The Avenger

I've seen this movie several times. I lived in Venango County, Pennsylvania, where Franklin and Oil City are located for 21 years. The hatred for anyone not like them, including straight people that weren't born AND raised there was unending, and brutal. What surprised me about this movie is that people there actually are showing some signs of positive change. Not enough, in my opinion, but those changes are certainly welcome, especially for those that are stuck there. And if you were gay, there was not a chance of acceptance from anyone, anywhere in the county. Or even the state (commonwealth) for that matter. Diane Gramley is still very toxic to the LGBT people there and across the state. But the nice thing about Gramley is that she's losing credibility, especially over the last ten years since the release of the documentary. Slowly, but surely, things are changing there, according to several friends of mine that still live there. I know Roxanne Hitchcock personally. She doesn't like me, and I don't care about that. She's in Oil City and I'm in Arizona. But what she and many others did with that Latonia building is nothing short of astounding. I made the mistake of thinking that that place was 30 years overdue for the wrecking ball. And that was in 1995.