Exodus: Live Out Loud

Exodus Representatives Participate in Documentary Screening

"For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary about Christian families who were faced with a homosexual child, and ultimately grew to embrace their homosexuality, was presented at an open screening at Stetson University last week. The screening was followed by a discussion panel featuring the film's director, Daniel Karslake. Among the other panelists were Mike Ensley of Exodus Youth and Dr. Julie Hamilton, a professional counselor affiliated with Exodus.

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal Online:

Overall, the movie won praise from both the conservative and liberal panel members.

"I loved that the core of it was families' stories," said Mike Ensley, a counselor with Exodus Ministries, which helps youth wanting to overcome homosexuality.

The documentary focuses on five Christian families coming to terms with a gay son or daughter. Just released on DVD, it's becoming a popular movie for church screenings, said filmmaker Daniel Karslake...

...Dissenting about some of the movie's science was Julie Harren Hamilton, a Palm Beach psychologist and president-elect of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which helps clients change their sexual orientation.

She disputed the suggestion that homosexuality is simply genetic, arguing that the causes are more complicated.

Karslake, the filmmaker, defended his research but agreed with Hamilton that everyone should study the issues for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

Bible/Homosexuality Film Stirs Debate

From Baptist Press:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Few issues are as controversial as the Bible and homosexuality, and a new documentary on that subject is receiving thumbs down from orthodox Christians -- and garnering its own controversy in the process.

"For the Bible Tells Me So" is a 90-minute, one-sided film focusing on five families who profess to be Christians and who have a homosexual family member. For the most part the families' stories reflect the documentary's message: The Bible has been misinterpreted over the centuries and homosexuality is not a sin.

"There's nothing wrong with a fifth-grade understanding of God, as long as you're in the fifth grade," one liberal pastor says in the movie.

Director Daniel Karslake and his film crew interviewed such notables as former Democratic House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt -- who is promoting the film and who has a lesbian daughter -- and Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop. Not surprisingly, the documentary throws in a few scenes showing Fred Phelps' infamous church of "God Hates Fags" fame, picketing.

It has won a handful of awards, including the Audience Winner for best documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, and it has the backing of the homosexual group Soulforce, which promotes so-called "pro-gay" interpretations of Scripture and which has posted the trailer on its website. The film is not being distributed widely, but media critics nonetheless are raving about it and essentially urging readers to support it. That has become part of the controversy, too.

The Seattle Times' Moira Macdonald called it an "inspiring" film about "acceptance" that "may well leave you blinking away a few tears." The documentary, she said in her Oct. 26 review, shows clergy and religious scholars "calmly rebutting literalist interpretations of Scripture."

Not to be outdone, The Tennessean's Bill Friskics-Warren wrote a 1,400-word review of the movie for page one of the Nov. 18 Issues section, asserting that "nowhere ... does the Bible say anything, much less condemn, loving and committed partnerships between same-sex adults." Scholars, he argued, "tell us that these passages have nothing to do with sexual orientation as we've come to understand it." Friskics-Warren even listed a few Bible verses he said are misinterpreted.

"The use of Scripture to justify discrimination began long before the current dispute about what the Bible does or doesn't say about homosexuality," he wrote.

Both reviews included information on when and where to watch the film.

The Tennessean's one-sided review received so much reaction that a week later it published three columns by Christians from the opposing viewpoint.

"While there may be a few idiots like Fred Phelps among us, most Christians oppose homosexuality with a degree of humility," wrote Kevin Shrum, pastor of Inglewood Baptist Church in Nashville. "... Someone asked me one time, 'Pastor, what would you do if you had a homosexual family member?' My answer is that I do. And when I see her, I hug her, love her, pray for her, talk to her, laugh with her, listen to her and long to see her 'come out' of a lifestyle that appears to be miserable, abnormal and destructive."

Read the rest of the article >>

Grandparents File Lawsuit over "Brokeback" Shown to 12-year-old

From the Associated Press:

A girl and her grandparents have sued the Chicago Board of Education, alleging that a substitute teacher showed the R-rated film "Brokeback Mountain" in class.

