On Hollywood’s (Not-Always) Subtle Homophobia

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The excellent Hollywood biopic, Milk, has unwittingly exposed a subtle form of homophobia–“a post-ironic, post-homophobic homophobia,” as the Washington Post puts it–that remains a fixture of the Hollywood media circuit. Today the Post has compiled a disturbing account of interviews given by male actors who play gay men in the movies, and who are invariably asked by journalists and talk show hosts what it was like to kiss another man (with the obvious subtext: wasn’t it kind of nasty?).

Exhibit A is a conversation between David Letterman and Milk’s James Franco, in which Letterman asks him what he was thinking going into a minute-long kissing scene with Penn:

“I didn’t want to screw it up,” Franco told Letterman.
“See, if it’s me, I kind of hope I do screw it up,” Letterman shot back. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“To screw it up?” Franco asked.
“I mean, do you really want to be good at kissing a guy?” Letterman said as his audience howled with delight.

Even worse was an interview Chris Potter, an actor in Showtime’s Queer as Folk gave to MSNBC: “Soon as they say ‘cut,’ you spit,” he sneered. “You want to go to a strip bar or touch the makeup girls. You feel dirty. It’s a tough job.”

The Post makes the obvious point that female actors who kiss each other always shrug, if they’re even asked about the experience. Personally, I’ve been thinking about the days of Shakespeare, when there were no female actors, and England was ruled by a queen. How did those men approach the job? In some ways, it must have been more normal.

At any rate, this latest Milk froth underscores how there’s still work to be done, even in supposedly gay-friendly quarters. If it has got you angry, consider skipping work today. This morning was the official start of the awesomely-named “Day Without a Gay,” in which gay folk are encouraged to call in sick and spend the day volunteering and organizing “to show our continued commitment to fighting for our rights.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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