"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married." -- Dustin Lance Black, accepting an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, February 22, 2009
Movies are not just entertainment. They are constant reminders of our humanity. There are good and bad movies. But when a film transcend its entertainment value it becomes part of our collective consciousness. I am not asking people to understand the whole issue of being gay. I am asking people to acknowledge the fact that there is diversity in humanity. And this diversity should be respected and protected because it is a fundamental issue. Throughout my life I have known personally scores of individuals that have been put in the streets by their families because they were gay. Worst of all, they have been thrown out of their homes because their parents thought they were an abomination. I do not blame the parents completely. Since childhood I have heard horrific false stories involving "homosexuals", promiscuity and crime. Fear is so powerful it can make a human being kill another without any apparent reason but plain panic. I have also known a couple of persons that had attempted suicide on account of them been gay. Luckily they failed. It is a human rights issue. Even though a great deal of progress has been made we still have a long way to go. Education is the key. We must be courageous enough to defend the rights of others to be different from us. We do not need to be all same. There is beauty in diversity. Go to a garden and see the wonderful differences between flowers. It is all about Love and freedom. Love is transformation. When you Love you transform your world and yourself. Many people are scared to Love abundantly and freely.
Many people get tired or feel peeved when gay activists demand equal rights and equality in marriage publicly. Wouldn't you do the same if there were laws in your country that forbid you to commit legally to the one you Love and to hide in fear of being fired from your job because you were "different"from the rest? Of course you would take to the streets. I am grateful that we are living in a world that is, slowly but surely, advancing the cause of equality. I remember having to hide with my friends inside a car before we got inside a club for fear we would be attacked by hatemongers in the streets. It is an urgent issue that will not just go away. It is Love what we are talking about in here. It won't go away. It will return time and time again. You cannot deny its absolute power. We are creatures of Love.
I hope that people from around the world saw Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black accept their Oscars for Milk and thought to themselves Why are there people that wish Love be limited to their own definition of it? Why are there people that think Love should be contained, caged in like a dangerous wild animal? I hope they change their minds because there is only one Earth and one Humanity. We share this gift. We must honor it by allowing freedom to Love whomever you choose. It is essential for our survival as species.
Thank you for your kind attention on this matter.
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