Praise the Gay: Christianity and its relationship with Gays on film

Christianity and sexuality aren’t always the best coupling in films. More often than not, Christians are painted as a one dimensional, homogeneous character. They are the bogeyman in which no sense can be argued and are stuck in their backward ways; using scripture to back up their bigotry.  For sure, some Christians can act like this and the teachings of some churches indulge prejudges against homosexuality but it isn’t fair to paint every Christian in this way.

This is a concept truly understood by the film maker Stephen Cone. The son of a Baptist minister, he has a strong understanding of how faith and people actually interact with each other, especially in young people as they discover themselves. This is the principle theme of two of his films, The Wise Kids (2011) and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015).

The Wise Kids deals almost exclusively with characters who are Christians. It focuses on the burgeoning sexuality of the main character, Tim. In an astute decision Tim doesn’t begin the story as a religious zealot who has to leave this behind to embrace his sexuality. He is never completely at a loss over his homosexuality and his faith is a constant within the film. Though one of his friends Laura is conflicted over this; she doesn’t scream and shout but rather their friendship quietly parts away. It is tragic in its quiet truth as Cone skilfully shows that the friction that it can cause without overdramatic fireworks.

In both films, Cone decides to remove the tired dramatic trope of the main character’s parent rejecting their child for their sexuality. It’s not that this doesn’t happen, parents can be incredibly destructive to their child’s mentality but more it’s a decision made often for easy drama that comes off insensitive and untrue to people who really have had their parents react dreadfully to them coming out.

One film which does capture this well is Prayers for Bobby (2009). Sigourney Weaver plays Mary, the mother of Bobby Griffith. It is based on a true story and the truth of the situation abounds in the film. Whilst Mary never fully disowns Bobby, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to know him if he embraces his sexuality. This broken disengagement pains Bobby more than the dramatic equivalent in which all contact is broken by a completely evil parent precisely because the promise of reunion is there, if only he can change his lifestyle. This complex dichotomy of love and rejection is far more difficult to depict on camera than the easy binary of good and evil. Mary comes to understand that her treatment of Bobby was not okay, regardless of scripture. In the process she finds a Church which takes a liberal interpretation of the bible and is accepting of homosexuality however this only occurs after her son takes his own life.

Cone explores the relationship and interplay between the secular and religious communities in Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.  Henry is, as the title suggests, is celebrating his birthday and the party acts as the setting for the film which plays out not unlike a theatre script. The writing is phenomenal and again paints religious people as the complex people that they are. For example, in one scene, Henry’s sister who goes to a private Christian college feels the need to defend how they teach biology whilst also adhering to the idea of creationism in part. She is able to embrace It is in this scene in particular that I was struck by his willingness to question the treatment of the Christians by the atheists; I sensed a subtle acknowledgement of the level of hostility which has been reached by the two communities and a questioning of where this unwillingness to communicate will go.

Then again, though he might question the treatment of Christians he is in no way an apologist for the faith. Both of his films quietly and sensitively critique the negativity that the passivity of Christian communities on sensitive social issues. For example, a character in Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party suffers a mental breakdown when he becomes locked in the bathroom. Though this sounds like a rather on the nose depiction of the damage caused by being trapped in the closet; it works extremely well. It is compounded by the fact that throughout the film he was marginalized through silence rather than distinct ostractisation thus suggesting that even if the prejudices aren’t articulated, they can still be dangerous.

The party allows for an exploration of different generations as well as different belief systems. This is dealt with deftly when one character is confronted on their implicit homophobia when they are in a mixed race relationship. She believes that sexuality is a choice in a way that race is not. It shows that tolerance within the younger generation of people with faith is growing. It’s a realistic picture articulating the path that faith is taking for most young people in which a personal relationship is embraced with God. It is more about a dialogue between the individual and Him rather than adhering to a set of instructions decreed by someone else.

This is also explored in a cheesy though thoughtful film, Pass the Light (2015) which weirdly parallels the recent Presidential election except that in this film, the extremist running for congress loses. Essentially a high school student, Steve Bellafiore, decides to run against a congressional candidate, Franklin Baumann. He does this because he is a strong Christian who does not agree with the divisive message being spread by Baumann – supposedly in the name of the Lord. The film criticises the message of hate carried by many on the extreme right, especially in relation to sexual morality. It suggests that people with a genuine faith are being misled into a misunderstanding which will benefit the pursuits of the powerful.

