I first met Alan and Brian in 2015, just months after I began learning American Sign Language at the Sign Language Center, a school they owned. The first moment I captured was their hearing twins’ 4th birthday party — loud, chaotic, full of love. I knew instantly: this was a story I needed to tell.
Over the next three years, I observed their everyday life as Deaf gay parents raising hearing children — witnessing the beauty, friction, and vulnerability of a family straddling two worlds. The following six years were filled with editing, setbacks, and eventually, my own journey into fatherhood. Suddenly, their story wasn’t just powerful — it was personal.
"Loud Love" seeks to reframe how we see Deaf lives — not as “silent,” but as expressive, rich, and deeply connected. It also challenges narrow definitions of parenting, particularly for those outside the “traditional” mold: queer, Deaf, disabled, immigrant, or culturally different.
As a gay immigrant father of two, I return to this story again and again, asking: How does a child facing society’s shame and pressure embrace a culture labeled “less than”? And from a parent’s viewpoint — shaped by guilt and rigid norms — how do you keep loving through it all?
I think that’s a question many of us carry, in one form or another.
Alan passed away in 2023. I wish he could sit in the audience, in a shiny outfit, watching "Loud Love" with his beloved family — laughing, crying, and critiquing every on-camera moment. He would have filled the room with presence. With life. With something loud.
Over the next three years, I observed their everyday life as Deaf gay parents raising hearing children — witnessing the beauty, friction, and vulnerability of a family straddling two worlds. The following six years were filled with editing, setbacks, and eventually, my own journey into fatherhood. Suddenly, their story wasn’t just powerful — it was personal.
"Loud Love" seeks to reframe how we see Deaf lives — not as “silent,” but as expressive, rich, and deeply connected. It also challenges narrow definitions of parenting, particularly for those outside the “traditional” mold: queer, Deaf, disabled, immigrant, or culturally different.
As a gay immigrant father of two, I return to this story again and again, asking: How does a child facing society’s shame and pressure embrace a culture labeled “less than”? And from a parent’s viewpoint — shaped by guilt and rigid norms — how do you keep loving through it all?
I think that’s a question many of us carry, in one form or another.
Alan passed away in 2023. I wish he could sit in the audience, in a shiny outfit, watching "Loud Love" with his beloved family — laughing, crying, and critiquing every on-camera moment. He would have filled the room with presence. With life. With something loud.
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