Branford professor brings third doc to LGBT film fest

The scene opens with the sun cutting through the trees on a summer day. An acoustic guitar fills the soundtrack. John Allen's narration begins:

"In a world that denigrates; in a profession that restricts; in a community that ignores..."

It's the beginning of Allen's documentary short, 2008's A Special Outing, co-directed with Tim Dagradi, the program manager for Citizens Television in Hamden. (The two parts of A Special Outing can be viewed on Youtube here and here.)

Allen grew up in Guilford and lives in Branford. In 1998, he helped set up the New Haven Pride Center, an organization for LGBT residents of the greater New Haven area, as part of his Master's thesis at Southern Connecticut State University and is still deeply involved with the center. He still works closely with the group today when he isn't working as a professor of human services at Post University in Waterbury or as an adjunct at Housatonic Community College and Middlesex Community College.

Above the narration, a group of men and women barbecue burgers, set up a tent and mingle. They're all members of the Rainbow Support Group, a service of the Pride Center. They also have intellectual disabilities.

"Acknowledging that people with intellectual disabilities are sexual is a new development in the human services field, one that is still in the pre-Stonewall days for those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender," says Allen's narration, as Rainbow Support members line up for a group photo shoot. "There's an unfounded expectation that they do not have a sexuality, let alone an understanding of sexual orientation."

But in A Special Outing, members of the group talk freely about their relationships and their struggles finding acceptance in both the LGBT community and the special needs community.

Now Allen and Dagradi's third film, A Special Pride, is ready for its premiere. It will show June 9 at the Connecticut Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Hartford, the last day of the festival.

It's a continuation of the story told in A Special Outing: this film tells the history of the group itself, complete with testimonials from its members. Couples talk about their lives and challenges -- courting, finding support and trying to live independently. As in Allen and Dagradi’s previous films, Rainbow Support Group members conduct their own interviews. Allen says several group members who have been successful in finding love -- including Bob and Tim, both members of the group -- speak to the strong and lasting bonds LGBT people with intellectual disabilities can build.

"Unbelievably, it's still a surprise to many folks that people with intellectual disabilities could have an understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity," he says.

Allen hopes the film can change that perception, including among the special needs support community. He's received support from openly gay Hartford mayor Pedro Segarra, who appears in the film alongside Bob and Tim.

"I think most people recognize that most folks in this world are looking for a partner or companionship, somebody that could be their spouse," he says. "And they have great empathy for recognizing that regardless of a gay or straight with intellectual disability, just how important of an issue sexuality is."

"When we watched it, we thought immediately, this is a story we want to get out there to people," says Outfilm CT's Shane Engstrom, the festival's director. "It's a unique group for the state and for the LGBT community."

Engstrom says the festival often doesn't tend toward documentaries.

"We have to be really selective with documentaries. You know, sometimes romantic comedies play better, and unfortunately we aren't able to show as many of the great documentaries as we'd like to. But we thought this film was really important."

It's familiar ground for the filmmakers: Becoming Donna, Allen and Dagradi's first film, showed at the festival in 2004. Allen says he'll bring members of the Rainbow Support Group with him to the festival to see the premiere. He'll give a short introduction to the film, which premieres immediately before Love Free or Die, a documentary about Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson.

Ticket information for the festival is available at outfilmct.org. The festival runs from June 2 to June 9.