Some of the news that is fit to print

Movie review: Brokeback Mountain

We went to see the much discussed Brokeback Mountain last night – the movie that has been billed as a ‘gay cowboy movies,’ and that is mostly because we have to categorize everything. The movie is stunning. Truly stunning. That being said, it is also horribly sad – a tragedy, really.

That being said, I’ll give my grade up front so if you don’t want to know anything more about the movie… As if it was some big secret, I give it a strong A, and yet I recommend this movie with some trepidation because it is just so sad. I even called my sister, who has had a tough month, and recommended that she not see it. So yes, it is phenomenal, but just be prepared.

I was not. I went into the movie knowing little about it – I knew it was based on a 1997 short story that was published in The New Yorker by Annie Proulx (whose name I can just never pronounce. Is it Pro-lix or Pru? She actually answers that question on her Web site, for those curious… Go to the FAQ. ) My boss actually had given me the complete New Yorkers for Christmas and I looked up the original, but I had not had a chance to read it yet.

I also knew that the movie was directed by Ang Lee, who directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, of course. My first experience with Lee, however, was with one of his early movies, 1993’s The Wedding Banquet. That subtitled movie is about a gay couple, one of whom looks to satisfy his nagging parents by marrying a friend, but it gets out of hand when the parents arrive and begin to take over the wedding plans. I have not seen it in years, but the movie is a CJD-fav.

Lee has such a delicate touch. His movies are always just so graceful. And Brokeback Mountain is no exception. From the scenery to the characters, the movie is just delightful.

Brokeback Mountain is that rare thing, a big Hollywood weeper with a beautiful ache at its center. It's a modern-age Western that turns into a quietly revolutionary love story.
-- Entertainment Weekly

The movie is about Ennis del Mar (remarkably played by Health Ledger) and Jack Twist (also very well played by Jake Gugenhaller), two ranch hands who come together when they are working as sheephearers on summer on a range on Brokeback Mountain. The two begin to share more that summer and eventually share their tent. That leads to a much deeper relationship.

Both men go on to marry and have kids – that’s what cowboys are supposed to do. Yet the two repeatedly come into each others lives – they eventually have regular “fishing trips.” Let’s just say that fish have never been safer. And during this period of the movie, it feels somewhat like the Alan Alda movie, "Same Time Next Year" but in some parallel universe.

The story is truly one of love – these men are passionate about each other. One of my faviroite scenes is on their first reunion, Jack is coming to visit Ennis and Ennis sitts at the window waiting in anticipation.

The tragedy is this love does not conquer all. There are severe consequences for this relationship – lost jobs, bad marriages, affairs, divorces, extreme loneliness and almost poverty… and more. In the end,

As the movie goes on, Ennis, penniless and alone, becomes a shard of a man, nurturing a lost dream.

Again, from the EW review:

Brokeback Mountain has a luscious doomed tenor that, at times, makes it feel like Edith Wharton with Stetsons. It's far from being a message movie, yet if you tear up in the magnificent final scene, with its haunting slow waltz of comfort and regret, it's worth noting what, exactly, you're reacting to: a love that has been made to knuckle under to society's design. In an age when the fight over gay marriage still rages, Brokeback Mountain, the tale of two men who are scarcely even allowed to imagine being together, asks, through the very purity with which it touches us: When it comes to love, what sort of world do we really want?

The movie is well worth the time. Andenjoy!

Gays are the new Jews?

Andrew Sullivan, the British, gay, conservative Catholic commentator, posts about the NYT Magazine piece on gay marriage:

The danger of the Jews/Gays spreading their disease throughout society, their enormous power despite tiny numbers, their ability to pass, their threat to children, their flaunting of their disagreement with the New Testament. It's all so familiar. I think the arguments now made by some Christianists are replicas of the old anti-Semitism, peddled by so many Christians in the past: that Jews are to be loved, but loving them is dependent on their conversion to Christianity; that you can love individual Jews while disdaining Judaism; that Jews' stubbornness in resisting conversion is evidence of their inherent evil; that such evil, at some point, has to be segregated from mainstream society as much as possible. Gays are not the new blacks. They're the new Jews. And the Church, in both Catholic and Protestant variants, is dredging up its old anti-Semitism in new guises. The GOP is along for the ride.

