Why there will never be a black Brokeback Mountain

The Guardian (U.K.) ^ | 1/23/06 | Gary Younge

[Millee]

This is a tale of two love cheats and the many paths yet to be cleared on the road to Brokeback Mountain. The first is the former governor of New Jersey, James McGreevey. On August 12 2004, with his wife at his side, McGreevey confessed: "At a point in every person's life, one has to look deeply into the mirror of one's soul and decide one's unique truth in the world, not as we may want to see it or hope to see it, but as it is. And so my truth is that I am a gay American."

Article continues McGreevey, who opposed gay marriage, had allegedly given his lover a high-paying job for which he was totally unqualified. His gay partner repaid the favour by blackmailing him.

The second is Jonathan Plummer, the former husband of the novelist Terry McMillan. McMillan fell for Plummer, who was less than half her age, when she was on holiday in Jamaica. She took him home and wrote a bestselling novel about their romance called How Stella Got Her Groove Back, which became a blockbuster film. Last year, about six years after they were married, Plummer told McMillan he was gay.

McMillan tried to get him deported and, Plummer says, wrote "Fag juice, burn baby burn", on a bottle of Jamaican hot pepper sauce. Plummer, disingenuously, responded as though McMillan's rage was entirely misplaced. "She is an extremely angry woman who is homophobic and is lashing out at me because I have learned I am gay," he said. The two parted ways until their very public acrimony in the courts mellowed into a very public resolution on Oprah's couch.

McGreevey is white; Plummer is black. Although McGreevey was a public official, his transgression was generally regarded as a personal flaw.

[Millee]

"It's pretty clear that if they had been two black men it would have been a different reaction," says Keith Boykin, the author of Beyond the Down Low. "It would have been an evil, nefarious story about deception and disease. These are guys who blatantly cheat on their wives with other men. There's no way it would have been called a love story if they were black."

Interesting.

[vimto]

"It is the only movie I have ever heard of where women cry, in sympathy rather than anger, at the sight of two men routinely betraying their wives..."

...did he ask them why they were crying? Is adultery that sentimental these days?

[atomicpossum]

"Hey, you got homophobia in my racism!"

"Hey, you got racism in my homophobia!"

Two great hates that go great together.

[A CA Guy]

It's only a sleazy AIDS story with the white sheep herders from what I have read.

[The_Republican]

Article should have been about HIV spreading due to "down-low" phenomenon.

To bring attention to the problem, the author tried to use the 'Broke-back Mountain', which has gotten all the publicity one can get.

It is a pathetic attemtp. Confuses the real issue.

Either way, I asked myself if I would be more disgusted if the stars of 'Broke-back Mountain' were black - and the answer is no.

Sodomites are Sodomites irrespective of their skin color.

[gman992]

You know what would be cool? Yep, you guessed it--a female Blowback Mountain!!!!

[martin_fierro]

BrokeBlack Mountin'?

[thehumanlynx]

It would no doubt be an even harder sell if the main characters were black too.

But i think if the same idea of the movie existed in a diff. setting, black guys would work in the same sick way. But who really gives a crap. Whether set in the mountains or some other (non stereotypical) black area, the movie would still suck.

The saddest part is that women have become so contaminated by the feminist thought that they are crying b/c they feel bad for the 2 fags rather than mad at them b/c they are spineless adulterers, and are destroying their respective families.

[x]

The premise is wrong. McMillan was in love with Plummer, and didn't know of his homosexuality. The McGreevys apparently had a relationship, so feelings of betrayal were a lot less. Yonge's a little contradictory or confused, too. First, "Plummer told McMillan he was gay." Then a few paragraphs later he's a heterosexual who has gay affairs on the side.

I doubt married White men are more likely to have sex with men than Black men. But it could be that White guys who are married but have sex with men are more likely to openly proclaim themselves gay. Perhaps there are fewer barriers to White guys coming out as homosexuals. Seems like, there were plenty of "gay dad" TV movies in the 70s or 80s, but none of them involved Blacks.

[WasDougsLamb]

Why there will never be a black Brokeback Mountain


---Because no one would want to see it?

---It would be boring.

---Acting is a job.They would have to work for money.

---No one would fund/back it.

"It's pretty clear that if they had been two black men it would have been a different reaction," says Keith Boykin,

---No there wouldn't. Not everybody is into the gay thing and it shouldn't be forced down anybodys' throats with black or white stars in it. It is the concept of the movie that is distasteful, not the color of the actors' skins, you racist ass clown.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Why there will never be a black Brokeback Mountain."

Soreass Hood.

[flowerplough]

"Homophobia"? Groundless, anti-homosexual hate needs a better name. "Fear of same" is weak and inaccurate. There seem to be so many sensitive, cultured, creative, educated, nuanced city boys a-Pokebackin' and a-Mountin' each other these days - seems they'd label their perceived opponents and enemies better.

[Melusine]

Thankfully, I had swallowed my coffee just before I read your post.