Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Dec 31, 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Some Like It Hot

Barring something incredible happening, this will be my last post of 2010 for my blog. 2010 has been a fun ride and we got a lot of stuff accomplished for our community. I want to end it all on a happy note with this latest edition of Know Your LGBT History, my series looking at the history of lgbt portrayals on television and in the movies. Enjoy today's edition and past editions. Can you believe that I am almost at 100 episodes? I apologize in advance for any broken links.

Happy New Year everyone and may 2011 be as fruitful for us as 2010 was

Some Like It Hot (1959) is a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. Directed by the legendary Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and the one herself, Marilyn Monroe, it is a comedy about two musician who happen to witness the murder of a group of mobsters.

To escape the killers, they run away from the city and take refuge in an all-girls band, disguised as women. Hilarity ensues as Lemmon gets engaged to a millionaire and Curtis falls for the lead singer of the band, played by Marilyn Monroe:

From Wikipedia:

The film was awarded an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Orry-Kelly) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Ted Haworth, Edward G. Boyle), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. Marilyn Monroe won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or Comedy, and Jack Lemmon for Best Actor in Musical or Comedy.

The film has been acclaimed worldwide as one of the greatest films ever made. In 1989, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," going in on the first year of voting.

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the eighth greatest comedy film of all time. In 2002, Channel 4 ranked Some Like It Hot as the fifth greatest film ever made in their 100 Greatest Films Poll.

The only problem I have with Some Like It Hot is the fact that Monroe should have gotten an Oscar nomination. If anyone ever wonders why Monroe is a legend, show them this film.

But the part that almost everyone remembers about this movie is the ending. Lemmon has to break the news to a millionaire that they can't get married because he is a man. But the millionaire doesn't seem to mind:

Wingnuts at Free Republic go ape@!& over Elton John's new son

The news that Elton John and his husband of 12 years, David Furnish, are the fathers of a baby boy via surrogate received congratulations from many circles.

That is except for the rabid wolves, bloodsuckers, harpies, orcs, and ogres at the right-wing site Free Republic. They aren't exactly happy about the news. On the Free Republic newsboard, responders left many homophobic comments.

Some were as follows:

They want acceptance to their perverted lifestyle. God won’t accept them, so their next best chance at acceptance is through a politically correct populace that has been desensitized to this lifestyle for a couple of decades now through media and culture.

They don’t care about being a family. Two male homos now have full access to a little boy. How sad for that child.

the real evil is any woman being a surrogate for this perversion....

“They” did not make the child. One of them provided the sperm, and a female provided the egg and the womb. This is not “their” child. They are living in a fantasy world where just because they can call what they have a family or a marriage, it makes it so. And I am positive that at some point, the child will learn enough to wonder who the biological father and mother really is. I wonder what PC line of BS they will feed to that child to get him to shut up.

In the 70’s the gays couldn’t deny they were freaks and counter culture as it was so unacceptable back then, which is why gays stayed in the closet. Now since the desensitized image of who gays are due to Hollywood and the media, gays are more brazen and want equal rights as that of traditional heterosexual married couples. I think the man / woman roles in a gay couple; also looking for children and being considered legally married may also be part of this ploy to get their lives looked upon as “normal” by the powers that be to make legislation happen to give them a leg up.

Could someone explain to me why the gays want all want to act as a heterosexual family????

Believe it or not, those were some of the more polite comments.

I know you want to get angry at this, but don't. I posted this to provide some perspective as we pivot from 2010 to 2011.

In the long run, the folks on Free Republic are a bunch of sad creatures who can't cause any harm except probably to their fingers with the enormity of nonsense they type.

They are a perfect example that unfortunately in some circles, homophobia will always exist just like racism and other forms of prejudice will always exist. We will probably never conquer it.

But the important thing is that we don't let it conquer us. 2010 was one of the best years I have seen for the lgbt community and if God is merciful, 2011 will be better.

When push comes to shove, let the ignorant people talk and whine. Let's continue to move forward as a people because no matter how much they talk, they can't stop us. We have survived worse and we are still here.

And when the folks at Free Republic dry up and blow away (or get a crucifix branded on their chests, shot by a silver bullet, have a stake embedded in their hearts, get chased away by holy water, whichever), we will still be here.