Harvey Milk's America

Normally Out Magazine doesn't have too much worthwhile stuff in it. The new issue, however, had a story I'm glad I read, The Wedding. Not being a huge marriage proponent, at least not on a personal level, I nearly skipped by it. I'm glad I didn't. Basically Tim Murphy, the writer, took what was probably meant to be a cheerleader puff piece and turned it into something thoughtful and interesting. It's about two decadent, superficial, dizzy, spoiled circuit queens who drive a Hummer, a Rolls and a Jag. Challenged, they define themselves as "A list."

I started skimming. Then I got to this:

“I want this to look more documentary-form, not a wedding video,” says Phil. “I want it to be like you’re watching an important moment in time.” He says he wants copies of the video to go out to every gay youth organization in the country. “This is going to help the kids that are dreaming about being married,” he says. “We’re not really doing this so much for us. Some kid in the Midwest will see this and think, You know what? This isn’t a bad thing.”

It brought me back to a moment in time when I was living in San Francisco. I was sitting with a good friend in the backroom of his camera shop. He had recently been elected to the Board of Supervisors (City Council). He opened up a big bag of mail. Tears still come to my eyes when I recall that afternoon, opening and reading those letters, many from young gay people in-- yes, the Midwest who were inspired. One guy from Nebraska wrote about how he had been on the verge of suicide because of being rejected by his parents and his pastor. Harvey Milk's election to public office made him realize that he wasn't alone in the world.

The two party boys in their Dolce & Gabbana and Armani suits... if I thought that was what it meant to be gay I would have committed suicide when I first figured out I was. Judging from the trailer of Milk that I watched today I'm going to guess that people will have an opportunity to see the not Philandean gay America when the film comes out November 26.