"Hell" and "Outrage"

            On the harrowing night of the 2008 presidential election I saw Jeff Jones do a quick-hit stand up act at Hamburger Marys in which he said that if the right wing was so goddamn concerned with the sanctity of marriage then why didn’t they ban divorce?   

          I’ve been a fan ever since. Far right hypocracy of the on the issue of gay civil rights is easily as perverse as anything I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen "Coctomom".            

          Lucky for us Jones expanded the soul of that joke, focused his keen eye on the politics of hate and came up with the Fringe comedy “Welcome to Hell,” now playing at Parliament House's Footlights Theater through July 11 (click for ticket info). .

            "Welcome to Hell" finds us where many of us expect to be eventually - face to face with Satan himself. As an audience member you have arrived in the underworld and await your orientation (which I previously thought of as“the Bush years”), and are stuck with a querulous new inductee, a smug Southern Senator who swears he doesn’t belong with the rest of us.

            The devil’s personal assistant suffers this fool and none too gladly – played by Elizabeth Murff, she’s the ultimate in the sort of taut, lacqured graciousness that you’ve probably encountered in any dealings you’ve ever had with an airline. They are composed and sweet but you get the idea that if they hear an impatient “Uh…Miss?” one more time they’ll leap over the counter and rip your face open. Murff volleys from control to mania with endearing ease ,but who wouldn’t dealing with the WASP in the gray flannel suit. Doug Ba'aser who has given Orlando some of the best laughs its ever had over the years is scarily spot-on as the grim bastard to whom bearing false witness comes as naturally as his Southern drawl. Finally, Jeff Jones is exactly the kind of Satan the far right doesn’t want you to believe in – a Satan you can relate to, who you’d like to have beers with and who has more compassion for the human condition than his sanctimonious adversaries (and a suit Elvis would come back for). He also cemented my opinion that more men should wear heavy, glossy, Endora-like eye make-up. It’s ssssssssssssassyy.

             The dubious cred of the politicians we trust is treated with a light-and-devious heart in “Welcome to Hell,” a witty and accurate send-up of self-serving cynicism. As synchronicity would have it, though, across town at Enzian Theater the subject of scurrilous politicians is treated in non-fiction form in the film “Outrage.”

            Before “outing “ was used to describe anyone’s exposure as anything (i.e. being “outed” as loving Duran Duran) it was used exclusively to denote the act of exposing a closeted person as gay. As much as honesty has going for it I value mind-your-own-goddamn-business a great deal and always thought of outing as being crass at least and cruel at worst. It always had the feeling of a bully humiliating a fellow classmate by reading an errant love note aloud. Just fucking mean.

            What the documentary “Outrage” posits, and quite impressively, is that that privacy ends when closeted politicians vote overwhelmingly against the rights of gay people, potentially as a cloaking device for their own sexuality, an act of deflection that costs other people their rights and, considering things like HIV/AIDs support, maybe their lives.

            “Outrage” by Oscar-nominated documentarian Kirby Dick focuses on the allegedly dubious sexuality a few politicians in particular, including bathroom buddy Senator Larry Craig and Florida’s own governor Charlie Crist. Crist provided my favorite moment when he talked about the wonders of male-female marriage in the same sentence as his divorce. This kind of shit seems to go over the heads of the bigoted; at Enzian it got a big laugh.

            And there are moments of lightness and certainly moments of. When many of these people were growing up, we are reminded, you could not aspire to be a politician if you were gay, a mindset they carry like a ball and chain and weigh down the entire country with. Some, it’s easy to see, could be in real psychological denial. And while I can feel compassion for anyone so sand-bagged for self-loathing, if they legislate against equality I think they’re self-loathing is perfectly appropriate – but not for being gay.

            “Outrage” is a reminder that when those at the highest levels endorse bigotry the trickle-down is devolutionary and disastrous. If you don’t cry at the bit about the victims of bullying and hate crimes, you need to have your empathy chip implanted, stat.

            Thankfully Kirby offers some light at the end of the closet by interviewing political figures who are out and whose decision lead not to downfall but to unconfined joy. Including those who have opted for self-acceptance makes the confines of the closet seem so much worse - darker and sadder and imprisoning for everyone.

            Welcome to Hell indeed. Thanks for sharing. 

             Tomorrow evening, June 25 Enzian will host a special Enzian Film Club session to discuss "Outrage" including, says the Enzian blog, "out politician Patty Sheehan, Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell, Log Cabin Republican director Patrick Howell, and acclaimed local documentarian Eric Breitenbach (WHEN PIGS FLY, MY FATHER’S SON)." So for some direct conversation from excellent sources on some of the film's controversial subject matter, come to Film Club at 8pm Thursday at the Eden Bar (I recommend the Bloody Marys, by the way. Satan would approve).