Right Wing Embraces Phelps, Rejects Penn’s "Milk" Win
Pundits on the right seem to have openly embraced anti-gay Baptist pastor Fred Phelps as a champion of "traditional family values" as part of an overall rejection of Hollywood's latest edition of the Academy Awards.
Sean Penn's Oscar win for his performance as assassinated gay equality activist and politician Harvey Milk has brought the religious right an occasion for gleeful accusation, with cries that Hollywood is "denouncing God" and "promoting homosexuality" following the Feb. 22 awards broadcast.
The anti-gay Web site Americans for Truth About Homosexuality was quick to post an essay by conservative Christian critic Ted Baehr, who claimed to demonstrate that movies lose money when they contain "homosexual content," and who inveighed against Hollywood not only for Penn's win and his appeal for marriage equality, but also for recognizing Kate Winslet's performance in "The Reader" as an accused war criminal who has an affair with a 15-year-old boy in Nazi Germany, as well as characterizing Meryl Streep's nomination for her portrayal of a nun who seizes upon slim evidence to accuse a priest of molesting a child as an "attack on biblical values."
Baehr's essay also accused "Milk" screenwriter Dustin Lance Black of "bigotry" for his acceptance speech. Upon claiming his Oscar, Black, who grew up Mormon, spoke of how, as a gay youth, he found Harvey Milk's example to be "life saving."
Black then sent out a message of hope to gay youth, saying, "If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours."
Added Black, "Thank you, God, for Harvey Milk!"
Baehr's essay did not specify in what way Black's speech demonstrated "bigotry," instead moving on to quote from Scripture, selecting a passage in which Jesus observes that heterosexual men marry women, a fact that neither Black nor the heterosexual Penn disputed.
The essay, which read as a press release toward the end with the essay's credited author, Baehr, seemingly quoting himself, reduced the film industry and the audience to a matter of finances.
Read the essay as posted at AFTAH, "'Oscar obsessed liberals are out of touch with the American people,' MOVIEGUIDE? Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr said.
"'They attacked the faith and values of the 80 percent of Christians who worship Jesus Christ,'" the essay continued.
"'Most of these people go to church every week and donate billions of dollars to churches and other religious groups.'"
At right-wing religious news site WorldNetDaily in a Feb. 22 article, Black's speech was cited as evidence that this year's awards ceremony was a "blatant homosex-fest," with the article going on to claim that Penn had "promoted the homosexual agenda during his own acceptance speech for best actor, saying, 'We've got to have equal rights for everyone.'"
GLBT site Good As You posted an audio clip from Mat Staver's radio program "Liberty Live" on Feb. 23 in which Staver lambasted Penn for saying that his speech was in partly in protest of picketers outside the Oscars "who were picketing in favor of traditional family values" outside Hollywood's Kodak Theater, the venue for the awards program.
After his speech, Penn was asked what he would say to the picketers if given the chance; he responded that he would advise them "to turn in their hate card and find their better self, you know."
However, what was not disclosed on the radio program was that the picketers consisted of the congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church, who, under the leadership of Rev. Fred Phelps, travel to various destinations around the country to carry signs announcing that "God Hates Fags" and "God Hates America" at the funerals of fallen military heroes who have been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The site supplied a photo of a Westboro protester carrying an array of signs, including one that depicted President Obama as the Antichrist, another that announced, "Heath in Hell" (a reference to the late Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous award for best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in "The Dark Knight"), and "America is Doomed."
The protester was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Web address of the Westboro Baptist Church: www.GodHatesFags.com.
Good As You also posted a letter purportedly from Rev. Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, who wrote in to talk about the Phelps clan's picketing of the Oscars.
Wrote Phelps-Roper, "It didn't escape our notice that since Prop 8 in CA passed that the perverts of Hollywood have begun to climb on our backs with their advertising campaigns (at least two can be seen on the internet) to try and promote their agenda."
The letter was referring to the anti-gay ballot initiative that barely passed last November in California, rescinding the right of gay and lesbian families to marry and throwing an estimated 18,000 families into legal jeopardy of state-imposed divorce.
