Column: Statesman Soapbox; Both Miller and Ledger have wrong idea about Utah

The initial impulse for a straight man accused of homophobia is to start listing off the names of all his gay friends.

Somewhere, I’d imagine Larry H. Miller is flipping through his Rolodex.

Alex. Burt. Cliff.

Miller, the owner of several automobile dealerships, the Utah Jazz and a handful of movie theaters, told a radio show host last week that he was not “qualified to be the community censor,” only to pull “Brokeback Mountain” from one of his theaters just hours before its first showing.

The decision was made less than two hours after Miller, who apparently missed out on the film’s hype, learned that the plot featured a romance between two gay cowboys.

The call to pull the film has been publicized in the news media nationally. And having caught punch lines from late-night host Jay Leno and MSNBC newsman Keith Olbermann, Miller has not only earned two black eyes for himself, but one for the entire state of Utah.

Dave. Evan. Frank. George.

Salt Lake’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center has called for its 2,500-plus members to boycott Miller’s 80 businesses. They’re upset because they want an honest answer; Miller, the admittedly unqualified censor, isn’t taking phone calls and the official reason for the cancellation was simply a “change in booking.”

While conservatives such as the Utah Eagle Forum’s Gayle Ruzicka have lauded Miller’s decision, saying it “tells the young people, especially, that maybe there’s something wrong with this show,” others are calling it hypocrisy. “Brokeback Mountain” has been pulled from the theater, but the graphically violent “Hostel” is playing five times a day.

Nick. Michael. Paul.

Even the film’s star, Heath Ledger, has commented on Miller’s decision.

“Personally, I don’t think the movie is [controversial], but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do,” Ledger told an Australian newspaper. “I think it’s hilarious and very immature of a society.”

But, like Miller, Ledger is also wrong.

He’s wrong because he hasn’t seen the whole picture. Heath Ledger hasn’t seen the long lines of moviegoers – straight, gay, Mormon and otherwise – outside the Tower and Broadway Theaters in Salt Lake City. He’ll never see the crowd of people who watch the film when it opens at the Logan Art Cinema next week and judge the movie on its own merit, not just the sexual orientation of its characters.

And while this is certainly not a victory for a state so often viewed by outsiders as socially backward, it is, at least, a start.

Meanwhile, I’d guess Larry H. Miller is still flipping through that Rolodex.

Quinn. Terry. Vince. Walter. Zach.

Aaron Falk is the news editor for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to acf@cc.usu.edu.