This month's installment of the socially conscious Ironweed Film Club focuses on the struggles of gays and lesbians in America's Bible Belt. The first is a documentary short, Out in the Heartland, which investigates the impact of a campaign to ban gay marriage in Kentucky via the stories of several gay parents who reside there. The film also documents the ways that the nation's political, social and religious atmosphere has been negatively affected by recent anti-gay constitutional amendments, and the long-term consequences these amendments will have on every one of us. In the feature-length documentary Small Town Gay Bar, Director Malcolm Ingram profiles two gay bars in rural Mississippi — Rumors in Shannon and Different Seasons in Meridian — and chronicles the day-to-day struggle for acceptance by gays and lesbians living in these towns. Ingram also examines the violent mutilation and murder of 18-year-old Scotty Weaver, a gay teen who came out in a neighboring state; the history and eventual fate of the Tulip Creek Bar in Tupelo, which was burned down by the owner in 1998; and the antagonistic claims put forward by Mississippi's outspoken Christian Coalition. For more info about either of these films, visit outintheheartland.com and smalltowngaybar.com. Ironweed Film Club: Out in the Heartland and Small Town Gay Bar, Wed., July 11, 8 p.m., The Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S., downtown St. Petersburg, $5, 727-895-6620.
