Gay Rights and Hollywood Converge on Region

Gay Rights and Hollywood Converge on Region

by Frank Pizzoli

These are strange times for gay and lesbian taxpayers. The monumental, twin influences of Hollywood and organized religion and their connection to gay civil rights have plopped themselves down right here in the region.

Gay visibility has never been higher: Ellen, Elton John, and k.d.lang. Except for Vermont’s recent Supreme Court decision on gay marriages, oppression has never been higher: more, not fewer, dishonorable discharges for "homosexuality" since World War II under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell."

One in every four gay men and one in every seven lesbians will be physically attacked in their lives simply because of their sexual orientation. Still, no hate crime or civil rights legislation in Pennsylvania where the General Assembly is busy keeping track of "majority" status by how many members are under investigation, already charged with a crime or on appeal.

The US Department of Justice reports that the number one group targeted for physical forms of hate crimes (rape, murder, assault) are gay people. Thus we have Matthew Shepard, gay servicemen bludgeoned to death (while sleeping, not peeking) — in their bunks or in Japanese bathrooms. East Coast resident Billy Gaither was decapitated.

Fueling distortion, Hollywood gives us The Talented Mr. Ripley, the gay aggressor, when, in fact, we are the transgressed. Described as "cinematically delicious," the film’s beauty deflects viewers from its wrongful (and tired, boring, lame, stereotypical, ever-get-out-from-under-that-rock?) depictions of gay men.

Organized religion sets the code of oppression and, on cue, Hollywood cranks out secular lesson plans. At the registers of the capitalist Republic, gays give good box office while Billy Gaither pays with his head.

Why are gay and lesbian citizens still fair game?

No more Step-and-Fetch-it characters or Blaxploitation films for African Americans. No more singularly barefoot and pregnant portrayals of women (although admittedly in certain genres they’re still more valued for their bust than their brains, and the tired romance continues to end with the Cinderella mentality inspired "happily ever after").

Yet, when it comes to the "gay exception" on civil rights, I think it has more to do with "sex" than anything else does. Religion, politics, old moral codes all converge to keep hated alive. We’re a Puritan nation afraid life will touch us. Gay sex is "pleasure sex" unhinged from the realities of marriage or children (not, if you’re paying attention). Yet, attempts to assimilate boomeranged into "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Enter the Rev. Jimmy Creech, a defrocked United Methodist minister from Nebraska. Recently, he addressed a local group known as Faith Groups for Justice, a coalition that grew out of a meeting of the local Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). MCC ministers primarily to the gay and lesbian community.

Attending Creech’s talk were Harris Street United Methodist Church, whose congregation are staunch and stalwart supporters of human dignity through their quiet and efficient neighborhood programs. The entire congregation of the Market Square Presbyterian Church belongs to the coalition. Also attending were St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, another supporter of human rights and individual dignity, Lower Paxton Township’s Tree of Life Lutheran Church, and the Union Deposit United Methodist Church. Mechanicsburg’s Temple Beth Shalom hosted the event. No Roman Catholic churches chose to attend. They were busy with altar boy practice.

In a related development, the same week as Creech’s local visit 850 clergy and religious workers from 25 denominations endorsed a declaration calling for all faiths to bless same-sex couples and allow gays and lesbians to become priests, ministers, and rabbis. "For too long, the only voices in the public square on religion and sexuality have been anti-sexuality pronouncements of the religious right," said Debra Haffner, president of the declaration’s coalition.

Putting his audience of about 200 at ease, Creech confessed to never having worn a frock. His infraction was that he "blessed" a gay union three years ago. He was fired and since that time has uprooted his wife and family, suffering numerous financial hardships for taking a stand on gay civil rights.

"I know we’re still fair game and it has to stop," says Josie Byzak, a coalition member. "Creech’s example was one of focus. He isn’t angry, has no ‘ego’ about this, it isn’t about him," Byzak explains. It is about members of faith groups standing up, finally, and telling spiritual leaders who rail against gay individuals to stop, she exclaims. "We must finally tell religious leaders they are condemning our brothers, our sisters, our beloved children, our dear friends," Byzak says passionately.

Enter local independent filmmaker Eric Spaar. A few days after Creech’s visit, Spaar premiered his Sees in Secret, a sophomoric film whose message is so deeply implicit ("secret" is a great word for the title) it trips no radar. Whatever the film’s creative message is, it’s hermetically sealed.

Essentially, his film portrays a "Christ" figure who returns to find Earth a swirling mass of tensions and misery. He blesses everyone in spite of his or her imperfections. The movie’s last character, a gay man, is portrayed in the film’s longest running scene as a textbook example of the gay male stereotype. He is instantly infatuated with "Christ" and swoons and licks his lips and just can’t control his quivering, nelly self. He is so out of control of his sexuality that he’d cruise even God. At one point, the gay man licks a phallic pink ice cream cone while "God" dutifully accepts his unsolicited attention. Yes, free speech is what makes this country great. But why do we want to say what we say? Should we invite David Duke next week? He has the right to hate African Americans and Jews and say so in public.

What a weird convergence of religious and artistic themes and events — right here at home.

When asked, Mark Nicosia, the actor who played the gay character, after tap dancing