Ex-Gay Watch

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a story about Michelle Williams, an Academy Award nominee for Brokeback Mountain. The principle of her childhood school decided Michelle needed some tough love:

Not so proud is Santa Fe Christian headmaster Jim Hopson. “We don’t want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie,” said Hopson, who turned down a request from a Union-Tribune reporter to visit the school and chat with students about the movies and one of their own being up for an Academy Award.

“Michelle doesn’t represent the values of this institution. We would not approve of her movies and TV shows (including the teen drama “Dawson’s Creek”). We’d not like to be tied to ‘Brokeback Mountain.’

“I hope we offered her something in life. But she made the kinds of choices of which we wouldn’t approve. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ basically promotes a lifestyle we don’t promote. It’s not the word of God.”

However, her mother and the head of the Christian Community Theater in San Diego where Michelle got her start seemed to have some love that didn’t include having nothing to do with “lifestyles” and “choices”:

Sheryl Russell and Carla Williams are good friends. When “Brokeback Mountain” was released in December, the women went to see it together at Landmark Theatre’s La Jolla Village. Some scenes, Williams said, “were difficult for a mother to watch.” There are moments of nudity and rough sex, but the part that made her the most anxious was an argument between Michelle and co-star Ledger that progresses to near violence.

“It was tough,” she said, “because Michelle and Heath adore each other. They’re soulmates.”

I guess the headmaster thinks its important to care about being tied to messages. The mother and theater organizer were more concerned about the personal relationships in the lives of people, and the pain of seeing two people who care about each other hurting each other. It’s not too hard to see who had Christian love.