Anti-gay (marriage?)...

The NYT Magazine Sunday featured a cover story on... well, not gay marriage, exactly... more about gayness itself.

What's Their Real Problem With Gay Marriage? (It's the Gay Part) [NYT Magazine, 6.19.2005, registration require]
Maryland's anti-gay-marriage crusaders share this with organizers nationwide: They say they are fighting a disease.

The story is depressing beyond the fact that these are people who can see me... or my friends... as morally repugnant. To be honest, I don't have a problem with that. But what truly scares me is that they aren't comfortable having their own views. They need to impose their views on others. And because their views are ordained by God, there is no room for discussion or debate. Their arguments are, of course, intellectually empty because it largely rests on the blind belief that the Bible says homosexuality is immoral therefore it is wrong. And because being gay is wrong, it can't be associated with racism or other cases of discrimination.

What I find truly curious is that we are stuck in the Middle East as part of an effort to bring about a democracy and free people from dictators and radical religious fanatics. Yet at home, we are turning our country over to religious fanatics. A case in point: Terri Schiavo.

It is curious that these people think that their beliefs are under attack. In fact, this quote just cracked me up:

Bryan Simonaire added: ''We have to recognize that they have a strategy to propagate their lifestyle. Think back 10 or 20 years ago, when you had the first openly homosexual person on TV. It was shocking to a lot of people. Now it's the norm on television, so you don't have the shock factor. Then they had two men with a passionate kiss on TV. That's the road they're heading down. They have a strategy.''

It is out there more because we are not staying in the closet any more. Many of us are proud of our lives. Are we perfect? Of course not. But is any group? Is anybody?

''My concern is the health issue,'' said Evalena Gray, an activist in southern Maryland. ''I want to get these people away from AIDS, out of that unhealthy lifestyle.''

Unfortunately I feel sorry for her kids because she is raising them in a culture of hatred.

I don't care about anybodies beliefs. People can believe whatever they want as long as they don't impose their beliefs on me. And I'm sorry but if find Will & Grace or Queer As Folk repugnant, don't watch! I don't have a problem with that. But about 10 million people watch Will & Grace. (I'm not one of them because I found the stories getting tedious and boring.)

Unfortunately I'm not sure how we live in a free and open democracy if there are all sorts of issues where a large group of people merely opt out and feel it is within reason to obliterate others rights.

Anti-gays argue that it is not nature, but it is a 'lifestyle.'

Indeed, a constant refrain among the anti-gay-marriage forces is that they are motivated not by hate but by love. Most of the activists I spoke with say that they know gay people -- several said they have relatives who are gay -- and that they have approached them, with love, to try to get them to change. Rick Bowers, a pastor of a nondenominational church in Columbia, Md., is the head of Defend Maryland Marriage, another activist group, which works with Focus on the Family. ''There are those extremists who say that if a gay person were on fire you would burn in hell if you spit on them to put out the fire,'' he told me. ''But we're not like that. We love the human being. It's the lifestyle we disagree with.''

''Lifestyle'' is a buzzword in conservative Christian circles. It's a signal of the belief, and the policy position, that homosexuality is not an innate condition but a hedonistic way of living, one devoted to partying, drugs and wanton sex that ends, often, in illness and early death. In 2004 the Family Research Council put out a book called ''Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows About Homosexuality,'' which purports to explode the myth that homosexuality is natural or genetic and puts forth an alternative theory that it springs from childhood abuse or other developmental factors. Chapter 4, ''Is Homosexuality a Health Risk?'' lines up studies and statistics to link homosexuality with cancer, alcoholism, mental illness, suicide and reduced life span, in addition to H.I.V./AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The activists opposing gay marriage echo these points. ''My concern is the health issue,'' said Evalena Gray, an activist in southern Maryland. ''I want to get these people away from AIDS, out of that unhealthy lifestyle.''

