The exgay political network Exodus capitalizes on the commercial success of Brokeback Mountain with a Jan. 16 press release seeking media interviews.
While the movie realistically conveys the anguish of same-sex-attracted cowboys in the U.S. heartland, Chambers complains that recent awards are “pushing the envelope” by honoring films that dare to be honest with the public.
Here are highlights from the Exodus press release:
- Chambers inaccurately states regarding Brokeback Mountain and TransAmerica: “[B]oth movies explore the unhappiness, pain and promiscuity in gay life.” TransAmerica is not about gay life.
- Chambers mistakenly implies that the films both convey the message that people are “born gay.”
- Chambers claims that “hundreds of thousands” of people “have found a way out of homosexuality through Jesus Christ.” But despite numerous requests, Chambers has declined to publicly document the number of exgays. He and a handful of other religious-right activists with suspicious histories appear to be the only people claiming to be successful exgays.
- Chambers misdefines “life and freedom” to mean lifelong celibacy, sexless marriage, and antigay discrimination.
Ex-Gay Watch welcomes readers to notify us of media that grant Chambers’ request for publicity.
A search of Google News finds the American Family Association and Concerned Women for America eagerly took Chambers’ message and further distorted it — dubiously alleging that:
- movies marketed mostly by word-of-mouth and news-media hype cost a fortune in marketing,
- movies should be honored on the basis of profit, not quality, and
- some of the season’s most profitable movies (measured in profits per screen) could not possibly be profitable because they feature homosexuals.
I have also emailed Randy Thomas repeatedly with questions about the “hundreds of thousands” statement.
So far I have received absolutely no response to my honest question.
I would like to know how they track these people.
You know, Exodus may not be able to document their “hundreds of thousands” claim, but I bet it would be relatively easy to document the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who have grown up in conservative churches with anti-gay theology and left those religions as adults. Given that people do, every day, make the choice to leave the “conservative christian” lifestyle, why should they have any clout at all?
Also, CWA, et. al. need to update their box office numbers – BBM has now grossed more than 33 million domestically, and at least from one source I read, is predicted to make 50 million – not chump change for a small film. The speculation also is that the DVD sales of this film will go through the roof, not the least because of those people, both gay and straight, who live in conservative areas and either can’t see the film or feel uncomfortable publicly going to a theater to see it.
In one way, I feel sorry for the “pro-family” movement. It seems like their rhetoric, particularly in the Ford and Microsoft fiascos, has become more strident and intolerant, but that may also be a sign of losing the overall battle. They have been very successful getting state-level gay marriage bans, but otherwise the inclusion of gay people in society has continued, pretty much on course. Polls consistently show small but steady growth in pro-gay positions, like employment discrimination and eliminating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and now come films like BBM and Transamerica, which approach societal outcasts from a human and honest point of view – simply putting the characters out there with all their faults and foibles, and letting the audience decide their own opinions. The films are undoubtedly going to add to the ranks of those people who tolerate and accept their gay relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers. The fact that, in many locations, large numbers of older Americans (a group that remans highly opposed to gay rights) are reported to be attending the film – some theorize it’s slow pace and reliance on story-telling over action appeals to older movie goers – could really put a nail in the “pro-family” coffin, assuming the film as a positive effect on them.
Conservative critics constantly state that a movies value and quality lie in the profit. Medved values most movies, for example, by the amount of money it makes. That is really dangerous to value art as such. It suggests that the lowest common aspect should be what governs a film.
Contrary to many fundamentalist Christians’ claims that same-sex behavior is just as sinful as all other sins, the outcry against Brokeback, Transamerica, and Capote conflicts with the lack of outcry against the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. Apparently, movies about pre-marital sex, drug abuse, extra-marital sex, and divorce and all acceptable to Exodus, AFA, CWA, etc.
I thought the wingnuts “stratedgy” was to ignore BBM because “mainstream” America would find it too icky and stay away in droves and it would die a natural box office death? What happened to that stratedgy? Hmmmmmmmmmm?
Contrary to many fundamentalist Christians’ claims that same-sex behavior is just as sinful as all other sins, the outcry against Brokeback, Transamerica, and Capote conflicts with the lack of outcry against the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. Apparently, movies about pre-marital sex, drug abuse, extra-marital sex, and divorce and all acceptable to Exodus, AFA, CWA, etc.
Not to mention the horror film Hostel, which opened without any protest from the “pro-family” movement, and was even playing at the Salt Lake cineplex that pulled out of showing BBM a couple of weeks ago. This is a film that depicts violent torture with such grisly reality that people have actually had to leave the theater (actually the reviews have been better than I would have expected from the plot). There has been not a peep about this film from anyone who is against BBM.
This comment was meant for this thread, sorry:
Alan Chambers and other Exodus officials often complain that gays, gay supporters, and every major medical and psychological organization in the country are telling them that they don’t exist when they say that there is no evidence that ex-gay therapies work.
But then he goes on to describe about the pain, promiscuity of gay life (the implication is ALL gay life), so he essentially says that gay people like me who are happy, healthy, and non-promiscuous don’t exist. I wonder if he sees the coincidence.
