Homophobia in Rural America

Change.org has an interesting story on a documentary being made about homophobia in rural America. What one encounters in terms of homophobia in larger cities in much of the South is bad enough, but in rural areas - e.g., Southwest Virginia and small cities such as Martinsville - it is stifling. The are no clubs and it seems no LGBT organizations and one must drive to the nearest larger city to find any kind of an organized LGBT social scene. Two visits to Martinsville and I think overdosing would be very attractive if I had to live in such a locale. Once the documentary entitled "Out in Silence" is completed, I definitely hoe to see it. Here are some highlights on the documentary effort (a trailer is set out below):

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Remember Barack Obama's famous line from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when he first burst onto the public stage? It went a little something like this: We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.

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And some of those gay friends in the red states (or at least the red parts of some blue states) have been busy putting together a documentary meant to shed light on the issue of LGBT rights and homophobia in rural America. That's the goal of a new film by two rural Western Pennsylvania residents, Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer, called "Out in the Silence."

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What's the story of Wilson and Hamer? Well, the couple traveled to Canada a few years ago to tie the knot. Upon returning to the U.S., the couple placed their wedding announcement in two Western Pennsylvania newspaper, the Oil City Derrick and the News-Herald. (Turns out Western Pennsylvania was where one of the grooms grew up.)

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Seeing two men list a wedding announcement in rural Pennsylvania papers was enough to send some rabid anti-LGBT folks over the edge. Hate mail ensued, including one local resident who used the wedding announcement as a call to arms for a federal marraige amendment.

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After seeing the direction that even our community might be going, I know how imperative it is for the Federal Marriage Amendment to be passed. All Christians need to stand up for what they know is right in God’s eyes, and stop this atrocity. The Bible was written as a set of rules for us to follow, not a set of general ideas for us to interpret however we want to fit our own lifestyles.

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Homophobic diatribes like this one continued to pour in. But so did supportive letters, as well as letters asking Wilson and Hamer for help. One of those letters came from the parent of a gay teenager, who had been forced to drop out of school because of anti-LGBT bullying. It's this story which makes up the premise of "Out in the Silence."

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[S]ometimes living in the bluest of blue states causes me to forget the struggles that queer people face in areas of the country where George W. Bush is a revered figure and where schools still close on the first day of hunting season. . . . . That's why it's really special to see Hamer and Wilson take the homophobic sentiments that their wedding announcement stirred, and turn them into a film that has the power to change minds and hearts on the issue of LGBT rights. Bravo.