The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her 8th grade class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year.

The film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking around $500,000 in damages.

"It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," said Kenneth Richardson, Turner's guardian. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this."

According to the lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, the video was shown without permission from the students' parents and guardians.

The lawsuit also names Ashburn Principal Jewel Diaz and a substitute teacher, referred to as "Ms. Buford."

The substitute asked a student to shut the classroom door at the West Side school, saying: "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," according to the lawsuit.

Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized by the movie and had to undergo psychological treatment and counseling.

In 2005, Richardson complained to school administrators about reading material that he said included curse words.

"This was the last straw," he said. "I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our faith."

Messages left over the weekend with CPS officials were not immediately returned.

Back Breaking Mountain of an Argument

http://americandaily.com/article/12161

"I don't feel threatened by two people of the same sex who love each other and want to get married. This is a standard response of progressively minded individuals who do not want to appear intolerant towards homosexual marriage. It is also a response designed to end the conversation on the subject.

If one person doesn’t feel personally threatened by the prospect of two individuals of the same sex tying the knot, then there isn’t much else to talk about, is there? Unless someone else feels threatened by it, in which case it is their problem, and not the other person’s, who is indifferent about the whole matter because it doesn’t really affect him or her anyway.

But there is more than meets the eye to this seemingly innocuous and preemptively defensive response to what is after all a very controversial subject."- Miguel Guanipa, The American Daily, Mar1, 2006

America turns its back to Brokeback

http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2170

"While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences might be all a-twitter over a homosexual cowboy movie, it seems that America’s movie-going public may not be as enamored as we have been led to believe.

“Brokeback Mountain” is in the running for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. But the front-runner in nominations has not received the bump in theater attendance that normally accompanies such Oscar accolades. "- Kelly Boggs, Baptist Press, Mar 3, 2006

Largest Ex-Gay Organization in the World Says Brokeback Mountain Gets it Right, But Gets it Wrong

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=61727

To: National Desk

Contact: Julie Neils or Kathryn Means, both of Exodus International, 407-599-6872 or jneils@exodus.to

ORLANDO, Fla. March 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, the largest network of former homosexuals in the world, says that Brokeback Mountain, nominated for eight Oscar nods at this weekend's Academy Award ceremony, is a true reflection of the conflicted emotions and heartache many homosexuals experience, but says that movie's conclusion as to its cause is off base.

Hailed as a fictional love story, Brokeback Mountain, stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys in the 1960s who embark upon a troubled lifelong secret homosexual relationship -- a relationship that spans the course of each of their marriages to women and their eventual divorces. Ang Lee, the director of the film, states that a frequent theme in his movies is "social obligation vs. free will" and this one is no exception. Brokeback Mountain's clear intent is to show that an unaccepting society is to blame for the tragedy that unfolds in the lives of the main characters.

"Brokeback Mountain is a powerful story of painful oppression and unbridled obsession," said Chambers. "The film does an exceptional job painting a picture of the heartbreaking devastation so many endure in gay life."

Chambers says, though, that for the hundreds of thousands of former homosexuals that he represents, the cause for such internal struggle came from an entirely different source. "Our unhappiness and conflict came not as a result of an unreceptive environment, but from believing the culture's 'born-gay' message and resigning ourselves to an unhappy life dominated by unwanted same-sex attractions."

He added, "Through Jesus Christ, we found a path towards change and ultimate peace -- a love story overpowering all others. We share our life stories knowing that others have been changed by this truth and so many more are longing to hear it."

Exodus International is a resource and referral organization with over 130 member ministries across North America. The organization has been in existence for 30 years and offers help to the over 400,000 people who contact the ministry each year.

Alan Chambers is available for interviews on this story. He has been interviewed by numerous mainstream media outlets across North America and Europe including Time magazine, ABC's 20/20, Good Morning America, Nightline and MSNBC's Buchanan & Press.

