Long Beach filmmaker seeks support to continue telling stories in 'The Queer Room'
Gio Ferraro launched ‘The Queer Room’ earlier this year as a place to highlight the LGBTQ+ community and is now looking to the community to support future episodes of the show.
Before Gio Ferraro’s Pine Avenue gym fell victim to COVID-19 closures in 2020, she spent her days training people’s bodies back into better shape and her free time advocating for the unhoused.
Now, Ferraro works for the city as a homeless outreach worker and her advocacy work has shifted to the LGBTQ+ community where her lived experiences and developing love for film production intersects in “The Queer Room.”
She released the pilot episode of The Queer Room earlier this year, which Ferraro says she hopes can serve as a place where older and younger generations of queer people can learn from each other and the community can be seen.
With what Ferraro called a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation popping up across the country, open hate toward the community has become common and she felt the need to advocate for her community through film.
“I started really feeling the effects of anti-LGBTQ bills that have been coming through. The pressure of living as a queer person has never felt as unsafe for me and I’ve been out for almost 20 years” Ferraro said. “To feel that heaviness, I felt the need to advocate now more-so for the community because I felt the heaviness. I could only imagine what our younger generation feels in this state of absolute chaos.”
The first episode was filmed and produced with volunteer work but Ferraro is now looking for funding to pay for future episodes.
She’s launched a GoFundMe effort to pay for episode two, which she hopes she can parlay into investors buying into the show down the road.
A Sept. 21 fundraiser at Good Time Coffee could also benefit the show. Ferraro is planning a queer story slam where at least six people are scheduled to share their stories as well as other entertainment.
Ferraro said she hopes to start production on the next episode by November.
While the first episode explored the gender roles within two queer relationships and the gratitude each person feels within them, no two episodes are expected to be the same.
The documentary-styled format would remain intact but Ferraro said she wants to explore uncomfortable topics like homophobia and how those behaviors can be unlearned as well as racism, classism and other issues that have crept into the queer community.
Ferraro said she wants the show to be impactful and help people understand the struggles and inequities faced by those in the LGBTQ+ community and to serve as a unifying force.
“We call it the Queer Room and we tell stories that are not just engaging and possibly uncomfortable conversations but to really show queer joy to show that no matter what you throw us we still have pride and we’re going to actively enjoy our lives,” Ferraro said.
Good Time Coffee is located at 1322 Coronado Ave. The fundraiser is scheduled to run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
