Out In The Silence at the Community College of Baltimore County

A Message to the Out In The Silence Campaign from Morgan Slusher, Professor of Psychology and Rainbow Club Faculty Advisor at the Essex Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County:

I’m happy to report that since last year's screening of "Out In The Silence," the Office of Multicultural Affairs here at the Community College of Baltimore County has become much more intensively active in addressing LGBT concerns and has now established a committee on LGBT issues that has attracted considerable interest among allies. As a result of this, for the first time, CCBC is now “officially” recognizing October as LGBT History Month and putting together a calendar of related events.

Since we had such a success with our showing of “Out in the Silence” last year, we'll be hosting public screenings again this year on each of CCBC's three campuses! Thanks again for producing such a powerful film!

A Shout Out to Tupelo Ally Bob Spencer!

During each and every conversation that takes place after an OUT IN THE SILENCE screening, we talk about the important role that allies play in any and all struggles for social justice -- the simple idea that it is not the responsibility of oppression's victims alone to stand up, speak out, and take action, i.e. put their lives on the line, to vanquish injustice, but that it is the shared responsibility of all who call a community, a state, a nation home, particularly those who may not have quite as much at-risk, at least in the immediate sense, to help create that better world.


While we've come to know many, many incredible straight allies in the struggle for inclusion, fairness and equality for LGBT people over the past two years as we've traveled the backroads of rural and small town America with the OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign, none have inspired us like Bob Spencer of Tupelo, MS.


Bob is 70+ years old. He was active in the civil rights movement, has been involved in international solidarity work, and is now helping to bring spiritual enlightenment to the world as a Lay Minister with the local Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

As if that wasn't enough, Bob has now made it his personal mission to bring the phrase "liberty and justice for all" to life for LGBT folks too. He's an unstoppable dynamo!


Bob was the inspiration behind and the lead organizer for the recent, and what may have been the first-ever, pro-LGBT equality rally in Tupelo, which also happens to be the home of the notorious anti-gay hate group known as the American Family Association.

Bob worked for months to build a strong coalition of local and regional supporters. He secured a venue and helped to fend off under-handed attempts by the AFA to crush such local support and have the event canceled. And, he made sure that media paid attention and gave the event the visibility it needed to reach a wide audience throughout the region and across the country.


Called Give Hate A Holiday, the Oct. 10 event was wildly successful. Despite the minor interruption of an anonymous bomb threat early in the day, it brought hundreds of people together, helped make new connections and alliances in the community and across the state, and has already spawned the creation of a new group, the Tupelo LGBT Community, to continue to build and carry the movement forward.

Bob Spencer is the perfect example of the difference that one person can make, and how a seemingly small act of personal conviction can be the spark that ignites a fire in the mountain for extraordinary change.

Thanks Bob, for being such an ally!


Yours in Solidarity,

Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer
OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign

Take A Stand Against Hate in Western Pennsylvania -- Building Change Film Festival - Pittsburgh - October 14

Award-winning Gay Rights Doc to Screen in Pittsburgh's Building Change Film Festival


OUT IN THE SILENCE, an acclaimed documentary that looks at an issue of urgent local and national concern -- fairness and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people -- will be featured in Pittsburgh's Building Change Film Festival, part of Building Change: A Convergence for Social Justice, the first-ever gathering of people and organizations from across Southwestern Pennsylvania who share a common goal of advancing social justice and change in our region and world.

The screening is scheduled for Friday, October 14 at 5:00pm at the Point Park University Theater. Filmmaker Joe Wilson, a native of nearby Oil City, PA, will be on-hand for a post-screening conversation to get the audience fired up about building the local movement for justice & equality.


The Pittsburgh screening holds special significance because Western Pennsylvania is not only the setting for the stories in OUT IN THE SILENCE, it is home base for the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, the state affiliate of the American Family Association, a national 'traditional values' organization that was recently designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for the “thoroughly discredited falsehoods and demonizing propaganda it pumps out about homosexuality and other sexual minorities.”