For commentary following the Academy Awards, please call: 321-217-5669. To learn more about Exodus, go to: http://www.exodus.to.

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http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2006 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

Golden Globe Awards Hype Gay-Themed Movies

http://.exodus.to

Ex-Gay Organization Says Hollywood’s One-sided Portrayal of Gay Life is Damaging & Harmful

Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, the largest evangelical network of former homosexuals in the world, says tonight’s Golden Globe awards is once again pushing the envelope with nominations for Brokeback Mountain and Transamerica — two controversial new movies centered around the issue of homosexuality and transexuality.

Chambers, himself a former homosexual, says that while some of the themes in both movies explore the unhappiness, pain and promiscuity in gay life, the overarching premise sends the wrong message to Americans about culture and sexuality.

“We hear from hurting individuals every day who are looking for answers beyond the culture’s one-sided ‘born-gay’ response to the issue of homosexuality,” said Chambers. “Messages like the ones emphasized these films only further add to their confusion and desperation.”

“Hundreds of thousands of men and women have rejected the notion that life must be dominated by our unwanted same- sex attractions and have found a way out of homosexuality through Jesus Christ,” said Chambers. “Our desire is to empower others with more information and offer the same hope for change that has brought life and freedom to us.”

Exodus International is a resource and referral organization with over 125 member ministries across North America. The organization has been in existence for 30 years and offers help to the over 400,000 people who contact the ministry each year.

Alan Chambers is available for interviews on this story. He is a national spokesperson on the issue of homosexuality and serves as President of Exodus International, the largest network of former homosexuals in the world. He has been interviewed by numerous mainstream media outlets across North America and Europe including Time magazine, ABC’s 20/20, MSNBC’s Buchanan & Press and NBC’s Nightline.

'Brokeback Mountain' is Anti-Family

Don't be fooled by 'Brokeback Mountain's'  seven Golden Globe nominations. What a sad day in America when a movie that glorifies homosexuality, adultery, dangerous and deadly unprotected anal sex and deception is up for Best Picture of the Year. - Stephen Bennett, Straight Talk Radio

Is America Ready for 'Brokeback Mountain'?

"Brokeback Mountain"  is the first gay love story to star A-list Hollywood actors. It is also the first gay cowboy movie. - ABC News

Filmaker, Oliver Stone Upsets Gay Activists

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/stone%20upsets%20gay%20rights%20activists

When Filmaker, Oliver Stone decided to edit out the eight minute portion of his movie Alexander, which depicted Alexander the great as a gay man, for the new directors cut dvd release, gay activists were horrified and instead suggested that the movie would be improved by adding more gay scenes.

Kinsey film lies, defames World War II Americans

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42811

By Judith ReismanPosted: February 11, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: Parents are advised this column contains information that may not be appropriate for children.

---

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

In 1948, "illegitimacy," abortion and rape rates were some hundreds of percentiles less than today, when even elementary school children are sexually "literate." Yet that year, an impotent, closeted bi-homosexual pedophilic psychopath "proved" to the world that American GI's and Rosie the Riveters were wildly randy adventurers who were also so sexually witless that they often didn't even know where children came from.

Film: Was 'Merchant of Venice' gay?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/03/film.merchant.reut/index.html

New adaptation plays up Antonio's sexual orientation

Monday, January 3, 2005 Posted: 3:23 PM EST (2023 GMT)

	<> <>

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Charges of anti-Semitism are standard fare when it comes to "The Merchant of Venice," but a new film adaptation of Shakespeare's play also raises another controversial question -- was the merchant gay?

An emotionally charged kiss between two men raises the issue of their sexual orientation, but even the actors who play them do not agree about what the kiss means.

The Heavy Toll of Sexual Repression

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/theater/reviews/16kirk.html

[Note: This review concerns a play depicting a man in therapy for homosexuality and his relationships with others.]

