‘Out in Rural America’ is out after six years

By: 
Jason Ferguson

Fiona Willis devoted six years of her life to making a film that highlights the plight of the LGBTQ+ community in rural America, particularly South Dakota.
That doesn’t mean she made the film for the LGBTQ+ community.
No, the film, entitled “Out in Rural America,” is aimed at people who don’t understand the struggles the LGBTQ+ community faces, or people who may even direct anger or bigotry toward the community.
Willis hopes by watching the film, people will understand the LGBTQ+ community is just like them.
“I will never understand why anyone cares who someone loves,” Willis said. “I just don’t get it. People should be allowed to love who they love.”
The 60-minute film explores the struggles and joys of being lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and gender queer in rural America. Following five stories from the LGBTQ+ community over a six-year period, the film explores the issues of self-doubt, discrimination, acceptance and small-town and Midwestern LGBTQ+ life from a cultural, social, familial and religious perspective.
More importantly, the film explores being accepting of one’s own self and finding their place in their families and the small communities they call home.
“When you’re a documentarian, you can’t insert yourself. You can’t affect the story arc,” Willis said. “I couldn’t have planned any of this, that it became such a positive story.”
Willis is a producer with production credits on a variety of national TV shows, including being executive producer and one of the creators of “Second Opinion with Joan Lunden,” (for 18 years) as well as working for Lifetime Television on “The Joan Rivers Show” and a few films on the opioid epidemic. All of her work these days goes through public television.
Willis is originally from Rochester, N.Y., where she works for WXXI Public Broadcasting. She met her husband, Dan Sedlacek of Custer, while he was in New York, and 10 years ago the couple settled in Custer, although she continues to work for WXXI along with other entities.
Six years ago she picked up an issue of the Rapid City Journal and saw the headline “Gay, married and back in South Dakota.”
The story was about Jennie and Nancy, a lesbian couple featured in the film. The two were married in Minnesota because at the time they couldn’t get married in South Dakota. Willis read and reread the article, struck by some of the comments by state legislators.
“If it had been anywhere else, it would have been considered hate speech,” she said. “I came from New York, so I had no idea being gay was a big deal.”
Willis said it wasn’t just what the legislators were saying, but “knowing they could say it and would get reelected” was imformative about the state of LGBTQ+ rights in South Dakota.
“I  was stunned,” she said.
Dan implored his wife to contact the couple and she did. She pledged to help them in their fight for LGBTQ+ rights, although she wasn’t sure how to help.
“The one tool I have is I share people’s stories for a living,” she said.
So for the next six years, Willis did all the filming, interviewing and audio, following the lives of those featured in the film. Two of the others featured in the film, Joe and Pam, Willis met while celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to require all states to grant same-sex marriages and recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states. Another, Jade, was met during a Pride event.
The parents of Matthew Shephard are also featured in the film. Shephard was a gay  student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured and left to die near Laramie on the night of Oct. 6, 1998.
Willis was careful not to use the last names of anyone featured in the film.
“One of the things hanging on me the whole time was, ‘I cannot put these people at risk for the sake of a film,’” she said. “If I had seen that start to happen I would have stopped.”
Willis didn’t plan for the project to take six years, but she didn’t want to do flat interviews where just that moment in time was discussed. So for six years, Willis followed the progression of the stories of each person featured in the film. She set a target date of Pride 2021 for the film’s release, which was met. It debuted May 27.
Willis brought in her friend Chris Golding, who also edits “Second Opinion,” to edit the film.
“Something like this, I needed another person,” she said. “I have become so close to these people. I needed someone really open-minded and open-hearted. He just embraced it. He took the same level of passion that I had.”
It didn’t take long for the positive reviews to come in. By the morning after it debuted on WXXI, Willis’ phone was overwhelmed with phone calls, text messages and emails.
By the end of this month, the film will have likely aired in 85 percent of the country. Willis allowed two-year rights to the film to PBS stations, which means it will likely air in 95 percent of the country.
Before moving to South Dakota, Willis knew only a handful of people in the state, including her husband, her husband’s family (“they were so loving and kind,” she said) and people she had met on visits here. She since fell in love with Custer and South Dakota and says the state is full of great, loving people.
“This is not a hateful state at all,” she said. “It’s just this one issue. A lot of times those who have the most hate in their heart have the biggest megaphone.”
She mentions a barrage of legislation each year many feel is aimed at marginalizing or discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community.
“Every year it’s the same thing. Everyone rallies for three months—we’re in Pierre, we’re everywhere,” she said. “The bills are always shot down, but it’s every single year.”
The juxtaposition of making such a film in a red town in a red county in a red state is not lost on her, but she knows South Dakota is full of good people and a place her family has thrived.
“The people I surround myself with here are great, loving people,” she said. 
“People reading this might say, ‘Oh, this doesn’t affect me, I don’t know anyone who is gay,’” she said. “Well, you do. Statistically not only do you know someone, but you love someone who is gay—someone in your family or a close friend.”
Willis is proud her film became one of love and self-acceptance, and adds she became close friends with all of those featured in the film. Her goal through the film was to help people achieve a higher level of understanding and acceptance for a community that is at risk, especially in more conservative states.
It’s not uncommon for a child to be kicked out of their home for coming out as LGBTQ+, Willis said, and if her film can prevent that from happening just once, she will be happy.
“The one thing that stuck out was that if parents and families are supportive and accepting, people in the LGBTQ+ community tend to do OK,” she said. “Parental acceptance is so huge. You’re a parent. You have to love your kids. It’s your job.
“(The film) had really happy endings and I couldn’t have planned for any of that.”
“Out in Rural America” can be viewed at wxxi.org/oira. The film will also air on SDPB June 27 at 2 p.m.

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