http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2006/02/19/news/gaybrokeback.prt'Brokeback Mountain' reflects changes over the past generation
By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer
Livingston's July 4th rodeo draws big crowds every year, people eager to cheer for bronc busters and bull riders.
Folks in Livingston may love the Old-West tradition, but they had nothing but positive comments when the town's only movie theater showed "Brokeback Mountain," a very untraditional movie about two lonely cowboys, who fall in love in spite of the pain and danger.
"Every time I'd go down there to close up, everybody thanked me," theater owner Margaret Warner said. As the week went on, word of mouth brought in more viewers. Even a lot of cowboys. She wished she'd booked it for one more week.
She found the film "very touching, very sad," and deserving of its best-picture Oscar nomination.
Warner was pretty sure Livingston is the only small town in Montana to have shown it. She wasn't surprised by her town's reaction. We have nice people here, she said.
"I think they're very tolerant anymore," she said. "They should be, because it's life. Anybody has a right to love whoever they want to."
Denial
Seeing "Brokeback Mountain" on Livingston's marquee meant a lot to Jeremy Stockstad, 36, a gay Bozeman man.
"That gave me hope, seeing that in small-town America," he said. "I think things are changing."
The movie hit close to home for Stockstad, who was married and the father of two children before he came out of the closet. He sued his former wife after she refused to let him see their kids with his male companion.
"The movie itself, one of its most profound messages, is the pain that is caused by denial of the true nature of a human being," Stockstad said.
And the pain hurts particularly the wives of men who try or pretend to be heterosexual but cannot.
"It's so tragic," he said. "The wives -- they're not victims of homosexuality, they're victims of our denial."
Unthinkable
The showing of "Brokeback Mountain" has been almost a non-event in Bozeman. Now playing for its seventh week, the film has sparked no protests, no letters to the editor.
But a lot of people have opinions about it.
While some see the movie as evidence of growing tolerance and acceptance, others feel just as strongly that it is evidence of America's growing immorality.
And there are lots of people in the middle who feel too uncomfortable about the subject even to see the movie, no matter how many Oscar nominations it has.
No matter what the reaction, it's clear that such a mainstream movie would have been unthinkable 25 years ago. It reflects how much things have changed, and not changed, in a generation.
The Porno Priest
It was the late 1970s and Mark Tymrak was still pretty new on the Bozeman Police Department. He remembers the night a fight-in-progress call came in from the Black Angus.
There on the dance floor, beneath the glittering discotheque ball and strobe light, officers found John Bauer and his male dance partner with a bloody nose and cut lip.
The Black Angus used to have one night a week for the college crowd, one for '60s music and one for country-Western, Tymrak said.
Bauer, a former Catholic priest who taught sociology at Montana State University, had sparked outrage by starting a gay-rights group, Lambda, and opening Ms. Kitty's adult bookstore. He called himself the "Porno Priest."
Bauer and friends had decided to show up on country-Western night.
"Several guys started to dance, push came to shove," Tymrak said. "I think they would have gladly pressed charges. He couldn't identify his assailants."
Back then, there were real cowboys walking up and down Bozeman's Main Street. Hippies were still getting unwanted haircuts.
Word of what happened at "the Queer Steer" spread all over town. People were shocked that men had danced together.
Today, Bozeman's population is a lot bigger and the culture has changed, said Tymrak, 53, now Bozeman's director of public safety.
"A lot of people have moved here from all over. People are a lot more tolerant of personal beliefs," he said. "Fortunately, we've been real lucky in Bozeman. We track hate crimes. We haven't had any.
"I don't recall another situation like that ever since."
Queer Straight Alliance
Members of QSA, the Queer Straight Alliance at MSU, are more keenly aware of the risks of being openly gay.
On a recent Monday night, 13 gay and lesbian students and friends gathered in a drab room in the basement of MSU's Strand Union Building. They made plans for their dance, Raging Inferno, and talked about the difficulties they face.
