Monday, November 22.1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
Filmmaker documents gays' struggles
Director features Lawrence residents in documentary
By Ryan Devlin
Special to the Kansan
In the new documentary Shades of Gray, KU graduate and local filmmaker Tim DePaepe focuses on the lives of five gay people living in Kansas. The film recounts their struggles for acceptance, tolerance and equality within their families and communities.
Set against the historical background of two major civil rights battles fought and won in Kansas, the film also details the events of a successful 1995 campaign by the Simply Equal coalition to have the words "sexual orientation" added to Lawrence's human relations ordinance.
DePaepe, who graduated from KU with a bachelor's degree in film studies in 1990, said he got the idea to do the film seven years ago while following the Clinton/Dole debates. He said he became fed up with the candidates' positions on the issue of gays in the military and detested the fact that the rest of the country was associating the opinions of Bob Dole with Kansas.
"I said to myself, 'I'm going to do a film about gay people in Kansas,'" DePapepe said. "If the rest of the world knew that there were gay people living in Kansas, the rest of the world would have to deal with the fact that there are gay people everywhere."
DePapee, who is straight, said he felt a connection with the five people he interviewed.
"I think in terms of the stereotypical Midwestern attitude, the two most detested forms of existence are artists and gay people." DePaepe said. "I see myself as an artist. Growing up in Emporia, I didn't fit in to the landscape."
DePaepe said Kansas often was stereotypically portrayed as a conservative state. Janet Pryor, a lesbian who grew up in Scammon and whose story is told in the film, concurs.
"When people think about gays and lesbians and bisexuals and transgender people, they don't think about Kansas," Pryor says in the film. "They think East Coast, West Coast; they think San Francisco. They think anywhere but Kansas."
The film suggests that gays and lesbians living in Kansas are few and far between and that acceptance of homosexuality in Kansas is far from the norm. Many of the
Above: Ben Zimmerman, retired professor of social welfare, prepares for a scene in front of his home for Shades of Gray, a documentary about the struggles of gays in Kansas, Zimmerman, who is gay, is a civil rights advocate in Lawrence.
Right: Local filmmaker Tim DePaepe shoots a scene at Lawrence's annual Human Rights Parade. Contributed photos
film's subjects discuss the difficulty of being gay in homogeneously straight rural communities. They talk about what it is like to grow up without gay role models and they discuss their initial fears of what would happen if it was found out within their home communities that they were gay.
When several classmates found out that Michael Lovegrove, who grew up in Haysville and is featured in the film, was gay, they beat him severely and pointed a gun at his head.
The film also relates the experience of coming out to family, friends and community.
Most of those profiled left their home communities and initially came out elsewhere. Many felt it necessary to explore their identities outside of their relations to their families. One went to New York, three others came to Lawrence.
Lawrence ironically is portrayed as a haven for gays and lesbians who seek refuge within the state's borders, even though it offers them little protection under the law.
Ben Zimmerman, retired professor of social welfare and civil rights activist, whose evolution from being a closedet
gay man to a being a publicly gay man is documented in the film. In 1994, the then 77-year-old Zimmerman led the coalition, Simply Equal. The coalition fought to add the words "sexual orientation" to the city's human relations ordinance. The ordinance allows the city to investigate claims of discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.
The proposal was strongly opposed by a coalition of local ministers, some members of the Douglas County Republican Party and some members of the City Commission. In the end, however, Simply Equal's efforts were successful. On April 25, 1995, Zimmerman's 78th birthday, the Commission voted 3-2 to add sexual orientation to the ordinance. In doing so, Lawrence became the first and only city in Kansas to include sexual orientation in its human rights ordinances.
Zimmerman could not be reached for comment.
Simply Equal's victory is undercut significantly in the film by the influence of Fred Phelps. DePaepe said Phelps welcomed the chance to offer his side and told him that the story of gays in Kansas could not adequately be told without including the efforts of Westboro Baptist Church. DePaepe said interviewing Phelps was a difficult process. He likened it to the scene in the film The Silence of the Lambs, when Jodie Foster's character first interviews Hannibal Lecter.
"Very rarely does anyone get to experience looking into the eyes of absolute hate," DePaepe said.
In the film, Phelps reiterates his views on homosexuality and speaks candidly about his childhood in Mississippi, his history as a civil rights attorney and his picketing of Matthew Shepard's funeral. The film features footage of Phelps and his supporters at Shepard's funeral.
In the film, Phelps says that Shepard "lived his life predicated on the lie that it's okay to be gay."
He also says that Kansas is becoming increasingly popular for the message of his church.
DePapepe said the title of the film referred to the gray matter that comes from misconceptions and ignorance. He also said that knowing one's sexual identity was black or white but that coming out had many different levels, or shades of gray.
Jesse Summers, Iola senior, attended a private screening of the film earlier this month. He said the film gave him a more realistic view of the problems gays face in Kansas. "You hear stories all the time about discrimination and bashing," Summers said, "But to hear and see people who've actually faced it relating their experiences really puts it in perspective."
DePaepe said he hoped that gay children and parents could take their families to see the film and that it also might help open heterosexuals' minds.
"I hope they can look at the issue from a different perspective, from the perspective of life and what embracing all forms of sexual identity can do for the social fabric," he said.
DePape is in the process of sending the film to different film festivals for review, such as the Sundance Film Festival and the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival in Austin.
"There are 500 film festivals internationally," DePaepe said. "If we get the film into five of them, then I'll feel that it will have been a success."
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