The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap

When Oscar Wilde is imprisoned under Britain's newly passed criminal act toward homosexuality, making it a two year hard labor prison offense, the news blasted out over telegraphs, causing a considerate upheaval in the the viewpoints on same sex relationships. When the news arrived at a small Nevada ranching town, chaos broke out, resulting in a wave of bigotry and hatred, prejudice with all the unintended and devastating consequences. This is a chronicle of persecution and hatred and how love and friendship heal. The story begins with the news of Wilde's imprisonment and the telegraph arriving in a small town. When the protagonist, Mildred Dunlap goes to town and overhears the hostile hatred being spewed, she becomes fearful that she and her partner will be found out. To avoid this,and the unraveling of the excuse they've been living under, the lie of their lesbian relationship, she devises a plan to show interest in a man whose wife is dying. When things start to backfire at ever turn, the town goes into a mad overdrive chaotic vengeful gossip frenzy, fueled by the news of the day that come in by telegraphs, in 1895, namely the Dreyfus Affair which divided France; Booker T. Washington Atlanta address; the United States expansion of the effects of the Monroe Doctrine in South America; and continued news on Wilde's imprisonment. This is a story of bigotry, not just homophobic but anti-sematic and racism, anti-minority and differences from the majority living in this small town, very reminiscent of current events around the world today, and relevant.