Dive into the heart of the Midwest with "We Live Here: The Midwest." Meet resilient families navigating love, acceptance, and the fight against discrimination. This powerful documentary sheds light on their stories, exposing a critical moment in the Midwest's struggle for LGBTQIA+ rights.
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00:00 I'm Russ Exlos-Raber. And I'm Mark Exlos-Raber. And the part that will be seen on screen for us
00:07 is a small snippet of our life, what we do in terms of education, support of LGBTQ youth
00:14 in schools and in the mental health setting. And it shows a little bit of background of our
00:19 families, where we came from, and talks about, you know, one of the towns we live by, which is
00:24 Oak Harbor, Ohio, which we're very proud of. And we're just pleased to be here. We really are. Just
00:30 be able to talk about everything. I mean, and you talked a little, you know, about how you are
00:35 excited for everyone to see this, but what really drew you to this project? And what made you, you
00:39 know, want to jump in? It was really whirlwind. We don't really remember a lot. It just kind of
00:45 evolved. And then we had a call. And all of a sudden, Melinda was talking to Russ. And they
00:51 said they wanted to interview us. And then all of a sudden, it started to bloom and bloom and bloom.
00:55 And then there was a little bit of space. And then all of a sudden, we're here. And once our story
01:01 kind of started to be spun, it just sort of took on a life of its own, which is very exciting.
01:06 Yeah. So were you worried at all about like, what direction like you're like,
01:09 we need to tell everything what part of the story is really what we need to be captured.
01:13 I think there was some initial fear just because our area of the state is conservative. You know,
01:19 and so there's a little bit of cushioning and concern that you have for our family and our
01:25 friends and you know, what sort of potential backlash could there be. But the way that the
01:31 film is done is absolutely beautiful. It's a beautiful snapshot of our story.
01:36 It's portrayed beautifully. Melinda and David have done a marvelous job. We think that it's
01:43 so well developed, and there's so much room for them to do more exploration in other regions even.
01:49 You know, what do you hope that anyone who watches this LGBTQ,
01:54 an ally, anyone takes away from seeing this? I think two things for me. Number one, that while
02:01 we are sort of a different prototype family, we are still very much like a traditional family.
02:06 You know, we own our own home. We pay taxes, we we own a business, we give back to our community,
02:12 we financially support our community, we're active in our community. And to the need for
02:17 safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. Yeah, and we we're very driven on mental health. And basically,
02:25 we want to make sure that everybody's okay. Right. And to have that conversation, you know,
02:30 that nobody is going to feel like they're left out, whether, you know, they're transgender,
02:35 they're gay, even they're straight. We want to make sure everybody has a place and feel
02:39 like they're loved and there's hope. You know, we need hope.
02:46 My name is Mario Foreman Powell. Expect to see love, expect to see love, expect to see
02:51 some adversity, but also what kind of pushes through to keep fighting for each other and love.
02:58 My name is Monte Foreman Powell, the other M to the M. Yes, just like my husband said,
03:04 love and happiness that was created in destruction, a destructive period in our
03:09 lives that challenged how much we love each other. And to show like how and what happens when you
03:16 fight for your love and what happens when you stick to what you believe. And again, that's just
03:22 part of our story. It's not our whole story. From that became so much happiness and love and support.
03:27 And so we just hope that people can gain inspiration from our family, especially,
03:32 you know, with us being a same sex African-American, you know, couple, which we don't really see,
03:38 at least in media that often. So we hope to inspire so many people wherever it is
03:43 across the globe to just understand happiness and love. So, yeah.
03:48 And did you have any challenges going on facing, like filming your story? I know sharing this can
03:56 be very difficult. You're about to share it with the whole world. Were you worried at all about
03:59 that? You know, honestly, for me, at first I was. I was worried about, especially about more
04:04 of the spiritual side of the church, because we've dedicated so much of our time to the church,
04:09 particularly, you know, place. I won't mention the name, but we dedicated so much time there and
04:15 we had a lot of people that we still connect with. And of course, there's going to be clapbacks and
04:21 that's OK. But again, we just hope that people see this from our truth and our journey and our story
04:26 and we hope that they learn from it. So, yeah, even from social media standpoint,
04:30 I posit that you have to have your inner circle that you have. They need to have backbone as well,
04:36 because if we're being attacked or something like that, they will probably be attacked as well.
04:41 As long as they have a firm foundation in themselves and their spirituality, whatever it
04:44 may be, then you have a good, solid foundation, I would say. So, yeah. Yeah. And I think my husband
04:51 made a great point about that is having that backbone in that circle. So if people that are
04:55 listening, they're planning to come out to the world. I just hope that you can have somebody
05:00 that's in your corner, because it's hard to go through this alone. And I couldn't imagine going
05:03 through this alone, but we have a very, very supportive family, friends and backbone into
05:08 our circle. So, yeah. I'm Jennifer Richmond. I'm from Minnesota and I'm an out trans woman. Been
05:19 out and proud for five years now, but I've known for a lot longer than that.
05:24 Yeah. And I'm Deborah Richmond, formerly Brant. I've also been out for some time
05:32 and yeah, there's not really a lot to tell, honestly. It's living in Minneapolis,
05:38 St. Paul is so much easier than a lot of people have it.
05:42 Can you share a little bit about what inspired you to tell your story?
05:48 It inspired me just because it helps our future generations. It gives them confidence to be who
05:56 they are and not live in fear that society is going to judge them. It's not an easy road,
06:01 but it's so much better on the other side. Absolutely. Same thing.
