NEWS SCREEN GRAB Hatter Karen La Hay is the star of a Telus documentary episode in the series, Small Town Queer. La Hay says it was a positive experience being in the film and that she hopes people can learn from her story.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Hatter Karen La Hay got a bit of the spotlight recently as she was featured in a Telus documentary.
The three-part documentary series is called ‘Small Town Queer’ and it follows members of the LGBTQ community in small town Alberta. La Hay’s episode is called “Senior in Transition” and it tells her story as a senior transgender woman.
“It was an experience for sure,” said La Hay. “They approached me with this about two years ago in June, just before the Pride festival that year.
“For two days I was wired up with a mic and never knew when it was on or when it was off – it was fun.”
La Hay came out in 2017, but says she has known her true identity for many years.
“The documentary is a keyhole look into my life,” she said. “I’ve been self-aware since I was seven or eight years old.
“It was not a pleasant experience growing up and it’s had a lot of consequences over the years – I’ve worked to put that behind me and a few years ago I had to make a choice and told myself ‘enough is enough’.
“I took the gamble and now here I am.”
La Hay says her life has gotten “much better” since coming out.
“I am at peace with myself and I have accepted that I am who I am,” she said. “The acceptance I have received from the general population in the city has been phenomenal.
“I’m at the point in my life where I don’t let the negativity get to me.”
La Hay says her motto is “live and let live,” which is a big part of what she wants people to take from watching her episode.
The documentary follows La Hay around the city for a couple days as she helps with Pride festivities as well as volunteering as part of her weekly routine. While La Hay is no longer with Pride, she does plenty of work around the Hat.
“I’m heavily involved with the library – I’m basically a permanent fixture down there,” she said. “I volunteer with the food bank, doing the Brown Bag Lunches – I have 11 schools on my route on a daily basis.
“I try to give as much back as I can, the community has been so supportive of me over the past few years.”
La Hay also volunteers at a local nursing home.
The series was directed by Laura O’Grady, an award-winning, Alberta-based director and producer. She says she had a great time filming with La Hay.
“We wanted to go to some smaller Alberta communities to tell unheard stories,” she said. “I had done work with the LGBTQ community in the past and it was always about people who wanted to leave the smaller centres – I asked myself, ‘what about the people who stay and choose to live there?’
“I started looking at Medicine Hat and found an article about (La Hay) volunteering at the library – she seemed like the perfect person to feature.”
“She has a remarkable story – she’s such a strong woman,” she said.
O’Grady says she is hoping this is the first of multiple seasons for the series.
The documentary can be viewed for free on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8c6EBufTZg
