Breaking gay misconceptions through theatre 1001

"There's a movie I want you to see, Mum."
"Oh yes, what is it?"
"It's called Latter Days, it's about a guy who is dared to seduce a Mormon missionary but ends up falling for the guy."
"Oh, ok."
"It's a little like that movie How to loose a guy in ten days, you know there's a bet and then the guy falls for the mark and the bets off but the whole thing has gone too far. It's really good. Sad, but good."
"Well today is the day for sad movies. We'll watch it after three."

Since coming out to her, I've been on the look out for a gay themed movie in which the gay guys weren't HIV positive or promiscuous. The reason for these criteria is that I want to dispel Mum's misconceptions that all gay men are sluts and that they all eventually contract HIV/AIDS. I had my work cut out for me but, thanks to my new gay-movie-guru Kate, I have a few titles up my sleeve. Latter days is the first module in Breaking gay misconceptions through theatre 1001. (Check out the link for a great review)

Admittedly, the movie does contain both promiscuity and an HIV positive character. The great thing about it was that it smashed the stereotypes; the HIV positive character was energetic, the promiscuous character fell for someone and saw the "error of his ways". The religious angle was particularly appropriate given the "Sister situation" and the suicide attempt was appropriate given my history.

So after our 3pm Good Friday prayers (every Good Friday we pray a special prayer at 3pm) we sat down to watch the movie. Before it started, Mum asked Dad if he'd like to join us. He was in the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea, and he asked what it was about. I told him the one-line synopsis I gave Mum. I think I saw him rolling his eyes but I can't be sure because I could only see his profile. Ultimately, Mum and Dad sat down on the lounge and I lay down in bed in my room and we started the movie. No one batted an eyelid during the first naked man-to-man blowjob scene. They laughed in all the right places. And I'm not talking nervous laughter; this was real laughter at the jokes. Even the sex scene was not awkward (at least not for me anyway).

I expected Mum to cry. When I first saw it I was beside myself, blubbering away as I watched, and I'm not a movie-crier! Mum, on the other hand, is a movie-crier. But not a tear. That was odd.

After the movie, I asked her what she thought. She wasn't raving about it, but then I wasn't expecting a rave review. Her only comment was "I hate the way that homosexuals are portrayed as promiscuous". This is exactly what I wanted. It appears I may have suffered from a misconception of my own in that I misconceived her misconceptions. How's that for dizzying logic.

All in all, the new education program is going well. I couldn't have wished for much more.