Treat Me Like Your Mother

Trans* histories from Beirut's forgotten past

Four trans women from Lebanon—Em Abed, Jamal Abdo, Antonella, and Mama Jad—recount lives shaped by resilience, love, and loss. Their stories span from the groundbreaking state-funded gender-affirming surgery of 1997 to the disappearance of Beirut’s once-safe queer spaces. Through personal photographs, archival footage, and recollections of places like the Raouche strip, their voices resurrect a forgotten history of community and survival amid war and oppression. Interwoven with the filmmaker’s own journey of self-discovery, this intimate documentary traces four decades of trans life in Beirut, celebrating friendship, identity, and the enduring spirit of chosen family.