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Published: December 16, 2004

 

CULVER CITY, Calif., Dec. 13 - A high-flying Manhattan investment banker falls far and falls hard - if not particularly fast - in Jon Robin Baitz's knotty new play "The

Paris Letter," which had its world premiere here at the handsome new Kirk Douglas Theater, a converted movie house. The play opens in

New York next spring, in a separate production by the Roundabout Theater Company.

"The Paris Letter" is intriguingly expansive in its dramatic scope and ambition. Its three acts consume nearly three hours, as the action ranges fluidly across four decades, from 1962 to 2002. All but one of the play's five actors, who include Ron Rifkin (a Baitz mainstay), Neil Patrick Harris and Patricia Wettig, play dual roles. Mr. Baitz has, somewhat uncharacteristically, included a potent stew of sensational incident. We are treated to financial scandal, adultery, a suicide and a murder (or is it two murders?), as well as a more prosaic, mildly melodramatic death by cancer.

No action on 'gay Jesus' - police

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4085023.stm

Police investigating a controversial theatre production which depicts Jesus as homosexual have said they will be taking no further action at the moment.

Christian Voice has labelled Corpus Christi, now playing in St Andrews, a "hate-filled mockery".

A member of the prayer group lodged a complaint of blasphemy with Fife police after walking out of the play on its opening night on Thursday.

Stone's epic "Alexander" too gay for mainstream audiences?

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/34381.htm

LIGHT IN THE SANDALS

By LOU LUMENICK

November 18, 2004 -- IS Oliver Stone's $150 million epic "Alexander" too gay for mainstream audiences? Stone, who previously stirred controversy with "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers," is on the hot seat again with his biopic about the bisexual Macedonian emperor, played by Colin Farrell, which opens next Wednesday.

As Alexander the Great, Farrell speaks softly and sports a blond pageboy and mini-toga, looking a bit like something out of Queer Eye for the Macedonian Guy.

In scenes that may raise eyebrows with some action-movie fans, the Irish actor kisses two men - a Macedonian soldier and a hunky topless Persian castrato named Bogoas, who becomes his lover - full on the mouth.

What you won’t see in the ‘Kinsey’ movie

http://www.bpnews.net/bpcolumn.asp?ID=1617

Monday, Nov 15, 2004
By R. Albert Mohler Jr.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Brace yourselves. The movie, “Kinsey,” opened in theaters Nov. 12, introducing a new generation of Americans to the infamous "father" of sex research in America. Yet the movie is really not a true portrait of Alfred Kinsey at all. Instead of portraying the twisted and tormented mind of this propagandist for the sexual revolution, the movie presents Kinsey as an angel of light who brought America out of repression and darkness.

Reviewers greeted the movie with excitement. A.O. Scott, writing in The New York Times, declared that "Bill Condon's smart, stirring life of the renowned mid-century sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey has a lot to say on the subject of sex, which it treats with sobriety, sensitivity and a welcome measure of humor." Mr. Scott neglects to mention that the movie treats its "subject" without an adequate measure of truth.

Rather than expressing outrage that a scandalous individual with a well-documented pattern of sexual perversity is being celebrated, Mr. Scott sees the movie as a mixture of entertainment and enlightenment. "The director addresses sexuality with candor and wit, but it is the act of research as much as its object that imparts to Kinsey its flush of passion and its rush of romance," Scott celebrated. He went on the gush: "I can't think of another movie that has dealt with sex so knowledgeably and, at the same time, made the pursuit of knowledge seem so sexy. There are some explicit images and provocative scenes, but it is your intellect that is most likely to be aroused."

Kinsey Film Is a Cover-Up, CWA Says

http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=6762&department=MEDIA&categoryid=family

11/10/2004

Washington, D.C. – The movie Kinsey, opening this week, is an attempt to cover up sex researcher Alfred Kinsey’s horrifying reality, says Concerned Women for America (CWA).

Starring Liam Neeson, “the film paints Kinsey as a flawed but sincere cultural hero,” says Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute. “It ignores the massive fraud, Kinsey’s sado-masochistic practices, and barely touches on his use of data on children in sex experiments.

