BROKEBACK BREAD CRUMBS

This is one of the those "I told you so" posts.  And I'm glad of it.  During the year of Brokeback Mountain, the media, the gay blogosphere and every gay bar in town was abuzz with news of the revolution.

Brokeback Mountain was a breakthrough, a major advance for gay rights, the film that would turn Hollywood and America inside OUT.  Two major Hollywood straights had kissed and even barebacked on the silver screen.  The world has finally changed.

"Bullshit," I said.  "They've thrown us some bread crumbs which we pounce on like idiot pigeons.

Today, the real revolution starts as this weeks edition of Entertainment Weekly suggests, that "nothing has changed."

"...Brokeback was more than a movie. It was a phenomenon that commanded the cultural conversation for months, from Jay Leno to YouTube to the cover of The New Yorker. More important, it proved that straight audiences would snap up tickets to a same-sex romance. Since then, a few gay-themed films have been released (e.g., Notes on a Scandal). But seemingly no studio — nor any studio art-house division — has greenlit a film with a gay lead character. ''I don't think any studio responded by saying, 'Quick, dust off whatever gay dramas we have!''' says one former studio head. As surprising as it seemed that Brokeback could lose the Oscar to Crash, the real shock is just now setting in: Brokeback may have changed nothing."

Exactly.  Nothing.  Well, maybe something. The big gay movie written, directed and starring heterosexuals added yet another way to insult queers to the English language.  Brokeback Jeter and that's sooooo Brokeback.

Two years later, in the world that Brokeback didn't change, we remain second class citizens, anti-same sex marriage laws have advanced by almost 50%, and our civil rights remain, after some 40 years, a distant dream.  The myth of the pink dollar has just been poked full of holes by new research that demonstrates that gay men are paid on average 23% less than straight men in corporate America.

ENDA is a political and social joke and at best another bread crumb.  ENDA has publicly split the gay community in two and generated hostilities between gay advocacy groups and the leading out gay man in Congress.  We talk about the importance and impact of ENDA knowing full well it won't pass the Senate and even if it did there are far too few votes to override the guaranteed Presidential veto.  And, of course, ENDA even it were to pass, still permits the nation's two largest employers, the United States Military and organized religion to persecute and discriminate against queers.  We're like scavengers fighting over a dead carcass when we should be fierce predators demanding our rights in the streets of America.

We are a strange nation, straight and gay. In the 1950s we believed that the fantasy family world portrayed on television from Leave it to Beaver to The Donna Reed Show was a reflection of reality.  Today, we see LGBT characters snogging and prancing on major networks and we again delude ourselves into thinking that the fantasy world of television is a reflection of gay progress in American society.  Well, Ward and June Cleaver are divorced.  Wall Cleaver died in Vietnam and Beaver Cleaver is a junkie.  As for the reality of our lives vs the fantasy world of television?  We're paid less, have limited civil rights and our kids are bullied and beaten throughout the American school system (only 3-5 percent of American schools have gay straight alliances and programs designed to support and protect gay children.)

Faced with similar overwhelmingly odds and obstacles, black America and women staged a civil rights revolution, demanding their place at the table.  We, on the other hand. are content with board room meetings, blue suits, email campaigns and sending our hard earned dollars to gay advocacy organizations that seem to spend most of their time kissing up to the establishment, attending celebrity-studded galas and asking us for more and more money.

Until we take to the streets and demand our rights, until we use our outrage and collective anger to demand the attention of Washington and action from a place that takes no action unless it's about giving itself more money and more power, and without laws we will remain second class citizens and our lives will be happy and gay for as long as it suits the mainstream and seems trendy and fashionable, and no longer.

Brokeback Mountain was just another pretty bauble used to distract us.   It also turned a straight man into a gay sex symbol.  The hollowness and hopelessness of that says it all.

And as I've said many times in the past, visibility has nothing to do with equal rights.  In fact, all visibility means is that we're easier to find and manage.  And it won't be until we're unmanageable that laws will pass and we'll assume our rightful place at the Constitutional table.