I have argued with gay friends that being gay is -- or can be -- a choice. I lived a 'straight' life for a long time. After all, I didn't come out until I was in my mid-20s. But I was miserable and it had long-term ramifications on my life that I'm still dealing with these days.

Nature or nurture -- who cares? So you don't agree with the 'lifestyle.' So... don't get into a gay relationship. Don't watch television shows. Even don't associate with gay people, if you want. But why is there the need to impose your views on others? And we aren't talking about sex with children... and we aren't talking about sex with animals... We are talking about two people who have entered into a mutual relationship with one another... and I'm not sure why these folks care what I do with my life. They are afraid of what it will do to the institution of marriage? Well, straight people have made a pretty good mess of it on their own, thank you very much.

DMV and I are going to have a commitment ceremony next year and it is not meant to be a political statement, but one person noted that merely by its nature, it is making a political statement. DMV and I love one another and we are inviting our friends to support our commitment to one another -- through thick and thin, richer and poorer, sickness and in health. And we all know that kind of commitment isn't always easy, but I truly believe that love breads more love.

A long post, but this is an issue that touches on so many issues.

I'm sure I'll return to it. Meanwhile, I'm off to dinner.

Why judge battle matters...

Most people out there in the world are baffled by the fight over judges that has been going on in the Senate. But it does matter.

Last week, the Senate confirmed former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor to the U.S. Appeals Court. This guy is just repulsive.
I don't believe in extremes on either side, but the liberal group People for the American Way notes:

Pryor believes that it is constitutional to imprison gay men and lesbians for having sex in the privacy of their own homes, and has filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold Texas’ “Homosexual Conduct law,” which criminalizes such conduct. Pryor believes that singling out gay men and lesbians in this manner does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the same brief, Pryor equated for purposes of legal analysis sex between two adults of the same gender with “activities like prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia…”

And have him for life!

Gay beating update...

Washington Blade executive editor Chris Crain has a follow-up blog item about his gay bashing in Amsterdam, which I mentioned earlier this week -- yes, somewhere between those American Idol posts!

Crain's most recent post focuses on the brouhaha that the beating has caused... and who is to blame.

Crain could easily be bitter, but he takes the high road.

The Dutch Culture Wars should not be fought by shutting down the borders or by using the law to silence those who do not share the country's tradition of tolerance. Such arm-twisting tactics have no place in societies that purport to be open and accepting. If we really believe our own rhetoric — about freedom of thought and tolerance of other cultures and values — then the best response is more openness and more speech, not less.

He hasn't discussed his injuries all that much. I hope he is OK.

The face of hate...

I have been fortunate that I have not had to face much hate. But the executive editor of the Washington Blade, Washington's local gay publication, was not as lucky -- in Amsterdam, no less. Quoting from his post on the paper's blog:

If you would have told me when I first came out that at some point in my life I would be beaten up for being gay, I would never have imagined it like this. As a child of the South, where "fag" and "queer" were everyday insults, I would have expected a fist to the face somewhere back home for sure. For years now, in big city and small, I suppose I've tempted fate, living my life as I have always seen everyone else live theirs. If the mood strikes me to hold my boyfriend's hand, I do it. If a chill in the air makes me want to put my arm around his shoulders, I do that, too. If he says something romantic that deserves a peck on the lips, he can expect that's coming, too. As it happens, I tempted fate one too many times in arguably the "gay-friendliest" place on the planet. By almost any measure, the equality movement in the Netherlands was won years ago. There are laws protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation, there are hate crime laws, and Holland is one of only a handful of countries where gay couples can legally marry.

"60 Minutes" recently did a piece on how the Netherlands has been changing. Once known as the bastion of freedoms, that has started to change. It is sad. And I feel particularly sorry for Chris Crain. Perhaps that is only because it touches close to home -- I have met Crain once at a meeting of the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association, but I certainly don't know him other than meeting him in passing. But his story sure touched close to home. It's just sad.

