Hey Danny,
I was waiting for part 2. My first experience with the
Morman church was also one of my first experiences in the television business.
I worked on the "Donnie and Marie" show. I can't even begin to go into the
stories there, but suffice to say, it was an interesting gig! Your story
about your friend is devastating but not that uncommon with this subject
matter. I have had several friends that have experienced the same or worse. I
have two daughters of my own and I often wonder how as a parent you could ever
disown your child, no matter what. Let alone send them off into the world at
17 with nothing and nowhere to go. It's mind blowing to me.
When I was a small child, about 4-5 years old, in the late
1950's, I lived with a family who had an older daughter of their own who was
12 years older than me, so about 17 at the time. The parents found out that
she had been dating a black boy behind their back. This was Columbus, Ohio in
1958-59. I was small, but I got the gist of it. They were screaming at her,
smacking her around, she was crying hysterically and I was hiding at the end
of the hall. You can only imagine the dialogue they were using. I can still
hear her saying to them that she loved the person they were all fighting
about. Now, up to this point, these two people were two of the most loving and
generous people I had ever known. Heck, I wasn't even their child and
they took care of me as I was their own. I had never seen that side of them
and it scared me to pieces. In addition, I loved my older sister and was
scared to see her being beaten and screamed at. Think about the message they
were sending to me. I realize now, as an adult, they were taught to hate like
that, just as they were inadvertently teaching their children to hate. I only
lived with them until I was 7. They shipped her off to the military, where she
met a guy, got married, started having babies, and so on and so on.
Many years later when I was in college, she knew the city I was in and
called me as she and her husband had been restationed (he still in the
military) to the same city. I went to see her and it was awful. She was in an
abusive marriage, had 4 children and was only in her early to mid 30's. She
looked awful, she had begun drinking, her children were dirty and unkempt
and they all lived in some run down apartment. It saddened me to no end to see
her that way. I had so looked up to her when I was a child. I couldn't help
but think about that day, so long ago, when she took a beating for loving
someone her family found unacceptable.
I'm not trying to make excuses for bad behavior. No matter
what adversities come our way in our lives, we are still responsible for our
behavior, but nonetheless, it is a sad affair when those you love and trust
walk away from you for something that is not really in your control. How do
you control who you love?
Sue Heim
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 1:16
PM
Subject: [MOPO] Brokeback Mormons
The ongoing thread of the Utah megaplex reneging a contract
showing of
Brokeback Mountain offers a window of understanding into my
previous
Brokeback post. During the 1950's the Mormons, full title,
The Church Of
Jesus Christ Of The Latter-Day Saints, began a systematic
recruitment in the
west. The aim was world wide but the selection
at the time was to expand
into western states. The Mormons are,
from my experience, a repressive
conservative Christian cult and
homosexuality in NOT tolerated in any form
or representation. While
watching Bareback Mountain the thought crossed my
mind the movie was
turning into a Mormon story. Let me offer a first
person
history. A close friend, who was from Utah, described a
1960's family
horror when he was outed to his parents by an anonymous
phone call. The
morning call resulted in a confrontation between
son and parents to the
point by the afternoon he was told to leave
home. With what he could carry
he was told to leave and never
return. He was a homosexual and had deceived
his parents, defiling
his Mormon home. At the door his mother told him his
sins were
unredeemable and as far as she was concerned he was dead.
His
father blankly agreed. He never saw his parents again. He
was 17 years old
I can speak with a background because my
parents, like many others at the
time, were attracted to the family based
umbrella of LDS doctrine, and went
through a lengthy process of
indoctrination education. My family dumped the
idea of putting on
horse blinders and joining a false front church. My
input was I
thought the Mormons were nuts. We read the Book Of Mormon and
my
observation was it was an 1830 low brow science fiction.
I
understand the head honcho at the Jordan Crossing Megaplex refusing
to
play Brokeback Mountain. It would be sinful for a good Mormon or
Mormon
business to allow the movie to be shown. It would be
inexcusable to allow
ANYONE to view and perhaps be influenced by this
film with an underlining
gay theme already being called a
classic.
So Woo Hoo to you western dudes everywhere and to you
country Ladies and
backslid Mormons ------get your butts to Bareback
Mountain!
Danny Steward /
Seattle
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