Articles in Arts
Got “Milk”?
Did you see Milk this weekend?
“My partner and I just returned from seeing it and it is a MUST SEE,” wrote Dee. “We did not buy from the consession stand, due to the ownership of the theater (Mormon) but would not have missed the first day of this film… I urge the community and our allies to see this movie. We’re thinking Academy Award for Penn.”
“The Prop 6 part was disturbing because it reminds me so much of Prop 8,” wrote Elias, “along with the other dozen ballot measure campaigns I’ve been in.”
I agree that Penn gave an excellent performance, and that the comparison between winning Prop 6 and barely losing Prop 8 is heart-wrenching.
Gay and lesbian history is so hidden that many young adults don’t know about the struggle for our rights. Milk opens with the police raiding a gay bar, beating the customers and dragging them off to jail, simply for being gay. The scene uses real video from the late 60’s and early 70’s. We’ve come a long way.
Then in 1978, the newly-elected Supervisors, representing minorities who had never been represented before, voted to add ‘sexual orientation’ to the non-discrimination policy of San Francisco. They knew the gay community was an ally, and they understood that job and housing protection is an important civil rights issue.
I watched this scene in a movie theater in Anchorage, Alaska, where 30 years later we do not have ‘sexual orientation’ in the city’s non-discrimination policy. It isn’t in the state policy either. Or the national policy.
We still have a long way to go.
If you haven’t seen Milk, definitely see it. Remember to take the Milk Challenge — boycott the concession stand and give a donation to Alaskans Together for Equality, to off-set the ticket profit to the Mormon-owned and Prop 8 supporting Century/Cinemark.
If you saw Milk, what did you think about it?
Milk, Dream Boy and Queer Duck: Gay movies come to Anchorage
UPDATE: Take the Milk Challenge!
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The movie Milk is opening in Anchorage on Friday, December 12 at the Century! Watch the trailer here: MILK
Unfortunately, Century/Cinemark is owned by Mormons who donated to Yes on 8. Some in the LGBT community are boycotting the Century and giving their movie dollars to supportive cinemas. Locally, we hope Milk will play at The Bear Tooth in a few months.
Others are calling for a big national turnout on the opening weekends, because record-setting attendance for Milk will make it easier to get funding for future gay-themed movies. The message of Milk is timely, and the reviews sound great.
What will you do?
1. See it this month at the Century (and not buy food or drinks, since they make most of their profit from the concession stand), or
2. Wait until The Bear Tooth shows it in the spring.
Two other gay-themed movies are showing this month at The Bear Tooth for the Anchorage International Film Festival, which runs December 5-14, 2008.
Queer Duck is an animated feature, and Dream Boy is a gay coming of age romance. For a special treat, go to The Gay-La, an after-screening party at Mad Myrna’s with James Bolton, the Portland-based director of Dream Boy.
The trailer for Dream Boy (2008):
The commercial for Queer Duck, the Movie, which came out on Logo in 2006:
MILK opens today in the Lower 48
Update 2: Take the Milk Challenge!
Update: “Milk” is opening in Anchorage on Friday, Dec 12 at the Century (a Mormon-owned theater.) For more about this controversy, see Gay Movies Come to Anchorage.
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The movie Milk, about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician in the U.S., opens to select audiences (not us) today, one day before the 30th anniversary of Milk’s assassination. It opens in many more cities on Dec 5, and opens everywhere else on Dec 12. It looks amazing!
If you know when and where Milk is showing in Alaska, please leave the info in the comments.
Watch the trailer:
RAW 2009 Short Story Contest
- Each entry must contain a cover sheet with author’s name, address, phone number and email and with the story’s title and word count.
- The short story must be between 250 and 5,000 words and contain some lesbian content. Stories should be on 8.5-by-11 paper, double spaced, 1-inch margins, no less than size 10 font. Do not put author’s name on the story. The fiction and lesbian stipulations may be interpreted by the author, but we are not seeking poetry or non-fiction. Erotica is acceptable. Electronic submissions are not accepted. Unpublished submissions only.
- Feel free to use a pseudonym, but let us know your real name in case you win a prize.
- Author must be a woman living in Alaska as of January 2009.
- Jan. 15 is the postmark deadline for entries.
- There is no entry fee.
- Winner receives $500 and the invitation to read her work at RAW’s annual performing arts production Celebration of Change in the spring of 2009 in Anchorage. The winning short story will be published on RAW and in the Alaska LGBT literary journal Naked Ptarmigan.
- Honorable mentions will be given at the judges’ discretion.
- Winners will be announced Feb. 15. For a complete list of winners, include an SASE with entry.
- Mail entries by Jan. 15 to Radical Arts for Women Short Story Contest, PO Box 244436, Anchorage AK 99524-4436.
GLBT performances at Out North
