For Temple University student Sylvie Borschel, a family member’s coming-out experience influenced her to create a way for LGBT individuals to tell their own sometimes-scary, yet often-rewarding, coming-out stories. Borschel, a film and media-arts major who will graduate in May, was 12 when her mother came out to her as a lesbian. Borschel is now finishing a documentary that pays tribute to her mother’s and several other Philadelphians’ coming-out experiences. “I knew my mom was a certain way and we never talked about the LGBT community, but after a while I understood this was who she was,” Borschel said. “It was sad that she had to hide that part of herself for so long.” The documentary, “Unconditional,” started out as a class project, but Borschel said she had been eager to produce a film of this nature for some time. The film was meant to be only 15 minutes but, after she submits it for class in April, she plans to extend it to 30 minutes. Borschel, 21, produced, filmed and edited the documentary, which was originally titled “Love Each Other Unconditionally.” But, she decided to cut it to just one word that summed up the meaning of the film. “The love of a mother is unconditional and the same goes for a child. I loved my mom before she came out and after she came out,” she said. “It was the only word that fit because we do love our family unconditionally and it is sad that people don’t continue that love after people come out.” Borschel hopes her documentary reaches a broad audience, from those in the LGBT community to those who are unfamiliar with LGBT issues. So far, her subjects have run the gamut and include a Philadelphia police officer talking about his coming-out experience, as well as a pair of sisters, one who just came out, and their experience explaining LGBT identification to young children. Borschel said the sisters, Jean and Xiomara Alban, have an interesting story and one to which she could relate: Xiomara, who just came out, was raised in a strict Catholic family with her sister Jean, who has a 2-year-old daughter, Ariyana, “It is interesting how Ariyana interacts with Xiomara because she loves Xiomara unconditionally,” she said. “It doesn’t matter to her at this age.” Borschel is still interested in filming more subjects for “Unconditional” and plans to finish the documentary in June. She will upload it to Vimeo and hopes to host viewings at The Attic Youth Center and Temple University. She recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for transportation, equipment and food for subjects, as well as for film-festival entrance fees, with the goal of raising $1,500. For more information on “Unconditional,” visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1842679187/unconditional-a-short-documentary.
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