I applaud Entertainment Weekly for finally catching up with me.  Now what about the rest of you?

Comments

[Kenneth Hill]

Richard, as always, you are eloquent and powerful. I agree with you, however, only in part. I haven't yet read the EW piece, but regardless of the absence of gay Hollywood blockbusters, I think that gay visibility in pop media has a tremendous impact on how the general population sees us and on what the future holds in our struggle for freedom.

I know you get frustrated with the "gay clowns,", but the matter-of-fact gay characters like the one on Brothers and Sisters, openly gay (and good) actors like Neil Patrick Harris, and the subtle but powerful performance of tranny Candis Cayne on Dirty Sexy Money all have an extremely important role to play in our efforts to become more accepted by society. The lawmakers will follow the will of the people and the will of corporate of America. Both of those sectors have come a long way. The importance of that cannot be dismissed, even though our fight for equality still has a long way to go.

But I agree that we as a community need to hit the streets -- and not to party, but to protest.

[George]

Kennith, Richard, the irony is that you're both right. The common denominater (probably spelled wrong) is as a community we need to get serious.

George

[bryan]

hey gays need to stop complaining that they cant get married who cares. If they love eachother thats all they need. All they need is eachother they dont need a peace of paper stating that they are officialy topgether get over it. Marriage is just another way to get money out of ppl its suposed to be a holy bond blah blah blah yeah the church also sais that being gay is unholy. Who really cares in the overall aspect of things. You are aloud to be with them thats all that should matter. You are with the person u love so stop copmplaining about how bad u have it get over yourselves you aint noi different from anybody else in this country.

[tom mcentee]

BrokeBack is a boring movie. It's that simple.

Gay or straight or whatever, art moves you, whether to action or inaction or something in between.

I wasn't moved by either actor except for the unknowing wife. She is wonderful.

The last scene with the camera panning out of the window was very moving. Reminded me of what the director can really do, such as he did with Icestorm.

Great and important pictures defy content. They are expressive of our lives, our desires and failures. A GAY hollywood film does nothing but be a GAY hollywood film!

Is there a real epic gay film on the horizon? Just check out the patchwork from the quilt of all those made over the past 50 years!

Parting Glances?

[Kev]

The arc of the impact of Brokeback Mountain may be longer than a mere 2 years. Most people who see that movie are affected by it, some quite deeply. Many lives have been changed by it, for the better.

Sure, BBM didn't suddenly cause the world to snap into full equality. But signs of progress (if slow at times) toward full equality are everywhere.

[Dom]

Was anyone delusional enough to think that BBM was going to change the world? I was just happy to see a movie where two men expressed love and affection towards each other, and not just be depicted as being interested in only sex. It's going to take a lot more than one movie to change things. Outing the major hypocrites is our best bet. The more that fall, the more prejudice falls away, because America loves nothing more than a hypocrite thrown under the bus.

[Harriet Tubby]

Brokeback Mountain ruined the image of the american cowboy!!! THANKS ALOT JERKS

visibility is not equality

Of course visibility is not equality, but without visibility there will never be equality. No, it is not realistic to expect that one movie by itself to change everything. No matter. It's another piece of visibility. Furthermore the reaction to it was dramatically different than the reaction of previous similarly themed movies in general release. That's a sign that things aren't as they once were.

No, HRC, and its ilk aren't all that helpful (I don't give to HRC at all since I have the very strong impression that they spend most of their time raising funds for their next gala black tie fundraiser), but even so the USA's attitude towards its gay citizens now is not at all what it was when I was a teenager in the 70's.

First they ignore you.
Then they laught at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
- Mohandas Gandhi.