The exploration of Christianity and how it deals with social issues is not something new to film. However, being portrayed as three dimensional people with complex emotions and understandings of their relation to faith is new. For too long, they have fallen into two categories, either they are entirely pious and the film holds their simple morality up on high or they are treated as simple minded sheep spouting beliefs they neither understand or agree with. This recent movement in the last decade to have films which critique faith and its social beliefs without villainising it is refreshing.

Trump is President

Democracy. 

I imagine my relationship with that concept  is a lot like someone going through a really rough patch with their childhood sweetheart. They met in primary school, across a loud and hectic classroom. In that moment, they were destined to be together forever. They go through everything together; get married, buy a house, have a couple of kids. Everything is great. Then the roof falls in. 

For the second time in a year, I feel cheated. The EU referendum shocked and saddened me. It felt like we were throwing our hands up in the air and saying that the problems of the world were too large and too scary and that we wanted out. We were shutting up shop and didn't care all that much about what happened to anyone else.

Leaving the Glasgow count, the writing was already on the wall and my heart genuinely felt like it was breaking. I am unashamedly a Europhile, I think that we gained a lot from being in the EU. But on two counts, I found some relief. Firstly, Scotland had decided to stay in. 

Secondly, this was a referendum on the EU. It is too simplistic and completely unfair on those that voted out to call them bigots. People had genuine concerns about the decisions their country could make and thought that more sovereignty could help them. I accepted that democracy will sometimes result in a very decision you don't like. 

You can't throw the dummy out the pram when it doesn't go your way. You accept that the majority were convinced by the other side. 

I was ready to make it work with democracy, I'd been taking him for granted. I didn't realise how much hard work he'd been putting in. He had other responsibilities and they felt he'd been ignoring them for me and my pals. I got that. We'd agreed to both try harder.

Then last night happened and I just don't know. I still believe in democracy. The people went out and they voted and a decision was made. Though importantly in this case the majority of voters cast their ballot for Hillary. That doesn't matter though. America has its very own special flavour of democracy which means that the candidate most people wanted might not always become President. The last time that happened Bush bet out Gore for the Oval Office and we all know how well that went.

But even that doesn't matter. Lots of democracies have systems that aren't exactly proportional and we respect them. The point is that in the system chosen, a candidate was chosen in a free and fair election.

I still believe in the result of the election but it is hard. It's harder than the EU referendum because though I completely disagree, I can see the merits for leaving. They don't seem alien to me. 

Cards on the table. The very notion of a Trump Presidency is alien to me. I accept that he won and that he now becomes the commander in chief of America but I don't understand it.

And it's because, if you were on the Trump train, I think you have to accept him whole. You voted for a man that is literally on tape talking about grabbing the genitalia of women. For a man that is accused by many of sexual assault. Innocent until proven guilty, absolutely but it's still frightening. Of course, voting or supporting the policies of Trump does not make you a sexist. It does though, at the very least mean that you're apathetic to that; thinking it's just not as important.  

A long time ago, in a fantasy world, a very wise man told a young guy that with great power comes great responsibility. For too long, we've talked about the power of voting without the responsibility. 

A vote for Trump was also a vote for his vice president, Governor Pence. Pence, in 2000, publicly came out in favour of gay conversion therapy. He thinks that resources and public money should be used to help change the sexual orientation of people. In the debates, Trump was highly critical of abortion and signaled support for overturning Roe vs. Wade. If you support these then good for you, you’ve voted for a candidate that will put them into practice. 

However, if you don’t then it’s not as easy to simply say well I voted for him because he’s going to get manufacturing back and so I don’t have anything to do with what happens to social issues. It doesn’t work like that. If you voted for Trump – no matter your logic for doing it – you’ve given a mandate to a man that holds views that will push the rights of minorities and women back. Remember that time Trump said a judge had a conflict of interest because of his Mexican heritage.

I support democracy. That means supporting the decision of the democratic vote. And we all have to do that. But we also have to accept responsibility for our decisions.