Countdown to Outfest: "Tru Loved" is a true gem...

Anyone attending closing night of Outfest in downtown LA a few weeks from now is in for a really wonderful treat when they see "Tru Loved." I watched a screener last night and absolutely loved it!

It's the new film by wroter-director Stewart Wade who also did "Coffee Date." This is about an extremely well-adjusted high schooler named Tru (short for Gertrude, as in Stein) who is the new kid at her So Cal suburban high school. Tru (an amazing Najarra Townsend) has two moms, two dads ("I know we're not exactly 'The Brady Bunch' but it's worked pretty well for us so far"). Alexandra Paul and Cynda Williams are terrific as Tru's moms.

Everybody initially thinks Tru is the big dyke on campus until she starts hanging out with star quarterback Lodell (Matthew Thompson). He's a sweet kid and clicks with Tru but ends up wanting to use her as a beard.

When he sends out mixed signals, Tru says: "I'm just trying to get you to admit what we both know. You're gay! Big (expletive) deal!"

Lodell: "It's just that I don't want to be gay. It kinda sucks you know. ...Most black folks think being gay is a white thing." He said of his family: "They don't want to know how things are, they want to hear what they want to hear."

Tru finally says: "I said I wouldn't tell anyone, I didn't say I'd be your Katie Holmes."

Tru sets out to discover her place at her school by founding a gay-straight alliance. With a fierce determination to fight for equal rights and she ends up changing some hearts and minds. But it's not an easy road.
Some of the supporting casting is just delicious with Alec Mapa as an English teacher at the high school, Marcia Wallace as the drama teacher who agrees to be the alliance's faculty advisor, Bruce Vilanch as the gay uncle raising Tru's boyfriend,Trevor played by adorable Jake Abel,, Nichelle Nichols of "Star Trek" fame as Lodell's grandmother and Jasmine Guy and a cameo by Dave Kopay, the first NFL player to come out."

Jane Lynch appears in the final scene as Alec Mapa's friend. He is a closeted teacher and wonders if he shoiuld come out. Lynch replies: "If you were doused with kerosine and lit on fire you couldn't be any more flaming than you already are every single day."

For more information about Outfest, the 26th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - which runs July 9-21 - go to Outfest.org