Historical Context of One Nation under God (1993) Movie and Era for the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement - Essay Example

? Historical Context of One Nation under God (1993) Movie and Era for the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement The gay fraternity has made remarkable efforts in gaining acceptance of gays and recognition of gay rights in the mainstream society today, despite the strong opposition the group has encountered over the years due to high intolerance towards the practice and its members. The proliferation of gay activism and same sex marriage debates that have dominated in media and political discussions in recent years have had a long standing history that dates several decades ago, when the wider society was still intolerant not only to the practice, but also to the idea of homosexuality. Fundamentalist religious groups such as Exodus International and moralists have never relented in their battles to rid society off this widespread social affliction that is homophobic sexual orientations, and have made sincere efforts to condemn the practice as a sin, and to restore individuals back to heterosexuality through curative therapies. This paper examines the themes highlighted in the documentary film One Nation under God of 1993 that was co-directed and co-produced by Teodoro Maniaci and Francine Rzeznik, both within the historical context in which it was created and within the documentary style it represents. The 1993 era provides both a historical context and a political perspective of the gay rights movement back in time, when both the ex-gay movements and the religious right were equally gaining strength1. This period is very significant in the history of the gay rights movement because it marked a great check-in point for the current homosexuality tolerance and recognition of gay rights in the American society. Simply put, this period had a lot to do with the recent developments in the gay rights movement in the current era where some states have already ratified gay marriages; additionally, the federal government has recognized the union for tax reasons and issued a ban on ex-gay therapies that pervaded the ‘90s. One Nation under God (1993) documentary film highlights the pervasive confusion of male effeminacy and female masculinity with homosexuality in the perceptions of the two leading groups that were attempting to restore homosexuals to a more befitting place in society. The debates of the ex-gay movement feature prominently in a large portion of the movie, with interviews of the movement’s leaders such as Young, who was not only a transsexual, but also a homosexual with a history of sexual trauma, and Exodus International’s president. The documentary also features interviews of the main features Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper and their relationship, as well as fundamentalist Christian leaders, and psychiatrists who favored both sides of the debate in addition to, other ex-gays, and former ex-gays who fell on either sides of the debate too. The 1990’s era was pervaded by religious right wing proliferation of curative therapies for homosexuals2; today, this era gives an impressionable perspective of gay relations in the annals of history. The opening of the documentary presents off-the-street perspectives of homosexuality through interviews that reveal harsh oppositions to the practice due to its contravention of religious beliefs and societal morals. Interestingly, even in what would have been the most liberal places like New York City, a large proportion of people express bitter resentments towards homosexuality by condemning the practice as a sin and asking homosexuals to repent, thus indicating the high intolerance towards gays that pervaded America society back then. This documentary film was a resounding work at that point in time, due to the significance of its subject matter; the early 1990’s remain to be a significant point in the history of gay rights activism. AIDS had thwarted campaigns for gay rights and the gay political progress thoroughly in the ‘80s, resulting to a military ban on gays; this military ban resulted challenges to the subsequent bans on gays in 1990 and 1991, and in 1993, Clinton had to sign the first compromise of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell from the total ban. Gay marriage debates ensued in the year 1989, with New York’s highest court sanctioning the admissibility of two same sex members as a family unit for rent control purposes. Gay rights activism existed on a backdrop of pensive attitudes in the American society, leading to the dilemma in the whole fraternity, and the inevitable divide between the need to rebel and the need to belong. Nonetheless, the ex-gay movement and the religious right in the Republican Party were equally gaining a lot of ground in the 1990’s, despite the political progress of the gay movement, and amidst all these came the documentary film One Nation under God (1993). One Nation under God (1993) shifts focus between two main themes that pervaded the political scenes of the American society at that point in time, the ex-gay movement, and the gay rights movement3, both of which are given equal credence, perhaps for fear of the film being labeled in a bad light. The documentary film has a scattershot and random style structure and viewers are taken back and forth from one topic, say the history of gay rights movement, to the next, say the ex-gay movement, nearly in a stream of consciousness format, especially because the film does not want to dwell on a topic long enough to be construed as biased. The ex-gay movement represents a notorious chapter in the Christian community because it involved the training or bullying of homosexuals into changing their sexual orientation from gay to straight. One Nation under God (1993) explores the relationship of Exodus international founders Bussee and Cooper, who later left the organization and got married, in addition to, the massive damage done by ex-gay therapies offered by Exodus International. Insofar as the history of homosexual rights is concerned, One Nation under God (1993) highlights the atrocious homosexual oppression visited upon the gay fraternity by the Nazis, and the various forms of ex-gay therapies that America has witnessed. For instance, persuasive techniques such as brainwashing were often reinforced by aversion treatments such as the administering of electric shocks to susceptible individuals while watching pornography of a homosexual kind. The honesty of the religious and