Small Town Gay Bar

The American landscape is littered with small towns that were always portrayed as the model of perfection for raising a family and developing citizens with American qualities. Whether a small New England town, southern backwoods town or a western stop along the way; the American small town has always been billed as a nice community. So it comes to no surprise that the great qualities of small town life are present when Malcolm Ingram, the director of Small Town Gay Bar (2006), briefly interviews Bill Curtis, the mayor of Shannon, Mississippi. The mayor advertises that the folks are nice and welcoming and everyone is important to the community. But then there's the gay bar. And in a moment of brief resignation the only thing that the mayor can say is that some people don't agree with that but it exists because it has a right to exist. Maybe that's just the politically safe remark to make but the body language in a few brief seconds is one of the many feelings that are examined in Small Town Gay Bar.



The gay bar that is in Shannon is called Rumors, the place is nothing more than a small run down shack whose insides are crudely decorated to look like a paradise. The owner Rick Gladish knows that having a bar for gay people in a community where homosexuality is looked down upon is difficult. For those who are gay in Shannon and some of the surrounding towns the bar is a paradise. Many of the patrons view the bar as a place where they can be themselves. The patrons are fully aware that a completely "out" lifestyle is looked down upon in their part of the world. The owner of Rumors knows how difficult it was and is to have a place where homosexuals could gather and be themselves. Many patrons of straight bars seem okay with there being a gay bar as long as it is out of sight and out of mind. But for others the gay bar is dangerous to the quality of life and the town.

The film looks at these dangers by examining past gay bars that existed in rural Mississippi and by hearing the stories from those who used to go to those bars. One bar, Crossroads, is described as an open air free for all atmosphere that included; drinking, boxing, wrestling, and a litany of sexual activities. The pressure of the anti-gay movements and mismanagement led to Crossroads downfall. For other bars there were random shootings, threats made, and an overwhelming sense of danger that led other bars to become no more. Ingram interviews one family who's son was found dead, an apparent victim to a hate crime, due to his sexuality. By sharing this crime, Small Town Gay Bar raises the issue of the importance of life.



Small Town Gay Bar includes the anti-gay groups, A.F.A (American Family Association) and Fred Phelps synonymously known God Hates Fags group. Both groups represent a conservative fundamentalist christian backdrop for their ideology. Phelps is interviewed and he is not short of negative words towards the repercussions of homosexuality. He recounts the story of his first protest sign and how he felt that people would join his protests in riding his community of homosexuals. Unfortunately, in Phelps mind, this only made him see people as homosexual loving God haters. Phelps rhetoric is strong but in a more tone down approach the A.F.A is able to feel the same way without being so harsh. Tim Wildmon, an A.F.A representative, is interviewed and champions the need for wholesome family values and a moral law for all people. He is also portrayed as a hypocrite by the gay community because a family member of his is gay and Wildmom denies that Rumors exists even though he knows it does.

The film does not go into the political debate of homosexuality and the issues associated with that but it certainly shows that there is a resilience to those who are homosexual. The pressures of being homosexual in a small town are constantly told by those interviewed in the film but those interviewed continually find places to meet and form relationships with each other. At the end of the film the owner of Rumors decides to sell the bar and move on. The pressures of operating and owning a bar are tiresome and stressful but the end of the road for one bar there comes news of a new bar, Different Seasons. Different Seasons is the new name of the renovated Crossroads bar and is looked at as the new place for homosexuals in rural Mississippi to go to.



Whether the small town gay bar comes or go's there is ample evidence that the gay community will continue to exist even in places where they are not welcome or looked down upon. What is clear in the film is that the divisions between those who are gay and those who are straight are very deep. The film chalks this up to the make up of rural Mississippi culture and bible-belt ethics. Small Town Gay Bar does not posit any solutions to clearing the gap. The film itself may be a piece for an argument for tolerating the gay lifestyle, but it certainly doesn't offer the hope for reconciliation and understanding to those groups who are against the gay lifestyle. To further drive the divide wider, before the credits, Fred Phelps appears again and says that all of those who are homosexuals are going to burn in hell and there is nothing they can do about it. Some may see this as a laughing point or another attempt to devalue what already self devalues, but maybe it is the last shot in an argument that wraps itself up after eighty one minutes. Unfortunately, the debates still exist and the final words are yet to be spoken.