I would greatly appreciate help with movie and book recommendations.

[Pacifist Patriot]

My UU congregation is going through the Welcoming Congregation process this church year. I'd like to host a movie/discussion night in November and February and a book discussion night in December and March

Are there any movies you would recommend that provide a good perspective on the GLBT community and would serve as an excellent source for further discussion? I'd like movies that would inspire heterosexuals in the congregation to question assumptions about the GLBT community they might not even know they have. Something available on video or DVD.

What books do you think should be on a "required reading list" for a religious community?

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

Welcoming Congregation http://www.uua.org/obgltc/wcp/wc1expln.html

Ann

[JackBeck]

1. As far as movies,

I'd suggest "Celluloid Closet". Excellent example of how the GLBT community has been poorly portrayed in movies.

[dsc]

2. Would rated R movies be OK?

I can think of a few but many are rated R. First some books though. Bishop Spong has written several books including Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin, and Liberating the Gospels. This website has some great looking stuff. www.melwhite.org
Other movies, rated R, that I would recommend, include Longtime Companion (have several tissues handy), and as a set of bookends, Brokeback Mountain and the Wedding Banquet. I hope I helped.

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. Not a problem. Thanks!

[dbackjon]

3. What part of the country do you live in?

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. Florida, why?

[ncrainbowgrrl]

4. "but i'm a cheerleader"

it's funny, well done, not in your face, and shows how love can conquer hate, if people will let themselves change.

Also, In and Out, Kissing Jessica Stein, Better than Chocolate (although this is definitely not PG rated!), Kiss me Guido, Philadelphia, Get Real (British movie- very well done- deals with youth issues with understanding how they relate to each other and the rest of the world. There are also some great supporting characters in this movie. The straight female best friend is a riot!)

As for books:
-stone butch blues (Leslie feinburg- (sp?)
-Conduct Unbecoming -Randy Shilts (sp?)(military issues)

I may be back later to add to this list. I'm sure I have more ideas!

[MsUnderstood]

5. Movies

Late Bloomers is great lesbian love story with some off the hollywood path stars.

I agree conduct unbecoming is a must read, but very long!

[dsc]

7. yeah it is like War and Peace sized

but a great read.

[Danascot]

6. Torch Song Trilogy

[swimmernsecretsea]

8. "Coming Out Under Fire"

Coming Out Under Fire is a history of the recently military, and the brave gay men and women who served for our country while in the ranks of the armed services. It's extraordinarily eye-opening, when you consider how the courage of these people shown on and off the battlefield. Paired with the book by Allan Benrube, it is a great argument for tolerance in general, and to the hypocrisy of the "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy.

[Rowdyboy]

9. Most UUers I've known have been sophisticated....."Beautiful Thing"

is a wonderful foreign (English), coming-of-age film that left me in tears. Its about kids overcoming their environment and winning agianst the odds. Watch it before showing it. Being gay, I tend to be a bit liberal in how I rate movies/fiction. Its pretty hard to shock me.

http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Thing-Hettie/dp/6304410832

"A tender love story set during a hot summer on a South-East London housing estate. Jamie, a relatively unpopular lad who bunks off school to avoid football, lives next door to Ste, a more popular athletic lad but who is frequently beaten up by his father and older brother. Such an episode of violence brings Jamie and Ste together: Sandra (Jamie's mum) offers refugee to Ste, who has to 'top-and-tail' with Jamie. Hence, the story tells of their growing attraction for one another, from initial lingering glances to their irrefutable love, which so magnificently illustrated at the end of the film. In deals with the tribulations of coming to terms with their sexuality and of others finding out, in light of Sandra's unwavering loyalty and defence of Jamie and the fear of repercussion should Ste's family find out. The plot is set against sub-texts of Sandra's desire to manage her own pub, and thus escape the estate, and of her new relationship with her hippy boyfriend Tony; and of Leah, the brassy girl next door who has been expelled from school and spends her time listening to Mama Cass records and tripping on a variety of drugs.

[readmoreoften]

10. Lots of suggestions: ALL OF THESE!

*US: Lesbian Film

The first vignette in "If These Walls Could Talk 2"
Vanessa Redgrave: In 1963, a woman loses her lifelong partner, then her home and personal history due to heterosexist culture.

*International LGBT documentaries (Africa/Middle East/Latin American/Asia): these put LGBT issues into an international human rights context

http://www.ai-lgbt.org/resources_other.htm

*CAN'T MISS-- Paragraph 175: interviews with German and Jewish gay men who survived the camps. Some of these men are Germans who were tortured and watched their friends and lovers murdered, and then were released back into the German population. Many never told anyone of their torture and imprisonment until this documentary.

BOOKS:

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg... that's my #1 suggestion.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. THANK YOU! I so appreciate the ideas. I am off to look into them.