"Red State" Brokeback !

Posted on Sat, Jan. 14, 2006

`Brokeback' may herald acceptance of gay marriage

By Sue Hutchison - Mercury News
If you are looking for a cultural signpost to the future of gay marriage, you need look no further than the reaction to the saga of love-struck cowboys. Never mind that ``Brokeback Mountain'' has a good chance to corral more than its share of major awards at the Golden Globes ceremony on Monday. The big news is that the film is being embraced even in red states.
There were early signs that this might happen when ``Brokeback'' played to big crowds in December at the cineplex in Plano, Texas. This month, according to the Dallas Morning News, the film has more than quadrupled the number of theaters where it's playing, to 269 screens, and its audiences have increased by more than 60 percent. We're talking about audiences in the heart of the Midwest and in the South -- not exactly the demographic you'd expect to warm to a tale about gay Marlboro men.
Universal love story
But that's the power of a beautifully filmed love story. The appeal is universal. As tragic on-screen lovers go, Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal have nothing on the two ``Brokeback'' cowboys. No wonder it seems to be turning into a date movie -- for heterosexuals.
When Ann Davidson went to the film in Palo Alto recently, she saw what appeared to be mostly heterosexual couples in the audience, many of whom were middle-aged. It was the same for Mary Ann Woodall when she saw it at Santana Row in San Jose and for Joyce Miller when she saw it at the PruneYard in Campbell.
``I think this will be a turning point for people who have not thought about gay and lesbian relationships,'' said Davidson, whose son is gay. ``They will be moved by the power of this film without any labels being attached to it.''
Davidson, Woodall and Miller have a special interest in ``Brokeback Mountain'' because they are members of the South Bay chapter of PFLAG, or Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. They say the time is right for a movie to bust through the stereotypes of gays as urban interior decorators and drag queens. It's time to see gay relationships portrayed as simply human, not as a ``lifestyle'' or an ``issue.''
Story rings true
Miller, whose son is gay, runs a PFLAG support group for straight men and women divorced from gay spouses, and she said the film really hit home: ``This movie may be the best way for people to see that denying others the right to love who they want to love causes major collateral damage.''
Meanwhile, gay-marriage bans continue to lose traction. A recent California poll showed a trend toward more approval of gay marriage, with as many people for it as against it. That's a significant change from only five years ago, when a clear majority opposed it. Polls also show that people under 30 are far more accepting of gay marriage.
But if you really want to get a sense of the inevitability of gay marriage, just go to your local theater and check out the response to ``Brokeback Mountain.'' When I saw it last month, with a crowd that appeared to be all heterosexual couples and families, I went through an entire purse-packet of Kleenex. And I wasn't the only one.
I thought about cowboy Ennis Del Mar's line when he tried to explain to Jack Twist, the love of his life, why they could never be together: ``If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it.''
They had to stand for being kept apart, but the time is coming when even cowboys like Jack and Ennis won't have to stand for it anymore.
Sue Hutchison's column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays. Contact her at shutchison@mercury news.com.
source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/13626084.htm