“Alfred Kinsey encouraged pedophiles to molest children, all in the name of science,” Knight says. “Instead of being lionized, Kinsey’s proper place is with Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele or your average Hollywood horror flick mad scientist.”

Knight has also said about Kinsey:

“I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Kinsey was the godfather of the homosexual activist movement, the campaign to mainstream pornography, and even the campaign to strike down abortion laws,” says Knight, director of a 1995 documentary about Kinsey's research on child sexuality. "He was a sexual revolutionary masquerading as an objective scientist.”

'In the Garden' takes unusual look at religion

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/9767944.htm?1c

Posted on Mon, Sep. 27, 2004
BY KIM SURKAN

Special to the Pioneer Press

What if Jesus came back as a gay teen prostitute? This is the question posed by Norman Allen's script "In the Garden," the play chosen by Outward Spiral Theater's artistic director Jeffry Lusiak to close the company's 2004 season.

In this very unconventional exploration of religion, philosophy and sexuality, a young downwardly mobile student, Gabe (Ryan Lindberg), opts to leave college to live in a city park after sleeping with his professor.

Explaining that he is looking for a way to shut out the "noise" of the world, he discards his material possessions and retreats to a park bench with only a Bible in hand.

What ensues is a series of clandestine trysts between the boy and four adults. The show is well-cast, consisting of two swinging couples: philosophy professor John (Dale Pfeilsticker) and his wife, Muriel (Cynthia Uhrich), and their friends Lizzie (Shannon Jankowski) and Walter (Wade Vaughan), who are engaged to be married.

Gabe proves to be the forbidden fruit none can resist. He is soon sexually involved with everyone but Lizzie, who pursues a platonic relationship with him over sandwiches in the park. "How better to follow Christ's teachings than to prostitute oneself?" he asks.

However misguided this may sound, Gabe's way of life begins to have a profound effect on the other characters, who find their own careers and dreams have been compromised by materialism and hedonism.

Gay teens deserve better than 'Get Over It'

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/moviestory.mpl/ae/movies/reviews/2799406

Sept. 16, 2004, 5:46PM

By STEPHEN WHITTY
Copyright 2004 Newhouse News Service

Growing up is hard enough without having to do it in secret. Still, that's the difficulty faced by gay teenagers every year.

They struggle with the same issues as every other classmate -- sudden crushes, awkward dates, unrequited love, sexual experimentation. Except most of them struggle in silence, unable even to confide in a best friend.

It's a common problem -- so common that many gay movies take it as their natural story line. It appears, once again, in You'll Get Over It, a new French drama -- and it's showing its age.

Its hero, Vincent, is a 16-year-old role model -- a smart and well-liked student with a pretty girlfriend and some record-breaking exploits on the swim team. What Vincent's friends and family don't know, however -- even as it's starting to register on the "gaydar" of other young men -- is that Vincent is homosexual.

Julien Baumgartner is appealing enough as Vincent, at first, and Julia Maraval is sweet as his clueless girlfriend, but the movie isn't very dramatic. Vincent's family, teachers and coach are all remarkably understanding when he's forced, finally, to come out. Although there are some taunts at school, they subside quickly.

Vincent, meanwhile, grows slightly less appealing as the movie goes on. When his father awkwardly professes his support, he merely stares at him. When a teacher stammers out the facts of his own sexual orientation, Vincent struggles, unsuccessfully, not to laugh in his face.

The intent may be to show how confident Vincent has become. Instead, he seems only rude, and because the film presents him with few obstacles to overcome, it has nowhere to go.

Kinsey film sugarcoats his record, glosses over child experiments

www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=6113&department=CWA&categoryid=family

8/5/2004
By Elaine McGinnis, Kara Carlson

Director celebrates sex researcher's

The new movie Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson, chronicles the life and work of Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey. A sadomasochistic pedophile who abused children as young as five months to accumulate data for his research, Kinsey helped launch the American sexual revolution through his 1948 book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.

