I heard there was a big football game last Sunday. Oh, yeah, I know it was the Superbowl, but I am so lacking in sports interest that I don’t know which teams played or who won. Those of us who are not into Superbowl weekend take advantage of the fact that the malls, parks, and movie theaters are nearly abandoned.

Mr. Folkie and I went to the movies and saw probably the most unmacho selection, Milk, the story of Harvey Milk, the first gay individual to be elected to a major public office. He ran for office and campaigned for gay rights in San Francisco in the 1970s and was finally elected to a city supervisor post in 1977. This era saw the organization and rise of the conservative religious right that still endeavors to push their narrow ideology into our laws.

Sean Penn, as Milk, delivers a very senstive portrayal that plays up Milk’s joyfulness and dignity as well as his personal struggles behind public view.Penn is excellent, getting his character’s mannerisms and expressions just right, but all the actors, with some surprising casting, like James Franco and Diego Luna as Milk’s lovers, contribute to a well-executed film.

At the time of the movie’s setting, the focus of battle was Proposition 6, which, among other things, would have banned gay teachers from California schools. The prop was defeated, but it’s interesting to see the archival footage of Anita Bryant bringing up the same arguments that enabled Prop 8, the gay marriage ban, to succeed just last year.

Not all cultures divide human population neatly into two incontrovertable sexes. Many native Indian tribes recognized a third and sometimes even a fourth designation (GLTBQ article, including bibliography). It’s too much to hope that U.S. culture could embrace that concept, but I would like to see those who pull the God card acknowledge that all God’s creations are beautiful, loveable, and necessary.

As evidence I offer the voice of Antony Hegarty, a divine creation that defies categorization as either male or female yet is stunningly beautiful beyond those constraints. His new album Another World is the familiar cry of all humans from birth to be heard, understood, and accepted. Most of Hegarty’s songs are variations on that point, but with the title of “Epilepsy is Dancing,” he compares being born transgender to having a misunderstood and feared affliction and declares them equally without shame.

The Crying Light, like Antony and the Johnsons’ other work, is for the most part a somber album, but that reflects only one side of Hegarty’s musical interests. Last year he provided vocals for some tracks on his friend DJ Andy Butler’s American project Hercules and Love Affair, and he sounds really good singing for the dance crowd.

Antony and the Johnsons: Epilepsy Is Dancing from The Crying Light (2009)

Hercules and Love Affair: Blind from Hercules and Love Affair (2008)

Joan As Police Woman: I Defy,
featuring Antony Hegarty, from Real Life (2006)

Hegarty appeared yesterday on the NPR program Fresh Air in which Antony describes transgender as a condition of the spirit rather than a physical state and makes the point that identification with either sex lessens who a transgender person actually is.

MySpace | Website | Label: Secretly Canadian
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Filed under: album review, film, Antony and the Johnsons, Hercules and Love Affair

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