A fond final Cherwell

A fond final Cherwell… Giving credit where credit is due, the wonderful headline comes from CherWorld.com, but it captures our weekend to SoCal.

We took the traveling typepad to Hollywood this weekend to see the final final for Cher’s Living Proof Farewell Tour 2005. Cher had come through Washington three times. I missed her the first time, so on the second round, DMV got me tickets for my birthday. (I discovered this weekend that he didn’t actually buy the tickets on eBay until days before that concert.) Cher came through DC for a third pass, but we had plans and so we missed that one. But then Cher announced that she was going to shut down this tour, which she says will be her last. And if one was going to do a final concert, it would seem that the stars are aligned correctly. She show was 40 years almost to the day after Cher performed her first concert with Sonny -- also at the Hollywood Bowl. So when Cher made the announcement, I quickly called my father. He is a Bowl season ticket holder, so I thought he might have some pull. And he did. We had great seats about 15 rows back. I’ll post the poor camera phone photos when I figure out how to transfer them over.

But I’m getting ahead of the story.

I flew out Friday – DMV had gone out earlier in the week for business. On Saturday, we did the perquisite tour of my father’s apartment building. He’s so cute because he is so proud of the building and the facility. And you have to give him credit – they are really nice! If I had to live in an apartment, it’s a nice place to live.

Given that we were in my old neighborhood, I called my best friend’s parents to see if we could do a pop-in. When we did, they had a neighbor over who said his friends tried to see Cher Friday – the next-to-the-last-show – and he said that they were stymied by gridlocked traffic. I panicked because I know what a horrible frustrating feeling that is. Years ago, I tried to go see Fleetwood Mac’s first reunion tour at the Nissan Pavilion and ended up spending more than two hours sitting in traffic, a trip that shouldn’t take more than an hour tops. Needless to say, I have never been back to Nissan. But I wasn’t going to let traffic interfere with our Cher-ebration!

We decided that we would have dinner in Hollywood and walk to the Bowl. (I generally prefer the low stress route. I’d rather get to the airport an hour early rather than having all the stress of rushing. DMV does not share that opinion, unfortunately, and it has led to some of our biggest fights.) We made reservations at the Hotel Roosevelt, a wonderfully remodeled hotel on Hollywood Boulevard across from the famous Chinese Theater – yes, the same Chinese theater where people are lined up to see the final Star Wars movie although the movie is not going to be showing at the Chinese Theater. We had a wonderful dinner at Theodore’s and then made on the 20-minute hike up the hill to the Bowl. And traffic wasn’t all that bad. I mean, it wasn’t free flowing, but it wasn’t gridlocked. So we make the 20-minute walk, there were people dressed up as Cher – of course. As we approach the Bowl enterance, there were religious fanatics out front with anti-gay messages. “Gays are sodomites,” one said, which is difficult to argue with. Most gays are, in fact, sodomites. Of course, not all sodomites are gay, but… From the look on the faces of most of these people, they could have used a little sodomy. Another sign said, “Gays like fecies – ‘skat’” Ah yes, I can’t get enough – sh*t pancakes for breakfast, sh*t, tomato and mozzarella for lunch, and sh*t soup for dinner… I always wonder what these people really hope to accomplish. Does anybody – let alone anybody at a Cher concert – walk away saying, “You know, those gays… they DO like skat.”

Of course, the concert crowd seemed like there was a direct bus line from West Hollywood to the Bowl. There was a high gay quotient – no shock there.

As I said, we had great seats. We did not realize that there was going to be an opening act – the “official” Village People, no less. They were actually much better than I expected. The biker boy – well, not really a “boy” anymore, but...  – is still in great shape. And they seemed really thrilled to be there. They finished up their show and had not sung YMCA, so you just know there is another song coming, right? There was.

And then – Cher!