The movie, which is slated to open on November 12, 2004, was written and directed by Bill Condon, a homosexual activist, and financed by Myriad Pictures. MGM/ United Artists backed out of distributing the film after controversy developed over the movie's portrayal of Kinsey. Fox Searchlight Pictures is the distributor.

Academy Award-winning actors Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey and Harrison Ford all opted out of starring in the film.

Condon has said of his film, "It does feel like its time to remind people of Kinsey's ideas, which I think are liberating. I hope there's an exhilarating feeling you get when you come out of the theater. There would be "no Playboy or Dr. Ruth without [Kinsey's] liberating effects." [WorldNetDaily, Feb.]

Kinsey and the kids
According to early reviews, the film barely mentions Kinsey's recording of child sexuality data, with one young staff member expressing distaste.

Entertainment Industry Shows "Tolerance" for Christianity One More Time

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1087577179284211.xml

Moore comedy opens tonight, but former judge isn't laughing
Play about gay couple a 'mockery,' ex-jurist says;writer says it's just farce
Friday, June 18, 2004
By LEE ROOP
Times Features Editor lroop@htimes.com
BIRMINGHAM - Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has star power even when he doesn't want it, judging by a new play about gay marriage that opens here tonight.

Playwright Tom Wofford spent the week doing state and national media interviews about "Judge Roy Moore Comes to Dinner," a story featuring a character playing the judge.

Moore garnered international attention last year when he was booted off the bench after refusing to remove a granite copy of the Ten Commandments he'd installed in the state's judicial building soon after taking office in January 2001.

The play is a comedy about newly married gays who come home to Birmingham to meet their respective parents. "A sort of farcical 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' for the new millennium," Wofford said Wednesday, referring to the 1967 movie about an interracial marriage.

Broadway's Best Shows Too Risque for Republicans

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040607/media_nm/leisure_broadway_dc_2

Mon Jun 7, 5:46 PM ET

By Larry Fine

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gay puppets, transvestites, assassins and a pedophile child killer piled up Tony honors on Sunday but those shows will be shunned by Republican delegates at the political party's convention in New York this summer.

With thousands of Republicans set to descend on the Big Apple to nominate President Bush (news - web sites) for re-election, convention organizers decided to treat delegates to the glitz of Broadway before they knuckled down to the business of politics.

But Republican organizers, selling themselves as the family-values party, decided to buy tickets to tame shows like "42nd Street" and Disney productions like "Aida" and "The Lion King," avoiding more offbeat fare.

Besides Tony winners such as the naughty puppet musical "Avenue Q" and best play "I Am My Own Wife," about a German transvestite, other hits including Mel Brooks (news)' "The Producers," were vetoed by those arranging Broadway outings.

Theater Review: the Normal Heart

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040513/review_nm/review_stage_normal_dc_1

Thu May 13, 4:11 AM ET

By Frank Scheck

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Arriving nearly 20 years after its original production, this revival of Larry Kramer's groundbreaking play about the rise of the AIDS (news - web sites) epidemic threatened to be a theatrical museum piece.

Sadly, however, the disease is very much among us, and the play's themes are still all too relevant. The Worth Street Theater Company's revival, being presented at the same venue where the work originated, compellingly makes the case for its status as a modern theatrical classic.

Set in the years 1981-84, the play chronicles the efforts of Ned Weeks (Raul Esparza) -- a character clearly modeled after the author -- to raise a fire under the media, the city government and the gay community to recognize the extent of the crisis facing them. Constructed in numerous short and explosive scenes, it is a strongly didactic and preachy work, awkwardly constructed and sketchy in its characterizations, but it burns with a fierceness and moral outrage that was clearly born of experience. A roman a clef that nonetheless wasn't afraid to name its targets -- Ronald Reagan (news), Ed Koch and the New York Times among them -- it is a tremendously powerful piece of agitprop that is all the more powerful for its specificity.

Film about man-boy love refused public money

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/takahashi20040331 -
OTTAWA - A taxpayer-funded grant for a film depicting a sexual relationship between an adolescent boy and an older man has been pulled.

