Milk (the movie) + Prop 8 + dizzying coincidences
Posted by: Matt McCormick | From: November 19, 2008
I have been bumping into a strange pattern of coincidences lately, but nothing more powerful then the one-two punch of watching the Portland premiere of Gus Van Sant's new film Milk, then attending a gay-rights rally that coincidently took place following morning that was part of a nation wide effort to show opposition to the passing of Proposition 8 in California. Milk is a powerful biopic about Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay politician to be elected to public office when he became a City Supervisor in San Francisco in 1978. The film, starring Sean Penn, is incredible and certainly one of Van Sant's best. It combines the artistic flair of his films Elephant and Last Days with the 'pull at your heartstrings' accessibility of Good Will Hunting. Sean Penn is also magnificent, and I believe that with this role he has clearly established himself as one of the best actors of his generation. I will not be surprised if both Penn and Van Sant receive Oscar nods.
here is the trailer for Milk, which opens in theaters next week:
The next morning at the rally, Portland Mayor-elect (and blogger) Sam Adams, who will be the first openly gay mayor of a major American US City when he takes office in a couple months, came out with a blow-horn proclaiming "People of Portland, my name is Sam Adams and I am here to recruit you!" deliberately referencing Harvey Milk and playing off the energy that the previous night's screening had inspired. The crowd of a couple thousand went nuts and it was almost like we were recreating a scene from the movie, but with the very unfortunate fact that here we were fighting the same fight 30 years later. The parallels were dizzying, and it showed both how far our society has come but also how far we still have to go.
This one-two punch really got my head spinning, and I wrote out a long angry rant about why I think denying the right to marry is cruel and bigoted. But instead of getting on my soapbox and posting that, I simply want to say that I am a straight person who completely supports same-sex marriage. I see it as not only a civil rights issue, but also an issue that will ultimately make families and neighborhoods stronger and more secure. With so many problems facing our society and planet today, I believe that stopping two people who love each other from getting married is an embarrassing waste of human energy.
As Sam Adams states in the video below, "the issue at hand is about marriage, but it's really about respect." I couldn't agree more.
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