This weekend caught both a movie and a play.

First off was “Jesus Camp“, which we saw Saturday with Chris, James, and Layton. This is a documentary about one of the evangelical summer camps children are sent to in America. I have no idea how many there are like this, but quite frankly, they scare the shit out of me. They’re essentially brainwashing camps to raise kids to be fundamentalist conservatives who are anti-everything liberal. They were talking to these kids about abortion, and some of them couldn’t be over seven. This is what moderates of all flavors and liberals are up against, and it’s some pretty crazy shit. The director of the camp says it is the response to the supposed Muslim “terrorist” camps they send their kids to “over there”, and she’s more right than she knows when she makes the comparison. They don’t put guns in the kids hands, but they make them dress up in military garb and swear to put their lives on the line for Christianity.

Sunday night was a far more pleasant experience. At the lovely old Majestic Theatre downtown, a room packed full of Southern gay men (and a few straight folk!) enjoyed a live rendition of Del Shores’ Sordid Lives. If you haven’t seen the movie version yet, go rent it, especially if you grew up in Texas and had any country folk relatives. It’s a hysterical send up of small town life in Texas, with a good helping of gay sensibility thrown in. Seeing it live was a real hoot, especially since everyone knew the lines already and enjoyed seeing several actors from the movie reprise their roles in the play version. Leslie Jordan (from the movie version, and Will & Grace), played Brother Boy, and I just don’t know if anyone else can play a transvestite homosexual like he can.