Transfixed tells the story of highly unconventional romance: Martine Stonehouse and John Gelmone are middle-aged underdo | dG1fdHR0VWMwUWhmQ3M
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Sometimes when I'm in a crowd of people and there's a lot of noise,
00:06I freeze up and I get lost in trance.
00:11And when I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome,
00:15this explained a lot of things to me.
00:17Like Martine, I have Asperger's, but I also have Tourette's.
00:21It mostly involves twitching, sniffing, involuntary movements.
00:28Our relationship started at the Geneva Centre for Autism.
00:33Slowly John pursued me and I started falling in love with John.
00:38And then one day I thought to myself,
00:41I'm going to tell John that I'm a transsexual.
00:45I think I found someone who's the perfect match.
00:47The only thing wrong is she doesn't have a vagina.
00:50And we've been together since July 27, 2003.
00:54We feel like husband and wife.
00:56But in order for us to have a sexual relationship,
00:59she needs to have a vagina.
01:01And that's when we'll get married.
01:05One day the Ontario government delisted funding for sex reassignment surgery.
01:10So that meant I had to become an activist.
01:13And I launched a human rights case.
01:15Will you ensure that your government respects the ruling
01:18and reinstate the funding?
01:21John found an American doctor who invited me for a consultation.
01:25You have diabetes, you have hypertension, and you're way overweight.
01:29So this increases your chance for problems and complications.
01:33Do you understand everything I'm talking about?
01:35Yes, I do.
01:37It's a question of life and death.
01:42We're planning to get married after the surgery,
01:44have a normal life, of which we cannot have right now.
01:50The patient's name is Martine Stonehouse for male-to-female reassignment surgery.
01:55Everything's fine. We'll see you in a few minutes.
01:58I really hope Martine doesn't die on the operating table.
02:01I would feel responsible if something happened because I did push her to have it.
02:05In a world where not everyone understands me,
02:07where not everyone understands Martine,
02:09it is kind of a world where we're meant to be.
02:16Martine, open your eyes.
02:19Open your eyes.