We still need YOU!

Our June 20 deadline to get ready for 2014 Pride came and went, unfortunately, without enough funds raised.  We still need YOU to help us make this film a reality.  Please donate today!  Thanks!

Here's Betty Desire the Movie's donate button!!

Please donate today!  Help Betty Desire the Movie get started!

 

Here's the button!

Please donate by June 20 to help us get ready for Pride!

Friends and fans of Betty,
Your donation by June 20 will help us get started in time for 2014 Gay Pride.  Please help!
Thank you.

Help fund Betty Desire the Movie

There are times when a story grabs you, won’t let go, and absolutely needs to be told.  That’s the story of Betty Desire.  That’s why I’ve set up this blog with a Donate button.  To raise money to make a documentary telling Betty’s tale.   

Whether you’re new to Betty or, like me, one of her longtime friends and fans, I hope you’ll send something our way.   Even a dollar or two.  Every contribution will help us make this project a reality.

We don’t have nonprofit status yet, but we’re working on it.  We have a verbal commitment from a fiscal sponsor, but we have to jump some hoops which cost money before we can qualify.     

What you’ll get for your contribution is our heartfelt thanks and the knowledge that you’re helping us get one step closer to telling Betty’s story.

And a grateful thanks to photographer John Phillip, NW Photo John, for allowing this project to use his photos of Betty. 

About Betty Desire

For those who have never met Betty Desire, she’s a drag queen.  But she’s not typical.  Her wigs and make-up are never perfect and due to her cerebral palsy she can’t walk in high heels.  She wears running shoes. 

She’s my friend, Matt Endrizzi’s alter ego.  When the wig and the make-up come off, he’s a gay man, father of two, and currently grandfather of two more.  

 

Here’s what Kathy Reim, PFLAG Pacific Northwest Regional Director says about Betty:

“I love the story- not just because I admire Betty but also because I think it is an interesting / compelling story at many levels.  Betty has been a powerful political activist for progressive causes as well, and she has been my mentor and inspiration.”

                                                           

From KOMO news reporter Kera Wanielista’s blog:

“Endrizzi, both as Betty and not, has made a huge impact on Bellingham's LGBT community. Being an active and visible part of the community, and a beacon of acceptance for people who may be struggling with their own coming out process.”

             

             Bellingham’s 2012 Most Fascinating People - Betty Desire topped the list

And from a KOMO reader:

"Betty and the people she introduces to the audience provide the opportunity to open minds and hearts to the fact that we are not as different as we seem, but all human, in fact, with much to offer one another."

The Story of Betty Desire

The story of Betty Desire is the true story of a young gay man’s tortuous journey through the right wing Christian conversion movement, and how he broke free to become a small town drag icon.

It begins with a twist of fate.  It's 1971, and a teenage Matt has just made the difficult decision to go home after school and tell his parents he’s gay.  But just before he leaves he encounters another student, a girl who tells him she’s just accepted Jesus and he’s cured her problem with drugs. 

For a kid who’s spent his life feeling different – he was born prematurely which caused his CP, he’s adopted, and on top of all that, he’s gay – the promise of miracles feels like – well – a miracle.  Maybe God can heal him of his difference.

Instead of coming out, Matt throws himself into the arms of the Jesus movement, which at first feels warm and friendly, even when they’re unable to pray his homosexuality away.

But when he moves into the mainstream Evangelical church that warmth rapidly chills; the ice of homophobia so deep and reputedly given of God, that orientation conversion or “cure” is the only salvation.   

Despairing, Matt endures 18 years of failed attempts to overcome his “demon,” before at last as he begins to share his struggle with a few friendly non-Pentecostals, some in the Narcotics Anonymous group that meets at his coffee shop.  Miraculously, they become guides on his new journey – throwing off the yoke of religious self-hate and coming out. 

In the process he creates Betty Desire, a drag persona which allows him in his journey to move beyond self- hate, beyond doubts and fears, and to become what he is now – a proud gay man who, both as Betty and as himself, is a beloved icon of his local community.