Pedophilia Film's Maker Expects Funding from Ottawa Arts Group

LifeSite - http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04033008.html -
The Ottawa Independent Film Makers Co-operative of Ottawa, IFCO, a taxpayer-funded group, hands down a decision today as to whether it will fund the pedophilia-themed film Last Night with Jesse.

Drivers Screen X-Rated Videos on the Road

DETROIT — Andrea Carlton hadn't planned on telling her daughter about the birds and bees until she was 8 or 9. But that changed the night 4-year-old Catherine spotted a porno movie flickering on a screen in a minivan nearby.

Porn Director, Church Make PSA for Kids

Just because he makes his living directing pornographic films doesn't mean James DiGiorgio wants children watching them. [Registration required]

Priests and Sexual Abuse Ignite a Stage in Chicago

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/10/theater/10CARD.html?th

By STEPHEN KINZER

Published: March 10, 2004

CHICAGO, March 9 — A searing new play that opened here last week offers a vivid look at how Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston reacted to the sex abuse scandal in his archdiocese.

Most of the dialogue in this play, "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," is taken from testimony that Cardinal Law gave in pretrial depositions in 2002 and 2003. The rest is from letters and public statements by Roman Catholic priests, doctors, victims of abuse and their parents.

Stolen Kisses

New York Times, March 1, 2004
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@nytimes.com )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/opinion/01HERB.html

By Bob Herbert
In the film "Cinema Paradiso" a priest previews each movie that is to be shown in a small Italian town and orders the removal of all kissing scenes. Near the end of the film, the main character, a man named Salvatore who had been a small boy at the time the priest exercised his powers of censorship, is given a film reel in which all the deleted kisses have been restored. He watches, profoundly moved, as one couple after another gives physical expression to their mutual love.

Love! Valour! Survival! High Drama!

New York Times, February 15, 2004
229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
(Fax: 212-556-3622 ) (E-Mail: letters@nytimes.com )
( http://www.nytimes.com )
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/arts/theater/15WITC.html

By Alex Witchel
At 62, it had never occurred to me to date," Terrence McNally said,
"but God had other plans."
And that was only one of them....

Movies: E-mail: More on the 'Latter Days' flap

Salt Lake Tribune, February 15, 2004
P. O. Box 867, Salt Lake City, UT, 84110
(Fax: 801-257-8950) (E-Mail: letters@sltrib.com )
( http://www.sltrib.com )
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/feb/02152004/arts/138936.asp
Movies: E-mail: More on the 'Latter Days' flap
By Sean P. Means
Boy, you take a little vacation, and the e-mail does pile up. Here are a couple that continue the debate over the gay-LDS comedy "Latter Days" and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ":

'Days' a talking point for gays

Chicago Tribune, February 13, 2004
435 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611
(Fax: 312-222-2598 ) (E-Mail: ctc-tribletter@tribune.com )
( http://www.chicagotribune.com )
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/custom/friday/chi-0402130347feb13,1,6196032.story
'Days' a talking point for gays
By Bob Baker, Tribune newspapers: Los Angeles Times
HOLLYWOOD - Seven years ago, a struggling writer-director named C. Jay Cox saw an old photo of himself as a teenage Mormon missionary in the Philippines. It started him ruminating about the chasm between that boy from rural Nevada, who'd been grappling with homosexuality, and the gay ex-Mormon Cox had become...

'Valhalla' Delights in Outrageousness

Associated Press, February 5, 2004
'Valhalla' Delights in Outrageousness
By Michael Kuchwara
NEW YORK (AP) - Not many playwrights would attempt to link Ludwig, the mad monarch of 19th century Bavaria, with a precocious young man in pre-World War II Texas.
But Paul Rudnick, author of "Jeffrey" and the screenplays for "In & Out" and the upcoming remake of "The Stepford Wives," delights in chronicling cultural as well as sexual outrageousness.
Ludwig and a small-town Texan named James Avery are soul mates in "Valhalla," Rudnick's playfully overstuffed new comedy now on view at off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop.