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DUSTIN LANCE BLACK gave an incredibly moving speech to UCD’s Law Society about gay rights this week.
The activist and Oscar-winning screenwriter spoke about growing up as a member of the Mormon Church in Texas, when being gay was still illegal in the US.
Black told students the Mormon Church “makes the Catholic church seem really open-minded”, noting he was taught from a young age that being gay was akin to being a murderer.
Growing up in that church I heard from a very, very early age that homosexuality was sin next to the crime of murder. So from the age of 3, 4, 5, 6, – when I was just a little kid, three foot tall – I knew that I was right down there with all the sinners and the murderers and the rapists. It was very scary.
During the moving speech, Black spoke of the fear he felt about coming out to his family.
“I knew that I was a sinner. I knew that I was a criminal,” he said.
Black said he and his mother “talked endlessly” about everything.
One night when he was home from college for Christmas, he said his mother started to complain about the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell rule in the US military being “too inclusive”.
Black said he prayed, in vain, for him not to cry in front of her because she would then know the truth about his sexuality.
Before I knew it that first tear had hit my cheek and that room went silent and I looked up into her eyes – and this is a good Southern Mormon mom, I mean she knew. She knew.I didn’t have to say anything. But, loud and clear, what I heard in that silence was that it wasn’t OK. That she was afraid for her son. What had she done wrong to break her precious boy and how could she fix this horrible problem? That’s what that silence said.
Black went on to tell the audience of the surprising way his mother reacted when she met his college friends, many of whom were gay.
Black, who is in a relationship with British Olympic diver Tom Daley, said the upcoming vote on marriage equality in Ireland “scares” him as “this isn’t a right that should be put up for a vote”.
“This is a fundamental right that is bigger than any one belief system, bigger than any one religion. It is a fundamental right of being a human being able to marry the person that you love.”
He said Ireland is “on the cusp of change” and encouraged people to make sure they get out and vote on 22 May.
“Go out and tell your stories,” he said.
Black has been awarded honorary life membership of UCD Law Society.
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“privatisation Drive” , another ” lets grab all they have” scam. Like ourselves, soon to be left with nothing to call our own.
@RJ.Fallon: beating up a 75 year old man should sort that right out…
@RJ.Fallon: we have nothing to call our own its all been given away by our treasous politicians….this republic has been sold right under our feet and stupid paddy doesnt give a f@@k.
@BananaRepublic1922:
Good.
I rather see them sold than the Irish taxpayer being on the hook for them
I worked in the semi state sector for years, my god the people in them would get some fright if there jobs were actually at risk.
@RJ.Fallon: Millionaire FF/FG politicians are just waiting for an excuse to sell IW from under our noses.
It isn’t the Greeks it’s the Chinese he’s after.
We can all sympathise with how they may feel, seeing their country being sold out from under them, but beating the ever loving sh.. it out of a 75 year old man isn’t the way to solve anything. That’s the sort of thing that makes their cause worthless, it makes them worse than those they’re angry about. A big muscled lad picking on the weakest in society, yeah that sends a great message.
With a meeting of eurozone finance ministers set for 21 June, teams of experts from the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have met with the Greek government in recent days to discuss its privatisation drive, an overhaul of the civil service and the deregulation of the state-dominated energy market.
In a statement that gave no detail on the agreement, the EU’s executive said a staff-level accord had been reached.
This is the main piece of the article that deserves attention. The people they carried out the attack were labelled as being far right wing by the office of the countries left-wing leader. A cynical person would question this.
Perhaps the attackers were people that voted for Tsipras and Syriza in 2015 and now are utterly dismayed at how their country is and sold out from under their feet.
In any event I don’t know I wasn’t there.
The sad thing is there is no end in sight, Greece cannot effectively survive in the euro it is the totally wrong currency for them.
@John Fergus: don’t get me wrong it’s tragic what happened. Those responsible for beating a 75-year-old man should be figuratively hung. That being said the official line on this is likely skewed to benefit those giving it.
@John Fergus: Currency? If your economy was a basket case to begin with, does it matter much about the currency? Interestingly, most Greeks want to stay in the Euro, apparently – go figure?
Disgusting hitting a 75 year old man.
Unforgivable.
Would it have been OK If he was 30 and not 75?
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