(The American Family Association of Pennsylvania features prominently in the film as a result of the role it plays in promoting vicious anti-LGBT bigotry in the area and throughout the state.)

A highlight of the post-screening discussion will be an examination of the explosive new SPLC Intelligence Report titled “THE PROPAGANDISTS: Bryan Fischer, the American Family Association & the Demonization of LGBT People.”

At an Oct. 10 screening of OUT IN THE SILENCE in Tupelo, MS, home base for the American Family Association, "A Bomb Threat Failed to Derail First-ever Equality Event in Tupelo!"


OUT IN THE SILENCE captures the remarkable chain of events that unfold when a same-sex wedding announcement and the brutal bullying of a gay teen ignite a firestorm of controversy and a quest for change in a small Pennsylvania town (Oil City). Tough and wrenching, inspiring and entertaining, this Emmy Award-winning film is challenging audiences across the country, and around the world, to rethink their values and consider how they can help close the gaps that have divided families, friends, churches, and communities on these issues for far too long.

The film was produced in association with the Sundance Institute and Penn State Public Broadcasting, premiered at the 2010 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York, and won an Emmy Award for Achievement in Documentary.

“The characters in the film are just ordinary people – a kid and his mom, two women who start a business, an Evangelical preacher and his wife – but their stories get at the heart of how anti-LGBT stigma and repression continue to harm individuals and divide communities,” said filmmaker Wilson. “That's why I'm using it as a tool for education and activism, especially in small towns and rural communities, where there often isn't any visible or organized gay presence at all.”

At the heart of the campaign is a dedication to the idea that small acts of LGBT visibility in places where they are rare, and sometimes unwelcome, help to raise awareness and open-up dialogue in profound new ways and create ripple effects and opportunities to organize for change that go far and wide.

Some of the campaign's events have been targeted by opponents for protests and threats. See “Potter County Library Faced Threats Over Gay Documentary” (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

More often, however, “they have become forums, a place to meet where there has been no place, to talk where there is a desire to talk but little occasion,” wrote JoAnn Wypijewski in The Nation.

The Pittsburgh screening is especially significant because the region is home to one of the most homophobic and transphobic members of the state legislature, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County. Metcalfe is consistently one of the biggest obstacles to achieving justice and full inclusion for Pennsylvania's LGBT residents, and a regular promoter of divisive measures such as the ANTI-marriage equality constitutional amendment being re-introduced this year.

Filmmaker Wilson hopes that state and local elected representatives, civic, community and religious leaders will attend the event to express their support for inclusion, fairness and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and all people, particularly youth, who call the region home.

To see a trailer or for more information about the film, please visit: OutintheSilence.com



Film Synopsis: When a popular 16-year-old jock is brutally bullied for coming out at his small town high school, his mother reaches out for help to the only person she feels she can trust, an openly gay man who lives 300 miles away – native son and filmmaker Joe Wilson, whose same-sex wedding announcement ignited a firestorm of controversy in the local paper. Returning home with camera in hand, Wilson documents the harrowing but ultimately successful battle waged by the teen and his mom against recalcitrant school authorities, the efforts of a lesbian couple to restore an historic theater in the face of vitriolic anti-gay attacks, and his own unexpected friendship with an Evangelical preacher. Intertwined with these heartfelt stories is Wilson's exploration of the role that the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Family Association plays in stoking anti-gay bigotry in the town. At once tough, wrenching, inspiring, and entertaining, OUT IN THE SILENCE ultimately shows the individual and community transformations that are possible when people, on all sides of these challenging issues, lay down their swords and take the time to get to know one another.

As walls are torn down and bridges built, OUT IN THE SILENCE offers a fascinating and moving commentary on America's culture war.