06:06 Were there any challenges that you faced going into the actual filming of this documentary
06:11 that you weren't expecting? Finding my self-confidence to be in front of a camera,
06:18 it's always a little different to be able to see yourself on screen versus
06:21 looking at yourself in the mirror. It's just different.
06:25 And then we struggled with all the camera gear being in the house.
06:31 I mean, we weren't prepared. Yeah, we have a small house and when you see it's strewn all around,
06:36 it's just crazy. It's very intimate, I'm sure. You guys grew very close, I would expect.
06:42 And do you have a message that you're just excited for audiences to really take away?
06:46 We're here. We belong here. We don't just live here, we belong. We belong.
06:56 We love and monster everybody every day. And I'm sure you've walked past us,
07:01 you've seen us on the streets, you've seen us in restaurants. We're here. We belong.
07:04 Courtney Skiba. They will see how we live our lives on a small goat farm and
07:17 some of the reasons why we decided to go down the path that we have gone down.
07:25 Denise Skiba. And we're sharing our story of being a lesbian couple in Kansas, raising a son,
07:36 and all the excitement that goes along with that. And goats.
07:47 I love that. Well, what drew you to want to share your story? And did you have any
07:52 reservations about it going into it? I think that advocacy is one of the most important things
08:00 to, you know, have an inclusive society. So it's always been important to me coming up to
08:10 share my story and live authentically. And really letting people know that we're
08:21 in the communities that we're in, that we're thriving in the communities that we're in,
08:26 that there are people out there that will welcome and support them is really important to us,
08:37 even in the Midwest, you know, even in small rural communities, there are still people
08:42 that are just like them. And how does it feel being here? I mean, I assume you didn't bring
08:49 any goats with you. So it's a little different. They don't travel on the plane. Well, no,
08:54 it's pretty surreal. Yeah, pretty surreal experience.
09:02 I'm Katie. I'm Nia. Yeah, this is this is the story of our family. And hopefully folks will
09:14 understand that we are just everyday people. We've got a lot of love in our family. We've
09:19 got challenges, and we're neighbors and friends and co workers. Yeah.
09:23 We I work at an LGBTQ place. So we're always just telling stories, making sure everyone knows that
09:30 this is just normal. We're just living. I know it's hard to even say like, what is this about?
09:34 It's like, it's about me. And just living life every day. Were you at all afraid to tell your
09:42 story? Was there any like fears and challenges going into this? Well, we don't live with a lot
09:47 of fear normally. And we got pulled in kind of last minute. So we didn't have time to be afraid.
09:54 And then the documentary got made. And then we were like, Oh, this is happening. And so I think
10:00 we've both been in and out of periods of going like, Oh, I hope this is going to be okay. But
10:05 then once we saw the documentary, it's done so well, and so beautifully. And David and Melinda
10:10 are telling such a beautiful story that I feel so confident. So I would say not afraid. No,
10:18 I think having each other too. And our family is really helpful to like,
10:23 move some of that fear through. So
10:25 other than the obvious that you just are people,
10:29 is there any messages that you hope people take away from seeing this?
10:32 What do you think? You're a good answer to this.
10:38 I think, well, I think what I really hope that people come away with is that love is deeper than
10:43 we think it is. Love moves farther than we think it can. And if we're open to that love, and we
10:50 lean into it, it will take us some wild places. But those places are good. And we might be afraid.
10:58 But let's do it. Let's jump into that scary moment and find out how much more we can love one
11:05 another. Let's do that. I can't say anything else. Do you have any fun plans for while you're here
11:15 before you leave? Well, we're flying out tomorrow morning. But we did do the upside down.
11:20 It's just like a whole house. It's upside down. And you like walk on the ceiling.
11:26 Hollywood Boulevard, touristy, very touristy. So yeah, it was fun.
11:31 You gotta do the little kitsch.
11:33 Well, initially, we were working on a project that that was about LGBTQ families and how they
11:44 came together, etc. And then 2016 happened. And instead of just looking at how families were
11:50 coming together, we suddenly thought, wow, how are they doing? There was so much backlash,
11:55 the entire culture changed in terms of acceptance of our families. And based on that, we thought,
12:02 you know, this is really worth looking at and exploring as a documentary.
12:06 And what we didn't know then, you know, is considering, you know, the number three most
12:11 powerful individual in government right now holds such anti discriminatory views on these very
12:17 families. You know, we didn't expect that. So this the timing of this documentary coming out
12:22 is really pivotal. And just finding these families, I mean, LGBTQ plus, there's so many diverse
12:30 personalities and to showcase. So how did you go about deciding on who was going to be the stars
12:35 of this? Well, it was more just finding people. I mean, as we as we mentioned that there was that
12:42 the culture had changed. So you're thinking, okay, how will people feel presenting themselves
12:47 on camera? And frankly, many families rightly so felt that they would face discrimination within
12:53 their jobs, their communities, their churches, if they were to do the documentary. So that kind of
12:58 dictated for the most part, the families who who were comfortable working with us in this way.
13:05 And we also wanted to have a diverse cast along the LGBTQ plus spectrum, you know, as well,
13:10 that was really important. So we wanted to make sure that we had a gay person and a lesbian couple
13:14 and trans. And so that was very important. What are you excited to hear from audiences?
13:20 What like feedback? Are you really looking forward to? We want to see more. Yeah. I mean,
13:27 you know, we had somebody who saw the film and he says, Wow, I am really rooting for these
13:31 characters. I wish I wish there were more. I want to see more about them. So spend more time with
13:35 them. That that is one of the highest compliments that we could that we could hear. Yeah.
13:39 Yes, there. Yes, we do need a part two. We do. Hulu. Are you listening? We need a part two.
13:46 I will add them at Hulu.