KBO says:

Just saw Milk this afternoon and it was great. Casting and the acting performances were spot-on.

megamike says:

This is the column my parents will wish I didn’t write.
.
I should first begin by warning you I just came home from viewing MILK. We
gay people often think our history is just discos, drag queens and casual
sex. But long ago, in a galaxy not so far away named San Francisco, there
was a man named Harvey Milk. Milk stood up for all of us, and made this
country a safer place for gays and lesbians. He made sure that
discrimination against homosexuals did not occur under his watch in
California by running a precise, passionate, and very well planned campaign,
almost knocking on every single door of every single person in the State.
Milk firmly believed that once people knew a gay person, it would be
difficult to vote against us.
.
Where is our Harvey Milk now?
.
Why didn’t our current gay and lesbian leaders take a page from Milk’s
handbook and stand in the face of those who oppose us and not back down? Why
did we only preach to the choir when Proposition 8 was being campaigned
around the State? Why didn’t we, like Milk would have done, go to the
churches that discriminated against us and show them that we count, that we
are humans just like them, and convince them one at a time if we had to,
that we, too, are entitled to marriage.
.
Instead we got a commercial that apparently went unwatched.
.
What happened to our leaders in the HIV community? When did it become
politically correct not to stand up for what you believe in, no matter whom
you pissed off? Why have HIV related health care issues seem to have become
last decade’s news? Why aren’t our leaders kicking down doors in Washington
to fight for more funding because more and more people need those precious
dollars everyday? Why have we become complacent with the current status quo
of holding the disease at bay, when so few can actually afford the
treatments, deal with the side effects without a problem, or even begin to
have the access to decent care.
.
Like Milk, I can point the finger at myself. There was a time when I didn’t,
no wait, couldn’t, talk about my boyfriend, David, and his illness. We lived
in fear — fear that he would get deported, and fear that he would lose his
health insurance. And I lived in fear as a gay man that I would be cut off
from my family if I shared our secret. I lived with this same fear when I
knew I was getting sick myself. I thought people would turn against me and
would just let me die alone.
.
It turned out wrong – for me, at least. Plenty of people do not have
anywhere to go and do die alone – from a variety of causes. I was instantly
proved wrong the second I got honest with myself, and then got honest with
everyone around me. For you see, after you tell your mother you have AIDS,
it is truly downhill from there. Once you know you have Mom on your side,
you know you will not be fighting this alone. I then made sure I told
everyone that mattered in my life, for I did not want them to find out
second-hand. I wanted them to hear it directly from my own mouth, and ask
whatever questions they had. And you know what happened — there was a
non-stop parade of people in and out of my hospital room showing their
support, so many that the nurses just started pointing and saying, “He is in
there.”
.
I realize now that in spite of whatever perceived imperfections my life may
have from time to time, that I am one incredibly lucky and loved guy. I also
have friends and family behind me, no matter what time is it, to help me
through this crisis one calls “Living with AIDS”. I also have health
insurance and a family that can help me, should the need arise.
.
But what about my brothers and sisters with HIV that do not have this
support? What about the individuals without health insurance that get forced
to deal with a bankrupt and overly bureaucratic county health care program
that barely works when you have the most minor of problems.
.
People argue that we cannot have national health insurance because they fear
it will cause long lines and reduce care. God, how is wish Milk was around
to help us through this one. He would have pointed to Europe, stating their
high quality of care, the equal access for all, their lower infant mortality
rates, and higher quality of life. The United States, in spite of our
bragging about being the richest nation ever, ranks 37th on the global
infant mortality rate chart – beneath France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Czech
Republic, Norway, and Ireland, to name only a few.
.
As Thomas Jefferson stated that all men were truly created equal, then why
can’t all men have equal access to health care?
.
If we were truly pro-life, why don’t we care about the life after it has
been born?
.
Back to that comment about my Mom, since telling her my diagnosis, she has
been great, amazing beyond all expectations even. She went from being a
woman who never wanted to deal with this disease, to being proud of her son
who speaks out on behalf of those who cannot. I am proud to say that my
family are my number one fans, and, honestly, I would have not guessed that
ten years ago.
.
In MILK, he starts to talk about his boyfriends who committed suicide
because of living in the closet, how he felt he betrayed them by not being
strong enough to stand up for his own lifestyle. Milk felt he had no other
choice but to speak. I started speaking out, rather innocently in fact, when
I was written about in the New York Times regarding a project I created for
the residents of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation. I was honest with my
status, and the writer included it in the piece. People who knew me but
didn’t “know” were amazed. I was told that it was a beautifully written
story – and that “I had the balls to come out in the New York Times.”
Honestly, it would have taken more balls not to say it, for you see Mom
already knew, and speaking freely with the Times was part of the “downhill.”.
.
I have seen too many people die because they were afraid to speak out and
ask for help. I had a friend die because he was afraid to change doctors for
fear of hurting that doctor’s feelings. I had another friend die because his
family did not accept his lifestyle.
.
If we want change to come to America, we must be the ones that change, not
just the people that get paid to work on the Potomac. We must fight every
single day for this change. We must fight for all Americans to be treated
equally on every single level of their lives – and this must include health
care.
.
Throughout the movie, Milk kept getting death threats. I had my own Milk
moment recently after a radio interview. I was on the Cable Radio Networks,
discussing what it was like to be a person living with AIDS in America in
2008. The very next day I received a call – it came up “private” on my
caller ID. It was some woman, I believe her name was Dolores, and she said
she was from the State of California Health Department. She told me that a
recent sexual partner of mine tested positive and that I had to test in
thirty days or she would call my employer. I laughed and said, “Well you are
assuming I have an employer, for you are talking to him.” She was to call in
thirty days and make sure I tested. She never called back. Just to be sure,
I contacted the California AIDS Department, and they backed up my fears – it
was a crank call. The County makes those calls and never, ever without
giving out phone numbers to call for more assistance.
.
My Milk moment. The part my parents did not know about until they read this,
but part of the process. I now look forward to the next one, because, I
know, change isn’t going to happen to our health care without pissing dozens
of people off.
.
So, to that woman named Dolores, and others just like her – I say bring it
on — I await my next Milk moment with pride.

Nick Kasoff says:

PS – Surely you don’t believe that a man who founded a nation where some were enslaved, and where the franchise was restricted to white, male landowners, intended “equal” to mean that the government should pay for health care.

L Frank Baum says:

Two thumbs up! Sean Penn shows once again that he is truly one of our finest actors.
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I would have liked to have seen more of the Dan White character. I have a feeling some of those scenes were left on the cutting room floor.