Tim Adams, 22, a senior in sociology and QSA president, described a recent incident at a bar on East Main Street, where two lesbians were dancing and got hassled by a brawny football-player type.
"He threatened to punch them in the face," said Eric Gustafson, 20, a sophomore in physics and QSA vice president.
But when the women complained to the bouncer, he just advised them to stay away from the guy, rather than kicking out the troublemaker.
It's not always easy to find safe or welcoming places to socialize, Adams said. That's one reason QSA holds dances.
"I think there still is some kind of hostility," said Adams, who has written controversial opinion columns for the Exponent student newspaper, often from a Republican point of view.
He dropped out of Bozeman High School, Adams said, after someone started a rumor that he had the HIV-AIDS virus. It took him a long time to get over being angry and enroll in college.
Xavier Old Chief, 28, a Blackfeet tribal member studying elementary education, said he transferred to MSU from the University of Montana after being harassed in the men's dorms.
"My life was threatened by people who said they're going to kill me, that the only good fag was a dead fag," Old Chief said. "They put scriptures under my door.
"I've been 'out' since third grade. I knew I was different," he said. He lived for a while in Washington, D.C., where being gay was well accepted. Lots of "two spirit" Indians move to cities for that reason, he said.
"Here, I've got to keep it down a little. Now it's like, who can I trust?"
Of the 13 people at the meeting, five felt comfortable giving their full names, and two their first names. The rest preferred anonymity.
Some remembered about five years ago when a closet, erected in the middle of campus to symbolize coming out, was vandalized. Others recalled when the mother of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming student beaten to death for being gay, spoke at MSU to a large crowd.
Few were around in 1995, when a Belgrade woman organized a march through downtown Bozeman to protest against tolerance of homosexuality. While 45 people marched with her down the north side of the street, about 400 people marched down the south side of the street to show support for tolerance and diversity.
Most at the QSA meeting had seen "Brokeback Mountain."
Clay, 23, said the movie is important because it will show gay teenagers they're not alone. He said he used to wear dresses and high heels when he attended Bozeman High, feeling he had something to prove. He got a lot of nasty reactions. At age 15, he ran away to San Francisco.
"Kids need to know they are normal," he said.
Ken Spencer, 41, who comes from a very small town outside of Great Falls, said the movie was accurate in suggesting that men in masculine roles can be gay. He talked of former football players, ag fraternity members and cowboys who turned out to be gay. He said he used to see a pro roper, a married man with three kids.
"More of us have come out of the closet," Spencer said.
While they see "Brokeback Mountain" as a positive sign, they also see plenty to worry about. They know that a constitutional amendment, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, was passed in 2004 by an overwhelming 65 percent of Montana voters.
"Right now, I think Montana is at a very critical point," Gustafson said, "either becoming (pro) gay or anti-gay."
Exponent debate
The Exponent carried an opinion column by one of its student writers criticizing "Brokeback Mountain" on Feb. 9.
Doug Hoak accused Hollywood of promoting "a radical liberal social agenda," being out of touch with many Americans, and trying to make homosexuality seem as normal and common as blue jeans. He said Hollywood's job is to be entertaining, and called the movie "just plain offensive."
The next week, the Exponent published four letters criticizing the column. Several argued that movies should do more than be entertaining.
Important films like "Schindler's List" and "Hotel Rwanda," wrote Emily Kuipers, "address deep social problems and help us see our errors and move us towards acceptance and opportunity for all."
Hate the sin, love the sinner
Brett LaShelle, associate pastor at the 800-member Evangelical Free Church in Bozeman, has not seen "Brokeback Mountain."
He doesn't plan to, given its description on a conservative Web site as having heavy sexual scenes, violence and profanity.
His own grandfather won an Oscar in 1944 as a cameraman, but LaShelle doesn't like the trend Hollywood is reflecting in this movie.
"We think America became great because it was good," LaShelle said. "As we move away from our goodness, we'll lose our greatness."
