Still a Long Ways to Go: Representations of Same Sex Couples in Film and Audience Response

     I went with my roommate Shawn to see "Life as We Know It".  In a couple of different scenes, there is a gay couple introduced along with other parents, talking about the trials and tribulations of parenthood.
     Shawn made an interesting observation on the way home: when the gay couple was first portrayed onscreen, there were chuckles from the audience. It wasn't that the couple was over the top or caricatured in any fashion. The simple fact they were a same sex couple illicited laughter.
     If I was still living in the South I might expect such a reaction. But I am in California...living in the Bay area...near the Mother Ship city of gay acceptance.
     It was a sobering reminder that just because people don't outwardly express negative attitudes doesn't mean the negativity doesn't exist. In many ways it is similar to racism: just because our country passed laws to prevent discrimination, there is no law that can be passed to change people's thinking. Racism is still alive and well, and is largely held in check because of the fear of consequences; not because most people have truely had a change of heart and worldview.
     What lurks under the surface can be just as dangerous as outward hatred. Veiled disdain is no better than obvious disgust. The rhetoric I despise the most comes from the evangelical community, in the "we need to love the sinner and hate the sin" mantra used to reference homosexuals. It is really diatribe in its truest sense. Human nature is ugly, and these attempts to appear more hospitable to homosexuals actually perpetuates treating gays as "others" or "lesser" individuals. Althought many Christian leaders say they "love the sinner", very few actually interact with or show love towards the homosexual unless the homosexual is first repentant.
     No, I can not draw a causal link between "love the sinner and hate the sin" and the snickers from the audience this evening. But what is clear is that behind each person is a leader, a lesson, or a voice that has told and continues to reinforce a viewpoint of homosexual couples as lower class citizens worthy of laughter.
I wish everyone that laughed in the auditorium tonight could live with a gay couple or family for a day and discover the real joke may be the anit-gay sentiment steeped in years of misunderstanding and misconception.