Continued the letter, "It goes like this--see these people saying things that you HATE--well--if you don't let the fags marry, this is what is going to take over the country.
"Or perhaps it is," the letter went on, "if you don't agree with giving the keys to the nation over to the fags, you are one of them."
The letter added, "There is a wonderful coming together of events that made it the perfect time for our signs to become very present before the faces of the Hollywood rebels, to wit:
"1. Heath Ledger being offered up AGAIN to worship his dead and in hell, rotting carcass.
"2. The Harvey Milk production being the perfect cause de jour of Doomed american shame for the Oscars event.
"3. The UK banning us from their borders."
The third point referred to the Phelps clan being barred from entering the U.K. to make good on a threat to picket an English college's production of the play "The Laramie Project," which is based on interviews with individuals in Laramie, Wyoming, in the wake of the murder of openly gay Matthew Shepard ten years ago.
The Phelps clan first drew national attention when they pocketed Shepard's funeral.
The letter went on, "So we got over there and put the signs in the air," giving special note of the fact that the group found the spot of maximum visibility for their demonstration: "We scoped it out last year--it is the place where EVERY vehicle that would enter into that even MUST pass. YAY!!
"So when Sean Penn spoke of seeing us and our signs--it resonated with every single brute sitting in that room! YAY!!"
The letter continued, "With the appearance of Antichrist Obama into the Whitehouse, the time is short--we are sprinting to the end now, so events must come on apace."
The letter ended with a sprightly, "Thanks!"
At conservative chat site FreeRepublic.com, where homosexuality is a frequent topic of fevered discussion, the commentary was lively.
Wrote one commentator, "Surprise of surprises! A film about the murder of a homosexual politician wins best actor.
"The votes it received is about he same as the number of people who saw it."
Noted another, "None of the other nominees ever had a chance. I could star in a biopic about Harvey Fierstein and win the Oscar.
"After all, Tom Hanks rode that unicorn to a statue, in his most inept, scenery-chewing role. He had a much finer performance in 'The Green Mile' and was ignored."
Declared another posting, "Hollywood awards have nothing to do with movies and everything to do with the homosexual agenda.
"It's nothing but a bunch of liberal queers giving each other a congratulatory slap on the ass for using movies to promote homosexuality."
One contributor upheld the right of gays to marry, as long as it's to someone in whom they have no interest.
"I am sick of the 'equal rights' argument," the posting read,
"The law is clear--ALL men are free to marry a woman. And all women have the right to marry a man."
Added the posting, "No-one is being denied that right. We all have that same right."
Wrote another, "I could care less about the Oscars. I could not be bothered to watch the self-congratulating vermin.
"I was hoping Mickey Rourke would win because his story is about redemption, he took responsibility for wrecking his life, he credited his dogs for saving his life, never said anything bad about Bush and actually said something good abouyt [sic] Bush and he is a good actor," the posting continued.
"I knew Penn would win because the very large and strong gay mafia in hollywood [sic] and in backlash to Prop 8.
"Every year it is some political agenda," the posting went on. "The one year was about African-Americans where Denzel won and the half white female won--I forget her name," the posting added, apparently referring to Halle Berry's win for her role in "Monster's Ball."
"Denzel accepted his award and did not engage in politics. The woman went on and on even though she is half white."
Opined the contributor, "He can act and she is not very good."
Another offered the assessment that, "At least ["Milk"] had a happy ending!," evidently in reference to the scene in which Milk is shot several times by Dan White, who later, in real life, was found guilty on a lesser charge after the defense used the so-called "Twinkie Defense" to argue that White was not entirely responsible for his actions due in part to a diet consisting of junk food.
The last moments of the film depict the spontaneous demonstration of tens of thousands of people who gathered for a peaceful candle-lit march after Harvey Milk's murder.
Overlooked in the brouhaha was the winner for best picture, the Danny Boyle-directed "Slumdog Millionaire," the story of a young Muslim man's heroic efforts to rescue the young woman he has loved since childhood.