Reel Affirmations: The Nation's LGBT Film Festival 2009

Steven Stanton was living a normal American life. He had a lovely wife and teenage son. He had an important job -- City Manager for Largo, Florida. Steve was successful, well thought of and influential. He loved sports and was an avid runner. But on the inside, Stanton knew that his life was anything but usual. From an early age, Steve Stanton knew that he was really meant to be a woman.HER NAME WAS STEVEN is the story of Stanton's metamorphosis from Steven to Susan ... and of the triumphs and tragedies along the way. For two years, CNN has been with Stanton documenting events big and small. It goes far beyond the physical aspects of transitioning from a man to a woman -- exploring the deep emotional, psychological, spiritual and political changes that Stanton experiences as a transgender person.As a conflicted child, Stanton grew up knowing that his physical appearance didn't match how he felt inside. He talks about getting married and having his son and the struggles of his early adult life. Using family photographs, home videos, tape recordings and twenty years of Stanton's personal journals and two years of our own documenting Stanton's life, the film explores a lifetime of pain and joy, progress and set backs. Our filming was without restrictions. We focus in part on a particularly troubling period when Stanton was thrust onto the national stage --fired as City Manager when a local newspaper revealed he was planning to become a woman. That is when Stanton decides to make a full transition--and CNN is there to witness the journey. We are with Stanton as she takes the first steps toward living as a woman full-time... her first mammogram, electrolysis and therapy sessions. We are with Stanton in Washington, D.C. as she lobbies Congress for transgender rights.HER NAME WAS STEVEN explores the quiet moments as Stanton remakes her body - all the time trying to keep her thoughts and feelings focused on what she knows she must do. We are there when she interviews for a new job. We capture the conflicts of her teenage son and wife, who grapple with Stanton's transition that will forever change her life. CNN is with her through love, loss, sex and self, and the extraordinary journey of one woman whose name was Steven.