Filmmaker Statement

While directing this film, this was at the forefront of my mind: we live in a very uncertain time— the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community are constantly in question, and the rhetoric surrounding our existence is concerning and frightening. These fears and threats have existed for decades, and despite progress, our present America still lacks the adequate and necessary protections for everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community. How to Spot a Heterosexual explores and reimagines an America where queerness is the standard; where heterosexuality is something to be cast aside and feared as it “infiltrates our schools and churches”. Inspired by the classic, fear-mongering PSAs of the 1950s, this film aims to flip the script on the history of the Lavender Scare— a period of American history where homosexuals were expelled from their government jobs. In doing so, it seeks to cast a satirical lens on our society’s perspective of the stereotyped heterosexual man to illustrate the backwards and stereotypical viewpoint that many of the LGBTQIA+ community are subjected to. The Lavender Scare may be a distant memory in our American history, but continued threats to the LGBTQIA+ community underline the need for films that question societal constructions and stereotypes of sexuality and gender. How to Spot a Heterosexual looks to do just that.