“I thought the wingnuts “stratedgy” was to ignore BBM because “mainstream” America would find it too icky and stay away in droves and it would die a natural box office death? What happened to that stratedgy? Hmmmmmmmmmm?”
Conservative Christain activists learned their lesson with The Last Temptation of Christ when their protests brough attention to the movie and helped its box office. Some even reviewed it and realized that it wasn’t an “agenda movie” and were hesitant to lie (yes it’s true, some conservative Christians don’t like to lie). So they decided not to protest in hopes it would go away on its own.
But there are wingnuts, and there are way-crazy-beyond-caring-about-anything-other-than-my-press-release wingnuts. Guess which category Exodus fits in.
They really don’t care how well the movie does if they can get a little more attention in the process.
I think Alan needs a new dictionary.
Promiscuity suggests more that a total of three sexual partners in a lifetime, one of whom he was married to. We are pretty clearly told that this was the grand sum of Ennis’ experiences.
Promiscuity suggest a cavalier or wanton attitude about sex, something it is quite clear that Ennis did NOT have, especially as it pertained to Jack.
Ah but then again I wouldn’t expect honesty from Alan Chambers.
It is often said that in the entertainment industry there is no such thing as bad publicity. I.e.: any attention is a good thing for art.
So it follows that as long as wingnuts wail, BBM and other socially controversial films will draw an audience.
I haven’t seen BBM yet but I will soon.
Hey, me and my husband went out and saw The Passion of the Christ, and I was scratching my head over why these same Christian groups were SOOOOOO impressed with it.
That movie was excruciatingly violent. Jesus was actually beaten many more times than in Scripture, first with a whip, then with a metal tipped flail.
He was actually struck in excess of nearly 80 times. (A beating he should have died from).
His trip up Calvary was reptitious and overly long.
To say nothing of the gender ambiguous ‘Satanic’ figure who had a snake in their nostril.
TPOTC was pretty overblown and hard to watch.
I think “Dogma” was more of a love letter to faith and God than TPOTC.
Anyway, we choose our entertainment and deal with it as we go along.
But Chambers and all the others who are weighing in on BBM and what it’s depicting have a wild, incomprehensible hair up their butts.
Movies are movies.
In the end, we are all going to have to account for how we treated each other long before the Kingdom those people are waiting on.
We are all taking our chances with SCOTUS, our President, FOTF, FRC and AFA…sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong.
And so far, they are more determined to mess up gay lives, deConstitutionalize the Constitution and pretend as if God ordered them to decide for everyone how they are to live, the Constitution be damned.
What a nightmare these people are.
So firm in believing God is on THEIR side, and where have we heard that from?
I do not and never did fear God. And what’s expected of me.
These people want us to fear THEM. They just won’t be honest about it.
Regan,
“I do not and never did fear God.”
I think you’ve put your finger on the divide in Christianity. There are those who are focused on fearing God and those who are focused on loving God.
It’s a completely different mindset. We’ve all seen children who behave because they are afraid of their parent. And we’ve seen those who behave because they love their parents and want to make them happy.
If you have a loving relationship with your parents you don’t have to try to please them, you already know that you do. When I see Christians trying desperately to please God by passing laws, campaigning, marching, fighting culure wars, etc. it’s pretty clear that they fear God but don’t know how to love Him. They’re trying to impress him and win his love.
For a true Christian, loving the Lord and fearing Him are synonymous. To fear the Lord does not mean to be afraid of Him but to revere Him, to know that what He says goes, whether it is politically correct or not.
It is when we revere Him and submit our lives to Him that we truly show our love and adoration for Him. And despite what others think, this is when true freedom is possible.
Kat said “For a true Christian, loving the Lord and fearing Him are synonymous.”.
Kat, I don’t know if you are anti-gay but a lot of anti-gay christians would agree with that statement. Ironic in light of their complaint about what same sex attracted people have done to the word gay, I find this abuse of the meaning of love truly destructive. Christians talk about “loving” murderers in the same way. They don’t mean love in any conventional sense of the word. They don’t mean they genuinely look forward to being with a murderer, that that person makes them feel happy, at ease, and good. They don’t feel towards a murderer what genuine love makes one feel towards another, feelings of apprehension and fear are best not confused by falsely labelling it “love”. In my experience a christian saying “love” really means “control” and that doesn’t discount using force and fear to do so. Forcing someone to do what you want is not love. Any time you are forcing someone to bend to your will you are not likely simultaneously feeling happy, calm, secure and pleased – the true feelings of love.
Anti-gay Christian talk of “loving gays” really means “human might makes right and we assert our right to force you to live according to our religious interpretation despite the harmless or beneficial nature of your relationships”. They don’t have any genuine love for gays any more than they do murderers. Couples that harm no one to make themselves happy they “love” in the same category as someone who performs the ultimate deprivation of rights. Actually, that’s not even true, they don’t oppose murderers marrying. They must love murderers better than gays. If ever a group has bastardized a word, its Christians and love.
Hi Randi, I respect your opinions but I wasn’t talking about a person’s love for another person or a group of people for that matter. I was sharing about what I, personally, have learned of the word love from my relationship with the Lord.
want to watch a movie