Here Films, a tiny production company, has a small film on their hands that they think has the potential to make a big impact. In case you are living in some sort of Lost situation and didn’t catch the hoopla surrounding Ellen Degeneres getting married to Portia De Rossi, gay marriage has recently been legalized in Cali. Although many of us Californians want to keep it that way, there is another side to the story.
Proposition 8 will be on the November ballot in California. The proposition used to be called the “Protect Marriage Pact,” and is now called the “Eliminates Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act.” In case you can’t tell just from the names, the Proposition has gone from jedi to sith in just a few months.
The act is colloquially referred to as “The Ban on Gay Marriage” and would make gay marriage illegal again in California, if passed. That would mean folks like Ellen, and George Takei would have to take their marriages back, forcing them back into domestic partnership limbo.
Here Films wants to do something about it. In an attempt to raise awareness about Prop 8 the release date of their documentary, Saving Marriage, will be moved up to October 10th. It will have a limited release in Los Angeles, Boston, New York City and Denver.
The movie, Saving Marriage, is directed by John Henning and Mike Roth and chronicles the two years after the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts. I guess Here Films is figuring that watching gay people and their loved ones cry about being able to get married, might just make the non-gays and their loved ones emote along with them.
I, myself, am a loved one of a very gay woman. She is young, virile, and in love. She would make a beautiful bride and so I, myself, have my tears all cued up and ready to fall out at the slightest push from Saving Marriage. I think Here Films is doing a great thing by trying to raise awareness about this profound issue.
Maybe I’m just broadcasting from the gay safe house of San Francisco, but I truly believe that if people see actual human beings who want to get married to one another and who are truly in love, gay or not, they will be moved. I think that Here Films is setting a great example in how to use movies for the greater good. By abandoning their previous release date and, I’m sure, their advertisement plan, they are prioritizing gay rights over financial gain.
For more info on their movie, head over to SavingMarriageTheMovie.com. Watch for it in theaters, in California anyway, on October 10th.