[Dory]

I must have missed something - I didn't realize Brokeback was supposed to change the world. Foolish me, I thought it was just a love story between two cowboys. And yes, there was the expected kissing, cuddling and humping. But the major theme of the movie was about two reluctant guys falling in love and the effects of those emotions on their family and friends. That's something everyone can identify with, gay or straight. No, Brokeback didn't change the world, but it didn't need to. All it had to do was put a small seed of doubt in the minds of all those straight folks who saw the movie. Maybe "those people" are more like us than we thought. It takes time for seeds to grow. They need lots of sunshine and water. That would translate to more and better exposure in the straight world, which I believe will happen. But remember, it takes years for that small seed to become an oak. Of course, good fertilizer helps too!

[Marc]

I think you completely miss the whole point of what BBM did for gays. This wasnt a movie that was suppose to "change the world." Can you really name one movie that has had that type of major social impact? But BBM did challenge the notion of love and gay stereotypes, something that is even more ironic in a time when "moral value" married republicans are being caught in sex scandals. Social change doesnt take years, it takes decades. And it takes small things like a movie to slowly chip away at people's preconceived notions. We may not have gotten equal marriage yet, but I never thought in my lifetime that we would even be discussing the idea of it. If a mainstream movie like BBM can change the perception of even one person, then it is still a small step in the right direction.

[Sean]

When can we as Gay People have an ending where we get the guy, and live happy ever after. Just maybe one day.

[Zeke]

Bryan, I live in Florida with my partner of sixteen years and our thirteen year old son. My partner works at a public university while I am a work at home father. My and my son's health insurance comes through my partner's employment. If the Florida Marriage Amendment passes in November we will lose this benefit (which by the way we pay more for and pay taxes on that married couples don't). This will cause a terrible hardship for our family. Additionally, last year I had a major medical episode and I almost died. Even though my partner and I were married in Toronto in 2003 and we have raised our son together since birth, we are legal strangers to each other and he is a legal stranger to our son. If I were to have died my son would have been taken away from the only other parent he's ever known. He would go into foster care because in the state of Florida my partner, as a gay man and with no legal connection to me is legally barred from adopting our son no matter the circumstances.

Tell me again why I shouldn't complain. Tell me again why we don't need a piece of paper. Tell me again that being together is all that should matter. And please, oh please tell me again how we need to get over ourselves because we're no different from anybody else in the country.

I often hear these little pearls of wisdom coming from once, twice, three times married straight people or from gay people who have never had, and have no desire to have, a relationship that lasts longer than it takes to get their pants back on. That's fine by me. If their happy I’m happy. No one will force marriage on anyone who has no desire for or need for marriage. However, I take great exception and great offense when these people, out of ignorance and/or selfishness, and with great arrogance, tell me that marriage is just a piece of paper that no one needs and that people should stop complaining about and fighting for.

Forgive me if I come across as hostile but I think you need to educate yourself a bit more before you presume to pontificate upon a topic that you clearly know so little about.

Oh, and Brokeback Mountain was a good movie but it was just a movie; nothing more. Movies don’t change the world, people change the world. We shouldn’t be upset that a movie didn’t do for us what we’re too complacent, apathetic or lazy to do for ourselves.

Sorry for the overly long post but this one struck a nerve close to home.

[Bartholemieux]

Zeke,

I am sorry to see what is going to be happening to you and your partner. I am also appauled that we as a country seem to be able to honor ones CHOICE of religion as sacrosanct to the point where we allow it to interfere with the granting of rights based on something that isn't a choice, such as sexual orientation. I believe in the right to practice religion as one sees fit, up until it interferes with how others live their lives.

As an example, if you don't like abortion because it offends your religious sensibilities (or for any other reason), then don't have one, but don't tell others they can't. Same goes for same-sex marriage. If you don't like it, don't have one, but don't tell others they can't.

As for Brokeback mountain changing anything, it didn't, and I don't believe it was produced with that purpose in mind, otherwise they might have had Neil Patrick Harris and Lance Bass in the lead roles and there might have actually been a HAPPY ending. I agree with another poster on this board, when can we have an "epic" gay themed movie with a happy ending, where someone doesn't have to die because they dared to love someone of the same sex? THAT would be a movie of import and change.