"Mom, Dad. Um, I have something to tell you and I don't know how to say this. I'm... smart."
So says the teen protagonist in the hilarious viral video, "Out Smart." The video re-imagines a teenager "coming out" to his parents by replacing the word "gay" with the word "smart," as reported by TakePart.
The teen's parents react with the worst-possible cliches: "No son of mine is smart, you hear me? You are not smart," yells his father. "Have you prayed about it? Maybe God can change you," adds his mother. By putting these all-too-real reactions many queer teens face when they come out into a very different context, the video makes those reactions appear utterly ridiculous and condescending.
The video was a deeply personal project, as director and one of the film's executive producers Dawn Cobalt, writes in the project's press packet:
When I first came out, it was the scariest thing I ever had to do. And I realized that, as I kept meeting new people, I would forever be coming out... I had to make this film to express that experience --and add humor to a very tough confession to make to anyone... We have all been in a situation where you want to tell people something that is out of the "norm" and hope that they still accept and love you.
"Out Smart" started screening at film festivals late last year, and generated so much buzz that nearly 50 chapters of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays requested DVDS to screen for their members. The film premiered online on Advocate.com on Oct. 10, just in time for National Coming Out Day.
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