Writer, Director’s short Bio:

Writer and director of HOMOSAYWHAT and Treading Yesterday, Craig Bettendorf, no novice to LGBT subject matter spent the better part of the 1990s organizing, promoting and finding common ground and understanding necessary to form acceptance and inclusivity for members of the LGBT community.

This work led him to be among the principle signatories of 1996’s National Freedom

to Marry Resolution (predecessor to Marriage Equality) denouncing the Federal Defense of Marriage act as well as the honor of presenting to the students and faculty of the Harvard Divinity School in 1999.

Both projects clearly benefit from Bettendorf’s personal experience as a gay man and former LGBT community activist as each project juxtaposes the societal intolerance of Gays in the past with present day acceptance while at the same time revealing the inherent challenges existing in both environments.

Kai Morgan originally from Texas started modeling at the age of sixteen, taking him to runway and commercial modeling in Tokyo, Japan before moving to LA. Kai states that “The reason I wanted to be an actor was to give people the same thing I get when I watch a show. I want them to laugh, to cry but most importantly, to think. I think that a show like Treading Yesterday is the perfect place to do that.” 

The recent success of LGBT themed films truly illuminates the fact that our stories have merit, resonate, and are of interest to members of the broader audience. Marginalized communities need an accurate record of their own voices in order to preserve their experience and history. It is our hope that HOMOSAYWHAT accomplishes this by calling upon wit, wisdom and even humor.

Even though Marriage Equality is a reality in the United States, all it takes is a job transfer to a less accepting part of the country to turn the world of an LGBT family upside down. Until meaningful national anti-discrimination legislation is passed no LGBT person or family is entirely safe.

HOMOSAYWHAT is my first Documentary film and it is my hope that it will motivate LGBT persons and their allies to remain vigilant as the pendulum of history has a tendency to revert back when it swings unchecked and unchallenged.

Sincerely,

Craig Bettendorf