If he met a homosexual, he would treat the person with respect, LaShelle said. And he doesn't want to see anyone threaten or brutalize homosexuals.
But scripture teaches that homosexual acts are morally wrong, along with lying, cheating and adultery or any sex outside of marriage.
LaShelle said evangelical Christians are often accused of judging people who are "born that way." However, he said, it's not the temptation to be homosexual that's wrong, it's acting on that temptation.
"We're all born broken," LaShelle said. "It's what they do about it -- acting on it -- that is immoral."
Discrimination is wrong
Right and wrong look very different to Stacey Haugland, past president of the Gallatin Valley Human Rights Task Force and recent winner of its first "passion for justice" award.
Fifteen years ago, she said, there were no gays or lesbians portrayed on television. Many people thought, wrongly, that they didn't know any gays or lesbians.
And until recently, it was a felony in Montana to be gay or lesbian, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. That was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 1997.
Unfortunately, gay marriage has become a wedge issue that divides people, she said.
"The gay scare has taken the place of red baiting. There is no bigger issue to mobilize conservative Americans," she said.
"The idea that two people who love each other and make a commitment would threaten society is ludicrous."
Homosexuals still face discrimination in employment, housing, security and insurance, Haugland said.
"There's still work to be done."
Don't ask, don't tell
For decades, Bozeman seems to have had an unwritten "don't ask, don't tell" attitude toward prominent artists, writers or politicians who are homosexual.
It's as if bringing it up in public would be bad manners, or a violation of privacy, which Montanans value.
When Jon Gerster ran for Bozeman City Commission in 2001, he fully expected someone to ask him about being gay. But it never came up.
"I was prepared for it to be an issue," Gerster said. "I was pleasantly surprised."
He lost by 43 votes, which he considered an excellent showing, considering he was outspent by conservative candidates 10-to-1.
Gerster, co-owner of the Lehrkind Mansion Bed & Breakfast, said the issue may not have been raised because he had a track record as Northeast Neighborhood Association president.
An out-of-state gay couple, men who have been together 44 years, asked him recently if Bozeman is a safe place.
"It's remarkably normal," he said. "As long as you don't flaunt your sexuality in front of other people, you have no troubles."
There are much bigger challenges to living in Bozeman than being gay, he said, like making a living and affording utility bills.
Had people asked about his sexuality during the campaign, Gerster would have replied it's completely irrelevant to a public official's job and none of their business.
If conservatives think God doesn't like his way of life, he said, "That's between me and God."
Not gay friendly
Sydney Johnson 22, a senior MSU film student, is a lesbian and past president of QSA.
Originally from Colorado, she said homosexuality is starting to find more acceptance here.
"I feel it is beginning to change, because there have been people brave enough to come out," she said.
But Bozeman is not as welcoming as Missoula and Butte, which have safe homosexual hang-outs.
"We don't have a gay-friendly bar anymore," she said. QSA held its dances at the Baxter Hotel for about five years, but the new owners no longer allow the 18-and-older events. Then they canceled Tuesday karaoke nights at The Robin bar, which attracted a mixed crowd, but was "pretty much gay night," she said.
So Johnson sees Bozeman, not as tolerant, but leaning toward tolerance.
That's why "Brokeback Mountain" is important to the mainstream community, she said. "The more you have contact with a minority group, the more you are able to accept them. It's a good thing."
A new generation
As longtime manager of Ms. Kitty's, Billy McWilliams sees Montanans' changing attitudes on sexuality and homosexuality up close.
"It's changed generationally," McWilliams said.
Gay people are still scared, he said. Many are still in the closet. Homophobia is alive, but not well.
"The gay rights movement is over. It's won," he said. "Young people are accepting of gay people, just like they're accepting of blacks and Latinos. Our future is multicultural. Whenever we make our democracy bigger, we're a better country."
"It really has changed immensely," McWilliams said. "It's going to change a lot more."
