Milk

I have to admit that the main reason I wanted to see Milk was because of Sean Penn. He's one of my favorites. I just think he's amazingly brilliant. But it's been hard to get out to see a movie this past year...And then it won all sorts of awards and that reminded me to put it in our Netflix queue. I had no idea what it was really about, other than a gay politician. Wow. It was obviously so much more than the life of a gay politician. In fact Harvey Milk was only in office for a year before he was assassinated. So there was so much more story beyond his time in office.

What killed me in the movie was 2 fold.

1. I had never heard of Harvey Milk before. I never heard about how much the gay community was attacked. I mean, I knew about the abuse and slander and discrimination, but I'd never heard about people vying to get their rights taken away, they jobs taken away.
2. And of course it was all started by the Christian right. Why does it seem that most of the judgment, condemnation, slavery, persecution...you name it...come from Christians? Here we had this amazing, all loving, all forgiving God come down and show himself and his love to all people. We had this amazing example of what we are to be to people yet we continue to screw it up. And it's not even that simple. Not only do we screw it up royally, but we slander what Christs' message was and drag his name through the mud.
   

Where ever your opinions lie, where ever your convictions run and your beliefs are set, there's a huge difference between disagreeing with a person and trying to not only push your views upon others but strip them of their rights. It just makes me sick. Who are we, any of us, to think that we are all knowing, all powerful and live the 'best' way. Didn't God make us all? Didn't He create in us our differences, whether it's our color or gender or personalities? Who are we to look at God's creation and place judgment? Who are we to persecute people for their religious views, the color of their skin, their lifestyle choices...?

Ugh. It just all makes me so damn sick. If you haven't seen Milk, go see it. It should piss you off. I hope it does. If it doesn't, you're not paying attention.