My first recollection of going to a movie was in 1952. I still remember standing in the ticket-line with my Mom, outside the Grand Theater in my hometown, waiting to see "Singin' in the Rain". From that point forward, being a "movie-goer" became part of my life. I suppose that's true for the majority of American Baby Boomers. Over the years, however, it seems that "the world headquarters for movies", Hollywood, has become more and more of a Liberal, Secular-Human culture and that's made it increasingly difficult for me to remain a fan of their product. But, movie-going is such a part of the fabric of American culture and of my generation, that I've hung in there, taking a "chew the fruit and spit out the seeds" attitude.

Though it has seemed exponentially more difficult, I've used this "chew the fruit and spit out the seeds" approach to taking in Hollywood's great annual mutual-admiration bash known as "The Oscars". In doing that this year, I found that it's becoming a nearly intolerable experience. The message coming out of this Hollywood entity has gone way beyond saying that their beliefs just differ from mine. Their loud and clear message is that they hate me and those like me, for our beliefs.

The odious message coming out of this years Oscars, towards Social Conservatives, was book-ended by the acceptance speeches of two Academy Members. These were Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn, who were recognized for their work on the movie "Milk", the story of California's first openly homosexual elected official, Harvey Milk.

Mr. Black was awarded an Oscar for writing the original screenplay for "Milk". This came at the beginning of the awards ceremony and thus, his acceptance speech provided the opening salvo for this year's "release" of Hollywood's loathing for Social Conservatives. The portion of his acceptance speech that I found to be most disturbing was when he said he wanted "... to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are 'less than' by their churches, by the government or by their families ... that very soon ... you will have equal rights ... ". This was greeted with enthusiastic applause throughout the attending Academy audience.

Disturbing as it was, Mr. Black's "opening salvo" paled in comparison to the "Grand Finale" provided by Sean Penn. In his speech, near the end of the event, accepting the Oscar for Best Actor, Mr. Penn said, "I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone." These comments came after he started his speech, mocking the gay marriage ban supporters by addressing the Academy crowd present as "You commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns." The response to all this, by the live audience, was beyond enthusiastic. As the cameras panned the audience, I hoped I'd note some dissension but the approving applause seemed to be universal.

Even to some not caught up in the Hollywood culture, the menacing nature of these messages may not be so obvious. That's due to elements that are common to bigoted discourse. Shreds of truth are embedded, that are appealing at a gut-level and these are used as the launching pads for leaps that aren't necessarily logical or founded in truth. I don't doubt that Mr. Black has had some painful experiences in his life, resulting from being treated as "less than". Perhaps, his coming from a "conservative Mormon home" (also mentioned in his speech) was a factor in this. Maybe he even had the specific experience Sean Penn alluded to ... hearing a group he's associated with referred to by detractors as "homo-loving", etc. But, most of us have had painful experiences, being unfairly treated by others. I certainly have. That, however, doesn't justify condemning entire groups for the actions of individuals.

These insidious themes pervert the truth about those it's aimed at ... people who Sean Penn, rightly, defines as "those who voted for the ban against gay marriage" and those who hold their same belief. The truth is that the vast majority of these people do not treat their opponents as "less than" and their intent is not to deprive anyone of "equal rights". With that said, let me give you some details on what I know to be the truth about this group:

They are not a radical, small minority. A recent Quinnipiac Poll (not exactly a Conservative instrument) shows "popular opinion" on same-sex-marriage to be 55% opposed and 36% in favor. Legislation upholding traditional marriage has been passed in State after State. The nation does not recognize same-sex-marriage, under the Defense of Marriage Act. Same-sex-marriage is legal in only two States.

Their core belief is that marriage was not instituted by government. Rather, it was instituted by God, for one genetic-male with one genetic-female. Upholding this is their focus, not to treat anyone as "less than".

Domestic Partnership affords participants fully "equal rights" with participants in marriage, according to the government. Opponents to same-sex-marriage, generally, do not oppose Domestic Partnerships. One of the best examples of this comes from California, where Proposition 8 upheld traditional marriage in last Fall's election and yet, Domestic Partnerships are fully accepted.

Regardless of these facts, Hollywood seems intent upon using their inequitable but quite powerful access to the media to stir up hatred towards this group. As a Social Conservative, who is certainly a part of this group, I'm no longer comfortable with my "chew the fruit and spit out the seeds" attitude towards what comes out of Hollywood. Its time for me to decide ... what am I willing to do? To answer this, I think its best to just respond to what Hollywood seems to be saying about folks like me ... (1) that we want to give others "less than" treatment, (2) that we want to deprive others of "equal rights" and (3) that others should use these beliefs to "guilt" us into changing our most fundamentally held values. Beyond this, they seem to be saying, (4) if we don't change, Hollywood doesn't want folks like us around. At this point, its pretty easy for me to decide how to respond and the appropriate responses for me are crystal clear: (1) That isn't what I want, (2) that isn't what I want either, (3) absolutely not and (4) if that's what you want, I will accommodate you ... at the box office.

How about you?