The 57-year-old diva (she turns 58 on May 20) is just fabulous. (She only ranks second to Tina Turner in terms of putting on a great show… and that’s saying a lot!) I have now listened to and seen this show numerous times. She starts off lowering from the ceiling on a chandelier singing U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” and then quickly launches into her own stuff. The order of this show was different then both the televised version and the version we saw in DC, but the heart of them are there. Actually this show seemed to be considerably longer – about two hours. She does a great job using video clips, which allows her costume changes, which are numerous. She only does “I got you babe” using the video, including clips from her famous appearance on Letterman’s old NBC Late Night program, where she appeared with Sonny. Her first monologue is also different from the broadcast version. In the recorded version, she says that she wanted to make the show fabulous because there are all these young girls coming to take… “well they’re not going to take my place, but they are going to take somebody’s place.” She said that one of those girls – “I’m not going to say which one, but she has a very big butt!” – complained about being called a whore. I’m just joking, she said. But she said she has a motive for making the show so fabulous. She wanted to say to those girls, “Follow this, you bitches.” And, in fact, at the conclusion of the show, she did say it – in fireworks on top of the Bowl at the conclusion of the program!

She said that this would be the end of her 325 day tour and she said that she would not do another final tour like so many other artists. "This is the last time - 'cause I'm approaching 80." She suggested if she did, she would be riding a rhinestone-encrusted Liberty Scooter.

The show was everything we could have hoped for. The great thing about Cher is that she is a performer. She has that Tina Turner quality where she just goes out there and puts out 100 percent. In one of the video montages, she says that she has never been liked by singers and that she has never really been liked by actors… but she does her thing! And she sure did it well!

Two celeberity sightings... "Jo" from the "Facts of Life"... and Michelle Lee from Knots Landing "fame"

Then on Sunday, a baseball game – yes, me! – in my father’s fabulous Dodgers seats that are about four rows back from home plate. (A friend commented, "Only the two of you can do those two events in one weekend!") Now THAT’s the way to see a baseball game! Then dinner with my cousin and a viewing of “The Witches of Eastwick,” of course.

So… a huge thanks to my father and step-mother for getting the tickets and hosting us for the weekend! We had a great time!

Make love, just not gay love...

This from Slate.com's Today's Papers...

The NYT notices something that is finally bringing together some Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Jerusalem: homophobia. A few leaders from the three religions made a joint appearance decrying a planned 10-day "WorldPride" event slated for the city. "We can't permit anybody to come and make the Holy City dirty," said one Muslim cleric. "This is very ugly and very nasty to have these people come to Jerusalem." One fine American rabbi who helped organize yesterday's announcement concurred, explaining, "This is not the homo land, this is the Holy Land."

What do The Gay do on Super Sunday?

See a movie, of course!
Having seen none -- and I mean none -- of the Oscar nominated movies, we are going to see the critically acclaimed Million Dollar Baby, directed and starring Clint Eastwood. Despite the rave reviews, I have low expectations given that I really was underwhelmed by Eastwood's last movie, the critically acclaimed Mystic River [2003]. Despite really amazing performances by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and the underrated Kevin Bacon, the story was lame. Now I understand that the movie was based on a book -- a book I have not read -- there were horrible plot holes in the movie that left me with all sorts of questions by the end. So, I'll report back on Million Dollar. Meanwhile, we can only hope that we can avoid last year's Super Bowl brouhaha. (As Frank Rich notes this morning, thank goodness Jackson didn't bare both breasts!)

Last year, we went over to our friend's Craig and Mary Beth's place for dinner. We ended up getting really drunk on very good wine and we totally missed the entire game. Oh well! Will this be the second year that I miss the game all together? We'll see.

Queer eye for the cartoon guy...

I know "they" keep saying that this whole "moral values" question is overrated, yet one continues to see these issues pop up over and over again. This one is my favorite, however.

Conservatives Pick Soft Target: A Cartoon Sponge [NYT, 1.20.2005]
Some influential conservative Christian groups are turning their attention to a new target: the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.

How does one get so upset about a cartoon sponge, one might ask? Apparently he is pro-gay!

Dr. James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, told people at a black-tie dinner Tuesday that the sponge's creators were using him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside children's television colleagues like Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others. The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity."

HORROR!

It is going to be a long day and a long couple years.