Q-FEST: "Saving Marriage"
by Corey Stulce
03-14-2008

By COREY STULCE

      A film opening on May 9, called “What Happens in Vegas,” starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, is about a couple getting married after a crazy, drunken night in the titular city.

     So far, I haven’t seen anyone protesting the release of this film in regards to the sanctity of marriage, but bring up gay marriage and prepare to see many a feather get ruffled.

     As of this writing, Massachusetts is still the only state in the country where it’s legal for two men or two women to marry. And it was a helluva battle getting there as displayed in the documentary “Saving Marriage.”

     The film by John Henning and Mike Roth will be part of Q-Fest, the first St. Louis LGBTQ Film Festival, screening at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at Webster University.

     The film follows the long process of securing the freedom of marriage for gay couples, focusing on would-be marrieds, lobbyists, politicians and protestors.

     The latter are represented chanting things like, “One man, one woman,” with even grade school-aged children holding signs of protest. Even more disturbing is how vehemently against gay marriage some “Family” organizations appear to be.

     When gay marriage first passed, Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute was quoted as saying the day was “as traumatic a moment as the day Kennedy was assassinated.”

     While some in the film argue that gay marriage threatens their own straight marriage, no explanation as to how this will actually occur is really given.

     Arline Isaacson, a passionate gay rights lobbyist, sums it up: “They don’t object to gay marriage; they object to gay human beings.”

     The point the many lobbyists and advocates are trying to get across is that once it is thoroughly explained to the average person (or politician) what freedoms are excluded from gay couples who are not married — they get it.

     Of course, once gay marriage was passed in Mass., it didn’t take long for an amendment to the state constitution to be proposed. While those who have followed the outcome of the lengthy gay marriage issue in the state may know the outcome, the film does deliver some fine dramatic tension, as those who are already married await their fate of knowing if they will legally be allowed to keep their status.

     Those who were voting on the amendment got a chance to speak their peace, and Shirley Owens-Hicks stands out. The black state representative said she would stand up for gay people’s civil rights if they ever had to stand at the back of the bus, knew what it was like to have to run away from their homes or were jailed or beaten.

     Her speech elicited groans from the protestors watching from monitors outside the courtroom. I guess Owens-Hicks had never heard of Matthew Shepherd.

     There are also smaller stories, like Carl Sciortino, a gay man who decided to run for state representative after the first vote on the amendment passed at 105-92. Sciortino took on a 14-year incumbent, Vinnie Ciampa, who said the people should get to vote on the issue. The Sciortino run is a real nail-biter.

    “Saving Marriage” has its share of touching moments, too, as it follows couple Kat and Becky, from when they first saw the protest on TV and decided to join up, to picking out rings, discovering that some of their good friends refuse to attend their ceremony to finally see Kat’s dad walk both women down the aisle.

     While it’s encouraging to know now that after a citizen’s attempt at an amendment failed and another won’t be able to be proposed until 2012, the opposition and challenge for existing gay marriage is a reality, something we know well in Missouri. “Saving Marriage,” though, gives us hope for the future.

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