Milk

Yesterday we watched the movie " Milk". It is the story of Harvey milk a gay rights activist who was killed as the movement he led in San Francisco changed lives around him (they tell you this at the beginning - so no spoiler there).

There were a lot of pieces of the movie which caught my attention but most of all it was that Harvey Milk seemed to have no idea where he was heading - but he had a passion and his passion meant that he believed in people telling the truth about who they were. Secrets, the argument went, was what was allowing bigotry - if everyone was public about their sexual preferences then the bogey man of "other" would be exploded as everyone would find out they knew someone who was the previously frightening and hidden other.

I know that prejudice is not gone and we are still working through many things - especially in institutions like the church - but I wonder what other hidden monsters lie between the surface of our society and cause us to think in ways which exclude folks. Immigration is a giant one, mental health is another. What else is there?

One of the verses in the hymn "Will you come and follow me" has the lines
"Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same......"

I was uncomfortable about the films portrayal of forcing Milk's friends and co-workers to come "out" - to declare who they knew themselves to be - I am still trying to figure out whether that is because I think that people should be able to keep secrets or because I am uncomfortable in myself for allowing people to keep secrets.

I do know that there are no secrets from God and the spiritual consequences of lying about who we are and who we are called to be is devastating. This is not just about sexuality - it is about all that we are and do - God calls us to honesty, to facing up to ourselves and our real lives. The question of when or whether there should ever be secrets is a big one, but there is no place for the sort of secrets which imprison a person and break them down.

Good films get you thinking and this one has kicked my brain into gear - not only about the issue which is tackles - gay rights - but in a deeper sense about justice and truth and just what we can demand from each other in respect of either.