainstHumanity
#TruthBeTold
#ForOurChildren
13TH MAY 2023
LONDON
1 PM TRAFALGAR SQUARE
🖤🙏 If you can help us print A1 BOARDS, LEAFLETS AND BANNERS we would so much appreciate any help, additionally we would love to be able to hire a good sound system so we can spread our message to passers by and have some fantastic speakers! You can donate HERE 🙏🖤
📢The COVID 'vaccines' have caused catastrophic & unprecedented harm & we continue to give a voice to the injured & bereaved.
📢The Government have committed democide by their use of Midazolam & NG163 Protocol in Hospitals & care homes.
📢In June 2023 the government plans to inject vulnerable Children from 6 months old with the unsafe & ineffective Pfizer 'vaccine', despite data proving unprecedented harms including death.
#CrimesAgainstHumanity
#TruthBeTold
#ForOurChildren
👍66❤22😁1
I think I may need to focus on this as well now, as I am an architect specialised in urbanism. Will they want to hear from an expert like me this time..?
@RobinMG
@RobinMG
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Will you pledge allegiance to King Charles III during the coronation?
Vote in the Good Morning Britain poll:
https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1652750751444205570
Vote in the Good Morning Britain poll:
https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1652750751444205570
Twitter
Will you pledge allegiance to King Charles III during the coronation?
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📣 Dr Tess Lawrie Joins Our Movement!
When Real Science Meets Art.
🩺 Tess is the co-founder of the World Council for Health and is committed to improving the quality of healthcare through rigorous research. Her range of expertise, based on experience in both developing and developed countries, uniquely positions her to evaluate research for a variety of healthcare settings. Her peer-reviewed publications have received in excess of 4000 citations and her ResearchGate score is among the top 5% of ResearchGate members.
💙 Tess envisions a healthier world in which science and learned wisdom are brought together to empower people to take responsibility for their own health. She believes we can choose to live in fear and separation, or with joy, trust, love, and compassion together.
🎉 Join Tess Lawrie and 100+ artists, performances talks, comedians, free workshops and so much more at this years Jam for Freedom Festival 2023! Final tickets remaining!
👉 www.jamforfreedom.com/festival
@JamForFreedom
When Real Science Meets Art.
🩺 Tess is the co-founder of the World Council for Health and is committed to improving the quality of healthcare through rigorous research. Her range of expertise, based on experience in both developing and developed countries, uniquely positions her to evaluate research for a variety of healthcare settings. Her peer-reviewed publications have received in excess of 4000 citations and her ResearchGate score is among the top 5% of ResearchGate members.
💙 Tess envisions a healthier world in which science and learned wisdom are brought together to empower people to take responsibility for their own health. She believes we can choose to live in fear and separation, or with joy, trust, love, and compassion together.
🎉 Join Tess Lawrie and 100+ artists, performances talks, comedians, free workshops and so much more at this years Jam for Freedom Festival 2023! Final tickets remaining!
👉 www.jamforfreedom.com/festival
@JamForFreedom
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