On a Sabbath evening in June, Rey Lee hosted a screening of the film Seventh-Gay Adventists (SGA) at Mu-En Church in Shanghai, China. Seventh-Gay Adventists, produced by Stephen Eyer and Daneen Akers, explores the stories of LGBTIQ Seventh-day Adventists. Rey who lives in Shanghai, China, had previously met the Akers when he traveled to California, United States in 2016.
While in California, the Akers happened to be hosting a screening of another film at the Glendale City Adventist Church. It is then Rey, who teaches English in China, offered to translate SGA into Mandarin. The process took eight months to complete.
Rey describes Shanghai as being both highly developed, yet “socially conservative,” this includes the Adventist church he attends. In spite of this, he shared that he was excited to show the film to the fellowship group that he leads. “Some people in my fellowship also invited their friends to our church. Because screening films on Sabbath is not so common in a conservative church like ours, they all felt excited.”
One word Rey used to describe the attendees’ experience was “awakening.” Many were moved by the stories of the characters in the film, even expressing compassion for them. This was especially for the story of one of the characters, David, who had undergone 5 years of therapy to change his sexual orientation. “Some boys said they've never known that the LGBTIQ community suffered so much; it felt like seeing this film was an awakening experience for them.”
Meanwhile, there were those who had expressed skepticism, including one attendee who shared that the “church has a right to its own standpoint” (on the subject.)
When asked how he felt about the screening, Rey shared: “I feel so great. This translation project was my gift to the LGBTIQ community. Yet, there's a long way to go. So I'm thinking what more I can do next.”
“We are thrilled that SGA is now translated into Mandarin,” shared Daneen. The SGA movie is also available in Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Russian, Italian, and they are still looking for assistance in translating the German version. For details about the film, or to arrange a local screening, visit www.sgamovie.com.