We’re going to be hearing a lot of this

January 31, 2006

The news is pretty far from my usual beat, but I noticed that the Oscar nominations came out this morning and Brokeback Mountain led all films with eight nominations, including Best Picture.

Shortly after the nominations were announced, James Dobson’s Focus on the Family issued a statement to its membership. Take a guess what it was about. (no link available yet, the below came from a Focus email)

Mike Haley, director of gender issues for the ministry and a cofounder of its Love Won Out conference, said the movie would have audiences believe there is only one option available to those who find themselves attracted to someone of the same sex — to identify themselves as homosexuals even if they choose to hide their same-gender attractions from their families and society.

“The real truth is that those who struggle with homosexuality, like the two lead characters in Brokeback Mountain, can leave homosexuality and the pain and emptiness that so often accompanies it,” Haley explained. “Thousands of men and women have done just that — have decided to come to terms with what lies at the roots of their same-sex attractions and to work diligently toward overcoming them.”

How much of this nonsense will we hear between now and the Oscar’s? How much will Dobson and his cohorts use Brokeback Mountain as part of the religious right agenda (Hollywood is corrupting America, so are gays, etc.)?

Too much, I’m afraid.

You’re also going to hear a lot about gay Hollywood. Not only is the best bet for Best Picture about a gay (male) romance. The favorite to win Best Actor is Phillip Seymour Hoffman for playing a gay writer (and not a nice one); and one of the two favorites for Best Actress is Felicity Huffman for playing a transgendered person.

(Add to that “librul” George Clooney favored to win Supporting Actor and a Best Picture nominee that is viewed as being soft of Palestinian terrorists and you’ve got a right-wing issuepalooza on Oscar night….)

  • “The real truth is that those who struggle with homosexuality, like the two lead characters in Brokeback Mountain, can leave homosexuality and the pain and emptiness [ that the right of this country engenders by attempting to criminalize the act, shame and shun those who feel attraction to the same sex, and then crows about the fact that homosexuals have a higher suicide rate than the general populace ] that so often accompanies it,” Haley

  • The trouble with winning so many Oscar nominations is that many voters figure “Brokeback” will win so many that they can afford to vote for another “just this once”. Sometimes a ton of nominations results in few actual awards.

    I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it seems to me there’s a ton of good movies out (at last). From what I’ve read, in spite of the quality oppoisition (and I’m definitely not referring to Dobson) I hope “Brokeback” wins many Oscars, as it has virtually every other film award. Ram it down Dobson’s throat (so to speak).

    I’ve been googling like mad but I can’t find/point to what I’m looking for. I’ve received many emails from friends with a slightly modified poster for “Brokeback Mountain” – you know, the two guys shoulder to shoulder looking different directions. This one has the same poster but with the (much uglier and much meaner) faces of Bush and Cheney. Don’t know why it isn’t anywhere on Google; don’t think I’ll wallow in paranoia though.

  • Well, let’s see. The Dobsonites have the Presidency, the House, the Senate and now the Supreme Court. And they whine about a movie which shows a bit of reality? Sorry to burst the bubble in your fantasy world, Dr. Dobson, but this is the world we live in whether you approve or not.

    I loved Brokeback Mountain and I hope it wins best picture award and I hope that Ang Lee wins best director award. And kudos to Hollywood and all those liberals who had the courage to make this wonderful movie. If it changes someone’s heart, so much the better.

  • Fifty years ago, when all sexual intercourse outside of marriage was illegal, when homosexuals were banned from all government employment and most of the professions, when gay liberation tracts were liable to be banned by the Post Office, before gay bars were legal, before a single explicitly gay character had yet appeared in a movie or on television, the strategy of the Right with regard to sexuality was total authoritarian control, enforced by tactics of shame and humiliation.

    When Dobson et alia assert that gays and lesbians “can” overcome their homosexuality, when they claim that homosexuality is “a choice” and that there are “other options”, of course, they mean that gays and lesbians should comply with their authoritarian wishes.

    Personally, I am quite comfortable with the Right propagandizing the idea that “gay” is a choice, because it “is” a choice (even if homosexuality is not), and I am glad that individuals have the freedom to make that choice, and to have that choice respected.

    Brokeback Mountain is about the choices people make, in the absence of freedom, and the consequences.

  • I guess that baptist minister that got busted for offering a BJ to a cop (solicitation for prostitution) at the big holey roller convention was psyhcicly infuanced by the film huh?

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