Mama Bears,” an LGBTQ+ documentary about the journeys of two conservative, Christian mothers who became advocates for the queer community, debuted its trailer Monday, Variety can exclusively reveal.
The film, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year, will play at Outfest and Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival later this summer.“Mama Bears” follows Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two mothers of LGBTQ+ children, and Tammi Terrell Morris, a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance represents the importance of caring and accepting mothers.
Although Cunningham and Shapley — the two “mama bears” — grew up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, they risk losing their lives and communities in order to keep their children safe.
Shappley began accepting her transgender daughter Kai and went from being a Tea Party Republican to winning awards for her LGBTQ+ advocacy after she joined with the ACLU and Equality Texas to fight an anti-trans bathroom bill in their Texas town.