Quotes:

“A stunning documentary” - The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Film Critic's Pick-of-the-Week” - New York Times

“Though the film is made by two gay men, it doesn't seek to promote a “gay agenda” or to stereotype the “religious right.” It's simply a matter of trying to understand attitudes in small-town America.” - Christianity Today

“Most moving are the stories of heterosexuals who transform because of their relationships with GLBT people.” - American Library Association

“After 'Out In The Silence' played at Williamsport's Community Arts Center in September 2010, I was compelled to write the following message on the film's official website: “Your film does cause one to reflect on one’s own behavior and prejudice. I consider myself a progressive African-American, but the film caused me to doubt my relatively conservative attitudes about homosexuality and the bigotry against gays and lesbians. Mistreatment of another human being is wrong. But, I have not taken a strong stance against the bigotry. I will do better.” - Richard James, Founder, Billtown Film Festival

Bomb Threat Fails to Derail First-Ever Equality Event in Tupelo

Media Advisory: For Immediate Release -- October 10, 2011

Bomb Threat Fails to Derail First-Ever Equality Event in Tupelo

Tupelo, MS – First the venue hosting a screening of “Out In The Silence” as part of a first-of-its-kind pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality event in Tupelo, Mississippi, was pressured by local "family values" advocates to cancel the event, then it received an anonymous bomb threat as things were getting underway.


The intimidation and threat occurred at the Link Centre on Main Street as organizers and allies were gathering outside the building to welcome attendees and offer a public display of support for efforts to raise LGBT visibility and build the local movement for inclusion, justice and equality for all.

Tupelo holds special significance as the setting for these events as headquarters for the American Family Association (AFA), a national organization designated as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for the “thoroughly discredited falsehoods and demonizing propaganda it pumps out about homosexuality and other sexual minorities.”


The bomb threat followed a press conference at which the SPLC unveiled an explosive new Special Report titled “THE PROPAGANDISTS: Bryan Fischer, the American Family Association & the Demonization of LGBT People.”

The threat was investigated by the Tupelo Police Department who swept the building and cleared it for use. The film screening took place as scheduled followed by a powerful community dialogue where a diverse audience pledged to join together, speak out against homophobia and transphobia and build the movement for change in Tupelo and beyond.


Co-sponsors of the event included: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tupelo -- Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford -- PFLAG Oxford/North Mississippi -- Gulf Region PFLAG -- University of Mississippi Gay-Straight Alliance -- OUTlaw at The University of Mississippi -- Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights – ACLU of Mississippi – Unitarian Universalist Mid South District -- Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations "Standing on the Side of Love" Campaign – Believe Out Loud – Americans United for Separation of Church and State -- Tennessee Equality Project -- Georgia Equality -- Equality Federation -- GetEQUAL.

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UPDATE: Rally Urges Support for LGBT Community - from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - Oct. 11, 2011

TUPELO - Demonstrators outside the Link Centre on Monday held up signs reading "Love" as they showed their support for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.


The event, called "Give Hate a Holiday" was organized by the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Tupelo and brought together about 35 legal analysts, gay rights activists and their supporters.

"Homosexuals do not expect special rights, only human rights," said Amanda Todd, an attorney and organizer of the Tupelo chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG.

Speaking alongside Todd at a press conference prior to the demonstration were representatives from the ACLU, the Tennessee Equality Project, the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center.


Earlier this year the SPLC designated the Tupelo-based American Family Association a hate group. The SPLC based its designation in part on comments made by Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis at AFA and host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio.

Mark Potok of the SPLC called Fischer's comments about gays "outrageous" and "intentionally false." Potok referred specifically to comments Fischer made in a May 27, 2010 blog post in which he endorsed a theory that links gays to Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust.

AFA President Tim Wildmon said that comments on blogs like Fischer's don't necessarily reflect the positions of the AFA, adding that while he believes the Bible plainly teaches against homosexuality, "I reject the notion that we're doing anything that fosters hate against LGBT people. That would be un-Christian."



At noon folks were dismissed from the press conference and gathered along West Main Street holding signs proclaiming their belief in the fair and equal treatment of gays. A march that had been planned at AFA's headquarters was canceled because of traffic safety concerns.

Filmmaker Joe Wilson, whose documentary "Out in the Silence," about a Pennsylvania teenager picked on because he's gay, said events like this raise awareness within a community and help deter injustice. The film was shown twice at the Link Centre on Monday.

galen.holley@journalinc.com