posted February 24, 2009 12:02 PM by
rickweberDid anyone else watch the Oscars last night? One moment really stood out for me was when Dustin Lance Black of "Milk" won best screen writer. Below is a transcript of his acceptance speech, and the video.
Oh my God. This was, um. This was not an easy film to make. First off, I have to thank Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg and all the real-life people who shared their stories with me. And, um, Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco, and our entire cast, my producers, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, everyone at Groundswell and Focus, for taking on the challenge of telling this life-saving story. When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married.
I want to thank my mom who has always loved me for who I am, even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. (Wild applause from the audience.) Thank you, thank you, and thank you God for giving us Harvey Milk.
What I loved about his speech is that his experience is not an uncommon one. Just the detail of coming from a conservative Mormon home was identifiable. I live in Utah, and the population here is predominately Mormon (about 65% of the state). In fact, many of my friends came from a Mormon upbringing.
One of the problems in this state is that the Mormon culture produces kids so conflicted with how the feel about who they are, and what they're suppose to be, that they often kill themselves (particularly young gay men). Another problem is that it produces parents who are willing to put their own children out on the street because they're gay.
I loved that he thanked his Mom for loving him even when there is pressure not too. He also touched on perhaps the most important things about Harvey Milk's story, hope. Towards the end of the speech he also got across two more very important points: you are not less than, and God loves you. Amazing speech.
What do you think about the speech? How does his speech make you feel? What are you thoughts on Dustin bringing God into his speech? Do you think it's inappropriate for artists/writers/actors to talk about politics in their acceptance speech?
Milk also has a very relevant political contexts where I live. Our
Governor here (a Republican) recently endorsed civil unions, which is a huge step forward. However, the Mormon Church is also guilty of contributing as much as
$25 million to support Prop 8. One of our state senators (Chris Buttars) also said in a recent interview that,
"Gays are the greatest threat to America." This is the same douchebag who also recently referred to a bill as a, "Black Baby, a dark ugly thing." On top of all that, this picture (by Scott Sommerdorf) was taken about a year ago during a hearing with the state's Health and Human Services Committee on topic of a domestic partnership registry. It's a perfect symbol of what hate looks like.
My guess is that we'll find years later that Mr. Buttars paid visits to a boys ranch to be serviced by 12 year olds while gnawing on some KFC or something. Unfortunately despite the governor's endorsement, all of the gay rights bills this legislative session failed to pass. We need hope here. Unfortunately Milk only plays in one theater in town (So did Brokeback when it came out). We have a long way to go.
And in news of places more progressive than my state, in
Washington state the house committee passed a bill that would give same sex partners rights equal to married couples, and
Hawaii is doing the same. Also, on March 5 the California Supreme Court will hear challenges to Prop 8, and decide what will happen to the marriages that occurred before it was passed. Get ready folks.
To make this more relevant, what's happening in your state/country/province? What rights do you have? What rights don't you have? Here's
something to help you out for those who live in the U.S.
That's it for this week. Leave some comments, and submit some blogs people!
