Getting it right

This weekend I was checking Facebook and came across this:


Some of you may not be familiar with the people in this picture. I’m only familiar with the four men on the right. Starting at the far right is Trevor Southey. All I really know about him is that he was in the PBS documentary, The Mormons, where he was interviewed in the section that explored Mormonism and homosexuality. He was also interviewed and included in Reed Cowan’s documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition. Next to Trevor is Troy Williams, who I’ve heard referred to as the Harvey Milk of Utah. Next to Troy is Dustin Lance Black who wrote the screenplay for Milk and won an Oscar for it and has also won awards for his writing on the HBO series Big Love. Next to DLB is Bruce Bastian, who co-founded WordPerfect with Alan Ashton and who now focuses his efforts in philanthropic causes and is on the board for the Human Rights Campaign. All of these guys have a background in Mormonism. The final three I don’t recognize but I’m guessing are gay rights advocates local to Salt Lake. I’m sure others who read my blog would know who they are. Chime in if you do.

Anyway, it was heartening for me to see this and to see that there is some dialogue happening. I realize the LDS church inviting this group of people to the Christmas program doesn’t magically make everything better, and I certainly wonder about who’s idea it was/wasn’t to extend the invitation and what certain people on both sides thought of the idea but I think it’s another baby step towards understand and finding common ground.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to admit to having a thing for DLB. It’s a powerful and empowering thing to see someone who comes from a similar situation that I do, give a much needed larger voice to the story of Harvey Milk, do it well, and receive much deserved recognition for it.

I remember being in San Francisco with my friend Ellie a couple of years ago. We visited Castro Street, where I had an unexpected and profound spiritual experience. At the beginning of the street, we found a very simple memorial set back from the street that was fairly easy to miss. It consisted of a handful of plaques with pictures and a brief history of Harvey Milk. I was immediately overwhelmed by the feeling of that space. It was so quiet. There’s something beautiful about a man who helps inspire others to understand they are so much better and capable of so much more than what certain groups try to limit them to.

Even though we as human beings are too often inelegant at expressing our purest and most sincere desires, sometimes somebody somewhere gets it right and I believe the church extending an invitation to this group and their acceptance of it was one those times.