Milk and Other Things the Falwells Wouldn't Want You to See

I've been seeing the commercials for the movie, "Milk," the story of Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official. It's caught my eye several times, and I've been wanting to see it. I wasn't sure when it came out, but while watching "House" last night, there was another commercial for "Milk," and it said it was out now. So, I was pretty excited. Today, I went to Fandango, to see if and when it was playing in Lynchburg. To no surprise, it was nowhere to be found at any theatre in Lynchburg.

Why am I not surprised? My thought is the Falwells (the right-winged, close-minded family monopoly of Lynchburg) probably had something to do with it. Other movies, such as "Brokeback Mountain," another movie about gay men, and "The Golden Compass," a movie that supposedly promoted atheism, were also banned from Lynchburg. Well, come to think of it-- "The Golden Compass" came out later, but definitely wasn't there opening weekend. However, "Brokeback Mountain" was not allowed at all.

This pisses me off. Even if I wasn't an LGBT friend and ally, it would make me mad. But being one, this kind of censorship of movies that include the LGBT community in a positive sense, enrages me. I am almost at a loss for words, because I am so angry. But I'll continue to write.

If, in fact, the Falwells banned this movie from Lynchburg (and I have no doubt they did,) who do they think they are? I don't care how big of Christians they think they are... they cannot stifle an entire community of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, and their allies. Either ignoring them, or trying to fight them off with a Jesus stick, isn't going make us any less there.

They can ignore it all they want, but guess what? There are many LGBT students on their campus. Some are pretty open about it, even though they face the ugly punishment of reps, which brings fines in turn. Some are hush-hush about it, because they want to appear to be model Liberty students, and make their parents happy. Others are gay, but are too afraid to come out, because of this school's intolerance. Whatever the type, there are LGBT students there, and they're not going away.

Censoring LGBT movies, music, and literature isn't going to get the Falwells anywhere. If anything, it's going to rile up the LGBT community and their allies, and they're going to fight back. I don't know how yet, but I am ready to retaliate already.

I'll probably end up going to see this movie in Roanoke, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that it's not playing in Lynchburg, for possibly dumb reasons.