The Struggle For Our Lives…
I was reading the entry on the 2006 NC Gay and Lesbian Film Fest over at Pam’s House Blend, and this bit about the indy documentary, small town gay bar, caught my eye…
We saw small town gay bar, a documentary by Malcolm Ingram (it was exec produced by Kevin Smith, yes, the director of Clerks). It was a wonderful look at what social life is like for gays in the rural South. I mean really rural — the two Mississippi bars profiled were in Shannon (pop. 1,657) and Meridian (39,968). Durham, for comparison’s sake has an estimated pop. of 204,845.
Watching this film is like going back in time if you live in a progressive area or large city; the closet is a necessity here, as you might imagine. Being out can be a death sentence for these people. The bar is their only refuge, their only time to let their hair down, be themselves and feel safe to be who they are, as gays, lesbians, trans, black, white — all that matters is that you know you aren’t alone. Drag queens had a home to perform out and proud at Rumors and Crossroads (now called Different Seasons).
The audience howled as Ingram interviewed the unhinged Rotting CryptkeeperTM Fred Phelps. Fred was his animated self, talking about "fanning the flames of fag lust" and it was clear he’s energized and surprised by "all the fags that come out to protest him."
The Phelps Klan picketed the funeral of Scotty Joe Weaver, who was killed right next door in Alabama. The 18-year-old out gay teen, known to many at the Mississippi bars, was murdered by a trio of backwoods homobigots; he was tied to a chair in his trailer, beaten, stabbed, and partially decapitated. His body was dumped in the woods and then set on fire. No wonder these people remain closeted.
And since this is Mississippi, Ingram had to stop by the HQ and nexus of homohate, Don and Tim Wildmon’s American Family Association, which is in Tupelo. Tim sat on camera and dutifully told the story about how it was a good thing for the community to have his local minions stand on a nearby bridge and take down the tag numbers of people who were going over the bridge to go to the gay bar.
The next day on his radio show, Don would read the tag numbers on the air. This, he said, "would keep people accountable."…
Right. Like Christopher Gaines, Nichole Kelsay and Robert Porter held Scotty Joe Weaver accountable. Love the sinner, hate the sin, tie the sinner to a chair, torture them to death and then burn their body.
