Jim in Bold
Encyclopedia
Jim in Bold is a documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 about Jim Wheeler, a gay high school student in Lebanon
Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Lebanon, formerly known as Steitztown, is a city in and the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,477 at the 2010 census, a 4.2% increase from the 2000 count of 24,461...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, who committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 in 1997 because of constant harassment at school. The film was created by the Equality Forum and directed by Glenn Holsten. The original music was composed by Michael Aharon.

The film, titled after a poem by Wheeler, details the abuse he received at the hands of his classmates because of his homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

. It also presents interviews and a cross-nation road-trip with members of Young Gay America, an online teen organization for gays, and compares the teasing and physical abuse Jim suffered to the increasingly open attitudes towards homosexuality six years later when the film was first shown.

The film premiered at the Equality Forum 2003 on May 1 at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. A later showing, held September 28, 2003 at the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...

 as a fundraiser for Common Roads, a local gay youth support group, was protested by 10 members of the Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro Baptist Church
The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...

, a religious institution well known for their extreme anti-gay views. Because they announced their intention to protest in advance, they were overwhelmed by over 800 counter-protesters who declared the day "Unity Day". The counter-protest was organized by the Pride Festival of Central Pennsylvania led by community activist Reynaldo Lacaba.

External links

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