Growing up gay in Appalachia

[theHandpuppet]

The Parthenon (Marshall University)
Huntington, WV
Growing up gay in Appalachia
By Brianna Paxton
On October 7, 2014

"I'm here to tell you growing up gay in Appalachia is one thing; growing up gay and a big queen in Appalachia is something totally different,” performer Ilene Over said. "You catch enough shit for being gay."

Ilene Over performed a show to the community Tuesday through vignettes about her experience growing up as a gay person in Appalachia to celebrate National Coming Out Day.

She opened her show with a quote from Harvey Milk, an openly gay, elected U.S. politician from the 1970’s.

"Every person must come out, as difficult as it is you must tell your immediate family, you must tell your relatives, you must tell your friends, if indeed they are your friends,” Milk said. “You must tell the people you work with, you must tell the people in the stores you shop in. Once they realize that we are indeed their children, that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, and every lie, ever innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. Once you do you will feel much better."....

MORE at http://www.marshallparthenon.com/news/view.php/850762/Growing-up-gay-in-Appalachia

[theHandpuppet]

1. Appalachian Queer Film Festival announces films

Appalachian Queer Film Festival announces films
The Associated Press
October 13, 2014

LEWISBURG, W.Va. — The inaugural Appalachian Queer Film Festival has announced its lineup for later this month.

The Lewisburg festival will feature two widely released films. They include the "Skeleton Twins," starring "Saturday Night Live" alumni Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. It will be screened Oct. 25.

The next night, the documentary "To Be Takei" will be shown. It stars George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu in the original TV "Star Trek" but is now known for his gay and civil rights activism.

Besides the screenings, the festival will also feature panel discussions.

Organizers of the film festival say they hope to break down stereotypes and broaden minds throughout Appalachia.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/10/13/3430909_appalachian-queer-film-festival.html?sp=/99/1683/165/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

[theHandpuppet]

2. LGBTQ in Appalachia: Oral Histories in "Revelations"

There will be a performance this Saturday afternoon at Virginia Tech.

LGBTQ in Appalachia: Oral Histories in "Revelations"
Mon October 20, 2014

...Carrie Cline who produced this oral history presentation called Revelations is originally from New York. But when she moved to West Virginia she began to wonder about something.

"If people in Appalachia are marginalized by the greater world, then the people who raise and are role models for gays and transgender, queer Appalachians may be teaching people how to rise above the stigma."

With a Rockefeller Scholarship, she began to explore the ways people who are other than straight Appalachians incorporate the resiliency that’s such a core part of Appalachian culture. She took oral histories from dozens of people and created a performance piece from what they said

"It opens with people talking about strong roll models in their own lives one person says my gramma taught me not to use the term ‘four eyes’ and not to put other people down. Someone else, a gay man, talks about an aunt who was very much herself, wore big grass skirts through the Krogers and his mother who would have 40 people over for Thanksgiving and also just going her own way and finding her own path. So several of these kinds of stories are exchanged and then people move on to the theme of realizing that they were different in terms of gender and sexuality."....

MORE at http://wvtf.org/post/lgbtq-appalachia