psychological groups that issued these therapies is more chilling when compared to the activities and doctrines of the Nazis before them. The producers of One Nation under God (1993) make a subtle, yet a much more profound and mostly ignored point worth of notice in the history of gay rights movement; the documentary advances a significant argument concerning the opinions concerning homosexuality. The film notes that a majority of the opposing opinions held by many factions in the American society at that time in history have less to do with science than religion, morals, and politics4. The fundamentalist Christians with their pervasive self-righteousness attitudes were highly intolerant to homosexuality, thus alienating the gays and claimed to cure them through aversive and brainwashing techniques. However, all the efforts of the religious ministries in converting gays from homosexuality to straight sexual orientation achieved nothing but delusion, hatred, among others. One Nation under God (1993) describes the vague success of the right wing Christian Evangelicals, Exodus advocates, in converting homosexuals through their various programs, and the contentious issues rose regarding whether those programs should have been attempted at all. Essentially, the pervasive self-righteous attitude towards the gays and condemnation of homosexuality as expressed in the desire to reconvert them into heterosexuality by these ex-gay groups is mere homophobia. Activities such as football for men or makeup wearing and hairstyling for women aimed at teaching homosexuals how they ought to behave and feel, which the ex-gay movements practiced highlight their thorough confusion of male effeminacy and female masculinity with homosexuality. Homosexuality in the early 1990’s American society was not only a question of religious, but also of moral consideration because it was undermining the purely understood and agreed upon societal perception of family and marriage as a heterosexual institution. The moralist’s perception of homosexuality was that it was a form of deviant behavior that needed to be addressed with needful urgency lest the American society plunges into debris of rotten moral values. The pervasive resistance to homosexuality on the moral base led to a high intolerance of the group in society, and these negative attitudes towards the gay fraternity further led to social exclusion, and a host other negative impacts to the group. However, the moralists, by condemning the homosexuals and isolating them from the mainstream society did not help at all because it was mere hypocrisy and denial of the fact that indeed some individuals are not straight. The main features in One Nation under God (1993) could only pretend to have reformed as ex-gays but for a short while because after several months of working together and advocating for Exodus International, they realize that they were in love with each other5. This indicates that their conversion from homosexuality to being straight was nothing short of a mere repression and denial of their true individualities as gays. The two eventually abandon their newly established families in their ‘straight’ lives and marry, despite being touted by Exodus International as successes of conversion therapies, thus, proving that homosexuality is not a choice and cannot be reversed. One Nation under God (1993) also highlights the conflicting political perspectives between the liberal thinkers and conservatives concerning the gay rights movement and homosexuality debates in the early 1990’s6. The progress of homosexual rights movements has suffered massive blows in the past due to opposition from conservative politicians and lobbyists who have publicly condemned gay marriages and gay rights. Besides treatments for gays, the documentary film highlights laws that barred homosexuals from socializing in public and homosexuality orientation in the highly polarized early 1990’s American society. The stories of the unfortunate subjects of conversion therapies of sexual brokenness such as shock treatment and orgasmic reorientation are not only absurd but also heartbreaking because they highlight the struggles of the gay community in the early 1990’s. The highly polarized gay rights movement politics of the early 1990’s firmly restate the decade-long battles of the gay rights movement in gaining acceptability of the gays and recognition of gay rights in the mainstream American society today. One Nation under God (1993) reveals the long-standing conventional ant-gay sentiments that have pervaded political platforms prior to APA’s decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM’s list of mental disorders in 1974. Unfortunately, there was very little science informing the anti-gay sentiments and opinions in this period and in that respect, homophobia attitudes dominated mental treatments in the early 1990’s; the documentary presents the history of current reparative therapies that emerged in the wake of APA’s decision. One Nation under God (1993) succeeds by providing not only a comprehensive but also a chronological history of the controversial homosexual rights movement in the American political debates. In conclusion, One Nation under God (1993) documentary brings to fore the historical development of gay rights movement on a backdrop of atrocious religious right wing proliferation of curative therapies by leading ex-gay movements such as Exodus International. The early 1990’s marks a significant point in the history of gay rights movements because it defined the direction of gay rights activism, and set the foundations for the current perspectives on the gay community in the American society. The movie highlights the highly polarized and antagonistic attitudes held towards homosexuality and the damaging results of ex-gay movements that tried to convert homosexuals into heterosexuality in vain through aversion and brainwashing techniques. Overall, these efforts were a mere repression and denial of the true individualities of gays and further isolation rather than the intended results of making them fit back into the wider society. Converting gays from being homosexual to being straight only succeeded in creating delusion, denial, hatred, homophobia, low self-esteem, and self-destructive behavior such as suicide tendencies; a significant point made in the documentary is that the opinions held against homosexuality have less to do with science than religion, morals, and politics. Bibliography One Nation under God. DVD. Dir: Teodoro Maniaci and Francine Rzeznik. IMDB. Documentary film. 1993 Read More