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I've been meaning to see this movie for a long time, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I waited so long.
I really wish this had won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. For it's message, for what it means to all of us, today. Because those issues are our issues, now.
Let me tell you a story of a kid raised in Southern America during the 1990's.
I didn't know what homosexuality was for a very long time. I'd never heard of it, I'd never been told if it was good or bad. Yes, I attended church, but social morals were not something we ever discussed in Sunday school. (We were more interested in memorizing the books of the Old Testament for candy.) My parents were very much of the "let them come to their own conclusions" camp of child-rearing. And once I was faced with the academic concept, I was surprised, sure. It was something that had never occurred to me. But in my young, objective mind, the concept never once seemed bad or unnatural to me.
I had knowledge of homosexuality's existence, and that was enough for my curiosity to log it away in the back of my mind and forget about it.
Until the gay agenda began pushing back once again. As far as I'd known, the whole world had been content to keep mum about homosexuality. Maybe I just became old enough to hear about it, but the fact remains that all of a sudden, my teenaged years were awash with political and public debates and epiphanies about homosexuality. All of a sudden, everyone was gay. They were coming out of the woodwork! Had they always been there?
Milk let me know that, yes, the gays have always been here, and always will be.
I made my own mind up about homosexuality, which probably took all of two seconds of brainpower. I honestly do not think it's in me to judge or dislike or even really care about a person's sexuality. I'm a big fan of letting people do their own thing, and because of that, I get so damn confused and angry at the sheer ignorance of people like Anita Bryant and John Briggs. It's like they want to control people's thoughts or something.
Milk, if you are like me, makes you smile, laugh, grit your teeth, want to hit a wall, and above all, hug someone for the sheer hell of it. You watch in horror as unarmed men are beaten in the street for simply being there. You grin like a moron when two men meet at random in a subway station in New York and fall in love. You shake with fury when you watch self-righteous politicians assure the public that it is right to fire gay teachers and their friends because of who they love. You just shake your head when they say that gays will just die out, in the end. You cheer when American rights are protected by the people. And you want to cry when you see hate and fear take away a very bright light in the lives of so many, including yourself.
However, if you do not feel as I do, if you are against homosexuality, if you think it a sin, a crime, a perversion, I hope you watch Milk, as well. Maybe it will sicken you, drive you deeper into your beliefs. But maybe it will show you the humanity of those you hate and fear. Maybe it will make you think.
I think that's what this movie should do. Make you think and feel and realize new things about yourself and others, whatever those realizations.
But above all, this movie should let the world know that homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, pansexuality, WHATEVER, is not going away. It's not going to stop, even if it's smothered and ignored. It'll keep coming back and, God willing, keep fighting until the world realizes that they, you, me, we, all of us are people, too.
So, watch the damn movie, and show it to your kids. The whole world needs this.
I really wish this had won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. For it's message, for what it means to all of us, today. Because those issues are our issues, now.
Let me tell you a story of a kid raised in Southern America during the 1990's.
I didn't know what homosexuality was for a very long time. I'd never heard of it, I'd never been told if it was good or bad. Yes, I attended church, but social morals were not something we ever discussed in Sunday school. (We were more interested in memorizing the books of the Old Testament for candy.) My parents were very much of the "let them come to their own conclusions" camp of child-rearing. And once I was faced with the academic concept, I was surprised, sure. It was something that had never occurred to me. But in my young, objective mind, the concept never once seemed bad or unnatural to me.
I had knowledge of homosexuality's existence, and that was enough for my curiosity to log it away in the back of my mind and forget about it.
Until the gay agenda began pushing back once again. As far as I'd known, the whole world had been content to keep mum about homosexuality. Maybe I just became old enough to hear about it, but the fact remains that all of a sudden, my teenaged years were awash with political and public debates and epiphanies about homosexuality. All of a sudden, everyone was gay. They were coming out of the woodwork! Had they always been there?
Milk let me know that, yes, the gays have always been here, and always will be.
I made my own mind up about homosexuality, which probably took all of two seconds of brainpower. I honestly do not think it's in me to judge or dislike or even really care about a person's sexuality. I'm a big fan of letting people do their own thing, and because of that, I get so damn confused and angry at the sheer ignorance of people like Anita Bryant and John Briggs. It's like they want to control people's thoughts or something.
Milk, if you are like me, makes you smile, laugh, grit your teeth, want to hit a wall, and above all, hug someone for the sheer hell of it. You watch in horror as unarmed men are beaten in the street for simply being there. You grin like a moron when two men meet at random in a subway station in New York and fall in love. You shake with fury when you watch self-righteous politicians assure the public that it is right to fire gay teachers and their friends because of who they love. You just shake your head when they say that gays will just die out, in the end. You cheer when American rights are protected by the people. And you want to cry when you see hate and fear take away a very bright light in the lives of so many, including yourself.
However, if you do not feel as I do, if you are against homosexuality, if you think it a sin, a crime, a perversion, I hope you watch Milk, as well. Maybe it will sicken you, drive you deeper into your beliefs. But maybe it will show you the humanity of those you hate and fear. Maybe it will make you think.
I think that's what this movie should do. Make you think and feel and realize new things about yourself and others, whatever those realizations.
But above all, this movie should let the world know that homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, pansexuality, WHATEVER, is not going away. It's not going to stop, even if it's smothered and ignored. It'll keep coming back and, God willing, keep fighting until the world realizes that they, you, me, we, all of us are people, too.
So, watch the damn movie, and show it to your kids. The whole world needs this.
