The LGBTQ Center at my school had a movie night where students sat and watched a variety of gay and lesbian films. I was reluctant to go mainly because most of the movies in this genre are pretty bad, but I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did!

First of all, I have to explain that while growing up, most of my closest friends have been of the straight variety, so I'm slowly having to learn through this group that sexuality isn't just straight or gay, there are a lot of variations! There are three students in my LGBTQ group who identify as "other", meaning they don't identify as straight, gay, or bisexual. One of the girls identifies as asexual, another as pansexual, and one guy identifies as transgender. I didn't know until recently that he (Xavier) was transgendered - sort of slipped into a conversation when I (wrongly) used the slang "tranny" while talking about someone I had seen in public. It was meant as a joke, but of course he took it the wrong way. I apologized.

Anyway, back to the film's we watched. So far, we have watched 2 films; MILK and the second SHELTER. These were both phenomenal films in my opinion.

For those who don't know, MILK is a bio-pic about Harvey Milk. In the 70s, he was the second openly gay person to be elected to public office throughout the country and the first openly gay man elected anywhere. He fought vigorously for gay rights until he was murdered by Dan White (who also killed the mayor of SF George Moscone at the same time).

The film does a pretty good job of showing the personal and private life of Mr. Milk, and shows how he did extraordinary things to help the LGBT community, which is still true today. Without Harvey Milk and others like him, today's gay people wouldn't have half as many rights as we do nor the feeling that we can accomplish great things. It was so much like a history lesson in gay life - really, really great! Oh and the acting was amazing. I'm a huge James Franco fan so I was like 'SWEET!' when I saw him in the movie playing Harvey Milk (Sean Penn's) boyfriend. So cool.


Now, the second film we watched was SHELTER - this movie rocked! I can't say enough good things about it. The film was special in that it portrayed a normal, healthy gay relationship without all the stereotypical stuff that you usually see in gay themed movies. The relationships between the characters is great. I really got caught up in it. The two main characters were so believable - I almost forgot I was watching a movie! The actors were so good. It was about respect, love, romance, passion, and building a long term relationship with each other. Something I someday want for myself - so many other films don't show this option. For me, it is important that gay teens have a movie like SHELTER that they can watch and realize that two men or two women can have a loving life together. That there are happy endings for us too. It is a film all people can identify with, regardless of their sexual orientation.



I wanted to show previews for both movies but decided some of the scenes might be a little too much for some people. Both movies are rated R, but don't let that stop you from seeing them. They're both so good.