Jim in Bold

Infobox Film
name = Jim in Bold


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director = Glenn Holsten
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starring = Mike Glatze
Benjie Nycum
Scott MacPhee
Ted McGuire
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released = 2003
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imdb_id = 0370809

"Jim in Bold" is a documentary about Jim Wheeler, a gay high school student in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, who committed suicide in 1997 because of constant harassment at school. The film was created by the Equality Forum and directed by Glenn Holsten.

The film, titled after a poem by Wheeler, details the abuse he received at the hands of his classmates because of his homosexuality. 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, was protested by 10 members of the Westboro Baptist Church, 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

* [http://www.jiminbold.com Jim in Bold official website]
* [http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/sep2003/Jim_in_Bold_9-15-2003.pdf Westboro Baptist Church flyer about Jim in Bold] (PDF) (Dead URL)
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* [http://www.gmax.co.za/feel/10/20-USyouthdoccie.html Jim in Bold, life as a gay teen in America]