Playground
Playground is a fascinating film about child sex trafficking, in the United States. Yes, it’s bigger here than in almost any other country and it’s time we looked critically at this issue. Child sex predators operate stealthily and quickly, and their victims are affected for life. Playground tells the story in a compelling and subtle manner without leaving out any details. This is an important film.
The film does not give much in the way of hopefulness, and I asked its director Libby Spears whether she was hopeful. She replied that there is so little we can do to make a real dent in this multimillion-dollar industry, but one thing we can do is teach young boys respect for women (and men,) and delayed gratification. An open dialogue about sex instead of this puritanical shame-faced mumbo-jumbo we currently practice would go a long way towards fixing this problem.
The film will screen in Los Angeles in June; it’s website is here.
Outrage
When you think of gay politicians, you probably think of Barney Frank and James McGreevey. How about Larry Craig? Or Charlie Crist, or a few dozen more politicians who have spent their lives forcing that closet door to remain shut. The film chronicles Michael Rogers of blogactive.com’s quest to out gay republicans who have a consistent anti-gay voting record. Your stance on outing will affect how you perceive the film, but in his mind it is justified because these politicans’ votes were hurting the gay community. I tend to agree.
To paraphrase our good buddy Harvey Milk, if everyone would just come out of the closet this whole gay rights thing wouldn’t be an issue, because we would see who we were voting against. Grow some balls, America!