ALGBTICAL

Sean Penn was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of slain San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the film, Milk.

In his acceptance speech he acknowledged the protesters who were present at the event and defended same sex marriage.

The straight actor's portrayal of an openly gay politician was a timely one -- with "Milk" coming out shortly after California's same-sex couples lost their right to marry in a voter referendum.

"I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

LINKS:

View His Acceptance Speech on YouTube
Read the Reuters Report

Gus Van Zant's latest film, Milk, starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and James Frano, tells a griping story of the life of Harvey Milk, an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Milk soaked up some awards-season glory recently, being named best film by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Sean Penn, who stars in the biopic as '70s gay-rights leader Harvey Milk, was named best actor, and Josh Brolin won best supporting actor for his role as the assassin in the movie, the Associated Press reports.

The New York group concurred with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which named Penn best actor.

Milk also received one Golden Globe nomination for Sean Penn as Best Actor.

Milk was born and raised in New York where he acknowledged his homosexuality as an adolescent, but chose to pursue sexual relationships with secrecy and discretion well into his adult years. His experience in the counterculture of the 1960s caused him to shed many of his conservative views about individual freedom and the expression of sexuality.

Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and settled in the Castro District, a neighborhood that was experiencing a mass influx of gay men and lesbians. He felt compelled to run for city supervisor in 1973, though he encountered resistance from the existing gay political establishment. His campaign was compared to theater; he was brash, outspoken, animated, and outrageous, earning media attention and votes, although not enough to be elected. He campaigned again in the next two supervisor elections, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". Voters responded enough to warrant his running for the California State Assembly as well. Taking advantage of his growing popularity, he led the gay political movement in fierce battles against anti-gay initiatives. Milk was elected city supervisor in 1977 after San Francisco reorganized its election procedures to choose representatives from neighborhoods rather than through city-wide ballots.

Milk served almost eleven months as city supervisor and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance in San Francisco. On November 27, 1978, Mayor George Moscone and Milk were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned and wanted his job back.

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FRIGHTENING BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Commentary and Remarks

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

I went to see "Brokeback Mountain" the other day, mainly to prove to myself that I could.

This was after reading a New York Times piece by Larry David of "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame in which he wrote that, though he loves gay people and supports both gay marriage and gay divorce, he does not plan to see this critically praised movie about gay cowboys. David said he's discomfited by the idea of watching two men fall in love and fears it might make him gay by osmosis.

"Not," he added, "that there's anything wrong with that."

It strikes me that David's essay amounted to the smiley-face liberal version of what is being said more bluntly in conservative circles. "Gay love story carries a high 'ick' factor" reads the headline of a story on the American Family Association Web site. It quotes a prediction that people will leave the theater vomiting.

How asinine, I think.

Yeah, says a little voice in my head, but if that's how you feel, why haven't YOU been to "Brokeback Mountain"? Well, I protest, right now I'm teaching in this tiny college town in the middle of nowhere. I'd have to drive 90 miles.

Good point, says the voice. But didn't you drive that far to see "Good Night, and Good Luck"?

Now look, I say, and suddenly there's this wheedling tone to my voice, some of my best friends are gay. Heck, my own brother's gay.

But you know, we ARE talking about a love story between two guys, and they might be kissing and, you know, touching and ... stuff.

The little voice falls silent. It is a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is silence.

So I went to see "Brokeback." And I can report that it was as shattering and powerful as advertised. People were moved. Nobody threw up.

Which brings me back to that ick factor.

I find myself wondering if this primeval revulsion doesn't speak less to our antipathy toward homosexuality than to our fears about masculinity. I mean, while a movie about two women in love would surely be controversial, I doubt it would present the visceral threat "Brokeback Mountain" does for some of us. I doubt Larry David would be scared to see it.

Indeed, the idea of women who can't keep their hands off each other is a staple of so-called men's entertainment. Visit a magazine stand if you don't believe me. In the 1980s, it seemed as if every Prince video had band members Lisa and Wendy groping each other.

Point being, when it's women, we -- meaning straight men -- tend to find it titillating, exotic, arousing in its very forbiddance. When it's men, we -- meaning straight men AND women -- tend to react as if somebody dropped a snake in the bed. Small wonder the FBI reports that while 902 men were reported victims of sexual orientation hate crimes in 2004, only 212 women were.

We seem prone to find male homosexuality the more clear and present danger, the more urgent betrayal of some fundamental ... something.

Some will say it's -- and I will finesse this for a general audience -- the nature of man-to-man sex some of us find off-putting. I think it's more basic than that. I think gay men threaten our very conception of masculinity.

The amazing thing about "Brokeback Mountain" is its willingness to make that threat, directly and overtly. These are not cute gays, funny gays, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" gays. These are "cowboys," and there is no figure in American lore more iconically male. Think Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, the Marlboro Man. The cowboy is our very embodiment of male virtues.

In offering us cowboys who are gay, then, "Brokeback Mountain" commits heresy, but it is knowing heresy, matter-of-fact heresy. Nor is it the sex (what little there is) that makes it heretical. Rather, it's the emotion, the fact that the movie dares you to deny these men their humanity. Or their love.

Ultimately, I think, that's what the Larry Davids among us sense.

And why for them, "Brokeback Mountain" might be the most frightening movie ever made.

Leonard Pitts Jr., winner of a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132; e-mail, lpitts@herald.com; toll-free phone, (888) 251-4407. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

FRIGHTENING BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN Commentary and Remarks By Leonard Pitts Jr.

FRIGHTENING BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Commentary and Remarks

By Leonard Pitts Jr.