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By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Dec 22 | Over this past weekend I'd idly read an article by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin L. Black, over on the website ' The Daily Beast.' Mr. Black had entitled it; "Milk Screenwriter Battles a Gay-Bashing College." To be perfectly honest with you I almost gave the article a pass because of its headline. As of late I have gotten a little battle-weary of the seemingly never ending onslaught of homophobic behaviours displayed by what, in my humble and very Gay opinion, seems to be half of the population of the United States at any given time.
In my capacity as a working journalist over the past month I had been covering the raging debate over the Ugandan 'Kill The Gays' legislation as well as the influences behind it which ended up having considerable input from American Ultra-Christian lobbyists including super-church pastor Rick Warren. The very first thing that leaped into my mind about Black's article was that here was probably another small private Christian college that is a breeding ground for the Ultra-Right political ideology and bigotry that one comes to expect anymore from that sort of institution.
"Do I really want to read more dreck & drivel about a bunch of whiny super-Christians and how evil they feel homosexuals are?" Sad but true folks. I am that disgusted and tired of the arguments and statements made by the vast majority of that lot. Then of course I gave in to my professional curiosity and read the article anyway.
"Early on, a couple of locals told me the city was one of the most conservative voting districts in the country, and that Hope College, a Christian institution, was the heart of the city. It was built four years after Dutch immigrants seeking religious freedom settled along Lake Macatawa in 1846. Since then, the school has remained strongly tied to the Reformed Church in America. Like most places in town, the campus was crisp, clean, and filled with a Holy Spirit and devotion I hadn’t felt since my childhood in the Mormon Church. Perhaps surprising to some, I felt quite at home.
Just beyond campus, I spotted the town’s sole late-night coffee shop. It was packed with neatly combed, mostly blond, well-spoken Hope College students. I settled in with my laptop, but soon felt a pair of eyes on me. They belonged to a student who, shattering the city’s 1950s mirage, was dressed in short shorts and a “Legalize Gay” T-shirt. Within minutes he was at my table, asking if I would screen Milk and speak on his campus. I thought, “I’m about to call Holland home for six months. I should probably pitch in.”
Production began, and though I was busy I occasionally wondered, “Why haven’t they confirmed that screening date yet?” The answer came soon enough. Four weeks into shooting, I walked into my now-favorite coffee shop and saw the local paper’s front-page headline: “Filmmaker Receives Mixed Welcome from Hope.” The story said I had been banned from screening Milk and was officially not welcome on Hope College’s campus. The dean of students wasn’t shy about it. He called my brand of “advocacy” hurtful to the student body. Without ever meeting me in person, without so much as a phone call, he had publicly declared me and Milk unholy and unwelcome."
Well Dustin, that's a shock eh? Of course, and bear with me, I have traveled around the United States extensively over these past thirty years as I've practised my profession and the one thing that I have noticed is that there is almost a universal phobia of strangers in small town America. Now, in fairness, it isn't a whip out the torches, pitch forks, and tar & feather mentality either. It just seems to be a natural reticence by townsfolk to be more than "polite" until a relationship of some sort is established with new folks or people that are obviously just traveling through town on their way to elsewhere. The reaction of the town of Holland to Mr. Black is very much in keeping with that line of thinking.
"But let me be clear: I don’t think the town was homophobic. I think they had simply never discussed gay rights openly before, and here I was, an interloper, threatening to thrust this hot-button issue into their community."
Now that would make perfect sense to me as its a universal trait as I've stated previously with small towns and you really notice it rising to the surface when a controversial subject like Gay rights or even politics are discussed. Mr. Black did end up screening 'Milk' for the locals and the college students however and it went well.
"When the lights came up, it became clear the audience was almost entirely students and faculty from Hope College. And it wasn’t just gay people who stood up and told their stories at the Q&A afterward; it was minorities of every kind. I was transported back to the early ‘70s, when Harvey first arrived in San Francisco and started building coalitions with other minority groups. Here it was, happening right before my eyes: coalition-building, outreach, education. Yes, Holland is behind when it comes to LGBT issues, but that night was a turning point."
A turning point as Black referred to it, I feel, is almost always predicated on being able to convince folks to listen. Dialogue is the basis for exchanging viewpoints and more importantly, educating each other about the truth, the facts, that pertain to a person or a group of people. It must be done without rancor or bigotry rearing their ugly heads and derailing conversation. Black notes in his conversation with the Dean of Hope College the day after the screening that fear of the unknown played a large role in the discussions.
"It became clear the problem here wasn’t gay people or Hollywood people or people from California. The problem was a fear of “other” people, people from different worlds or with different viewpoints. I was reminded of Harvey Milk who claimed the war against homophobia was a war against fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what is different."
More than difference too is at play here although Black did not bring that specific issue into play in his article. That of course is the influence of the Ultra-Right Christian movement that seems to have decided that LGBT people are simply acting out on choice and behaviour. Finally, Black notes;
"So when the dean asked what we could do to move past this, the answer was clear. Fear and understanding can’t coexist. One devours the other. Students at his college had formed a Gay-Straight Alliance some time ago, but he had refused to recognize it. I told him it was time to officially support that group and allow a dialogue between gay and straight people on his campus. Because as Harvey Milk said so long ago, telling our personal stories is the only way to educate, to reach out and dispel those myths and fears that this dean was still holding onto.
He didn’t promise to do so… but he never said no."
I finished the article actually satisfied and pleased with how Dustin had portrayed the small town of Holland and his appraisal of what he had seen. Then as customary for me I glanced through the comments section which generally requires one's ability to keep cool, or take a sedative as folks tend to really get outspoken protected by the anonymous nature of those interactions between each other. One comment though stood out for me;
"studentinmi
I'm a current student at Hope College; I value what Black had to say in this article about overcoming fear of differences and promoting understanding, and I agree that generalizing and thinking in terms of "you people" rather than in terms of individuals is harmful. Yet it is exactly that sort of generalization that is present in the headline of this article, in which Hope is referred to as a "gay-bashing college." Overall, I thought Black's assessment of Holland, of the college, and of the area's Conservatism was pretty accurate and balanced, but to call Hope a "gay-bashing college" paints the school with a broad, generalizing stroke that is unfair. Hope is not only the administration--as Black pointed out, Hope is also the students, the professors, the administration, and the individuals--Conservative and Liberal--who believe in the possibility of loving & respecting one's neighbors without having to agree."
I am going to recommend that you read the full article here: The Daily Beast
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-20/milk-screenwriter-battles-gay-bashing-college/
Dustin Lance Black
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Brody, thank you for posting this. I found it very interesting and encouraging. I also learned a lot that I had not known before about what makes "Small Town America" tick.
J F R
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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