Subject: Patricia Nell Warren on Mel Gibson
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 16:28:28 -0500 (EST)

******************************************************************************

NEWS YOU DIDN'T SEE ON TV               ****************************
                                                              ****************
************
Commentary by Patricia Nell Warren    ****************************
              
3/23/97                                                    *******************
*********
                                                               ***************
*************
******************************************************************************

CHICKENHEART

By Patricia Nell Warren

As we count down to the Oscars, controversy over homosexuals' portrayal in
film is boiling ever higher.  In the 3/25 National Examiner, last year's
Oscar-winner (for Braveheart) Mel Gibson complains bitterly that gay people
are harassing him because of his gay-bashing.

Says Gibson: "I've been chased by automobiles doing dangerous things on the
freeway.  People have tried to spit on me.  It's made me totally paranoid."
His "paranoia" is due to the Gibson-watch being done by GLAAD and other
human-rights activists in the gay community.  

One day, Gibson says, a gay group confronted him.  "They had signs, they were
screaming and frothing at the mouth -- pure hatred," he says.  "It was wild."

Poor thing.   Too bad he wasn't born gay, black, native American, Asian,
Jewish, non-Christian, or even female.  If he was, he could have the
educational and illuminating experience of being spat on lots of times, both
literally and figuratively.  It's a real eye-opener.  But one good spit, and
ole Braveheart is begging for mercy. 

Too bad that every glob of spit flying at a gay kid outed at school doesn't
get the same kind of high profile as the salivary missiles directed at Mr.
Gibson.  If only the Examiner would run flaming headlines like: STUDENT SPIT
ON AT ANYPLACE HIGH SCHOOL...TEACHERS PRETEND THEY DON'T SEE IT.  With this
kind of scrutiny in the tabloids, maybe more schools would clamp a lid on
gay-bashing behind their walls.

Going beyond spit -- how about the epidemic of murders of gay men and
lesbians that is gaining ground, not only in Texas but other states as well?
 Maybe if the mighty Braveheart was actually brave enough to protest these
atrocities, instead of being such a chickenheart and taking up print space
with his whining, we would see a lessening of anti-gay feeling in the U.S.

If Gibson were a gay figure in history and lived through the same kind of
liberation struggles and tortured death in real life,  that he played
fictitiously in Braveheart, maybe he would have a clue why the gay community
is on his case.  Indeed, if he had been the real-life king's lover thrown out
the window, maybe he would have a problem with gay-bashing -- just before he
splatted on the ground.   The real-life gay-bashers with baseball bats are
just as formidable as the king's army in long-ago Scotland.  The gay
community's scream of "FREEEEEDOM" is just as loud and real as that of
Wallace's kilted clansmen.

It's all very well to talk the braveheart talk in front of the cameras.  Film
history is studdied with stars who swung a sword in a single heroic role that
set them apart from the rest.  But what about walking the walk in real life?
 Either way Hollywood figures lean, they have tremendous power when the
express opinions.  Some use their power and visibility to promote positive
change in our country.  Others, like Gibson, use their power and position in
a less courageous way.

The people who spit on Gibson may not have acted appropriately.  Tit-for-tat
is not an effective way to end hostilities, as either side in the Middle East
can tell us.   

But one thing is sure.  Gibson is getting a tiny taste of what every open
homosexual has suffered for the last thousand years.  If he doesn't like
being spit on, maybe he ought to get brave where it really counts.  He can
swing his sword on behalf of gay people who are getting hurt for real,  and
help create a climate of tolerance in America.

Patricia Nell Warren is author of "The Front Runner" and other bestselling 
books, as well as a widely published commentator.  Her publisher is Wildcat
Press. Copyright (c) 1997 by Patricia Nell Warren. All Rights Reserved. 

****************************************************************************
Note:
This column may be crossposted on the Internet, without change and in
its entirety, for noncommercial purposes without prior permission from the 
author  -- just email us to let us know where it reappears.  

To reprint in print or other media,  express permission must be asked.  
Please call  213/966-2466, or fax 213/966-2467, or email 
[email-masked]. The last  lines of the column, containing 
author and copyright information, must appear with the reprint.

Wildcat Press, 8306 Wilshire Blvd. Box 8306, 
Beverly Hills, CA 90211. 

******************************************************************************

******************************************************************************