Justin Kelly (King Cobra) goes for broke in the second feature film of his career, leading an ensemble cast that includes current A-listers James Franco (127 Hours, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Emma Roberts (Celeste and Jesse Forever, We’re the Millers) as well as the always underrated Zachary Quinto (Margin Call, Star Trek) and veteran Daryl Hannah (Wall Street, Splash) with a controversial true story that is very near and dear to me personally as a person who identifies himself as a Christian and also someone who is completely okay with homosexuality, despite what The Bible and fundamental Christians feel about it. I am unwilling to get into a debate about my personal beliefs, but I have no problem sharing them with those who are willing to listen and want to hear my thoughts on this. In fact, this post could be as far removed from an actual movie as you might find on my blog. Of course, I will discuss the movie plenty, but I am also using this as an avenue to express my beliefs on a subject matter that I feel very strongly about. Even you’re willing to listen, awesome. If you aren’t, I’ll say move on from this post and read the review on Roger Ebert’s website instead to determine if this movie is for you.

This film takes place over a period of about a decade, just after the turn of the 21st century. The controversial true story depicts a gay activist Michael Glatze (Franco), who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor. He was such a notable figure at the time of radical change that he angered the LGBTQ community in a major way. The movie begins with Glatze working for XY Magazine in San Francisco, CA. This is where he meets Benjie Nycum (Quinto). The two enter into a relationship together. Glaze later tries to convince his colleagues that the “gay identity” as it is understood is limiting and should be rejected. In 2001, the pair co-founded Young Gay America, a non-profit organization. In December 2004, they established a bimonthly publication of the same name for youth living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The difference between XY Magazine and Young Gay America was that the former was primarily for gay men, where the latter was for anybody who identified themself as LGBTQ. The magazine became respected as a resource for high school and public libraries, youth groups, counselors, and parents. Many looked at the launch of YGA as a sign that the queer youth movement was beginning to take shape. The magazine attracted notability and received awards, including the National Role Model Award from Equality Forum, a major gay organization. So it would become quite a surprise and have profound ramifications when one of its two co-founders declared just three years after the magazine’s launch that he was no longer gay. He went so far as to write an article on WorldNet Daily announcing that he had converted to Christianity, denouncing his homosexuality. As a conservative Christian, he began to state that homosexuality is a sickness and that he opposed LGBTQ rights (two things that I vehemently disagree with).

Now even though Franco has done some outrageous and controversial movies when the genre is a comedy (The Interview, This Is the End, Sausage Party) that can cause you to roll your eyes, and he even questions his legitimacy as an actor, his approach to his more serious movies (As I Lay Dying, Child of God). We cannot discredit ones based on true stories (Milk, 127 Hours) in the least. He’s one of the most talented persons in Hollywood these days as he has shown that he can successfully write, direct, produce, and act in major motion pictures. In his most serious role to date, Franco proves that he is all in on telling the story of Michael Glatze with due diligence and total respect for the man’s life.

I Am Michael is a subdued movie that tries to comprehend and explain Glatze’s journey to becoming an ex-gay. What I appreciated most about the movie was that he didn’t play sides. Kelly gave equal attention to Glatze’s time before and after his conversion. This story makes me sad. Glatze makes mentions to the yearnings he still has towards men but had worked hard to suppress them. While he became a hero in Christian circles, he became enemy number one to the LGBTQ community. All of this is brought on by a health scare. When he believes he has developed the heart condition that killed his father, his fear of death and his yearning for more from his life lead him into what can only be described as a conversion experience. The health scare has Michael worrying about the fate of his immortal soul. He turns to the Bible for solace and answers but doesn’t become a conservative overnight.

***Sidebar***

My sidebar consists of my problem with the Christian view towards homosexuality, particularly how people interpret what the Bible says about it. I’ve been a Christian my entire life, and while there have been certain times when I haven’t been as close to God as I would have liked to be, I still prided myself on knowing the difference between right and wrong and, much more often than not, doing what is right. I believe in the mantra “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). I can think of thousands of ways in which I could hurt others that I pass on. I could think of thousands of ways that would bring shame to myself, and, like everyone, I have sinned over and over and over. And when I voice my opinion on homosexuality and gay rights, I have heard fundamental Christians say that I can’t “pick and choose what parts of the Bible to believe in. It’s all or nothing.” And to that, I disagree completely. As is stated in the opening scene of I Am Michael and the central question of what the film comes down to is a brief conversation between present-day Michael (who is resolute in his beliefs against homosexuality) counseling a distraught young gay man who is unable to reconcile his religious beliefs with his sexuality. When Michael, an aspiring pastor, tells the young man that being gay is a false identity and doesn’t really exist, the young man responds, “This isn’t my choice. Why would I choose this?” This is followed by Michael saying, “If you’re a moral person, then you’ll choose heterosexuality to be with God.”

And, personally, I cannot think of anything more wrong. I believe you can be both gay and a Christian. I don’t even think that those two characteristics of your identity should even be brought up in the same conversation. There is so much in this world that I am uncertain about. I honestly question my purpose just about every day of my life. I have my share of demons and have battled depression since I was 18. There have been times when I don’t even know how I’m going to make it through a given day, week, month, or season. But, there’s one part of my life that I’ve never had to question, and I thank God all of the time for this. I am so grateful that I am heterosexual. While I do not believe that there is anything wrong with being gay, I refer back to the young man in the opening of I Am Michael, who says, “This isn’t my choice. Why would I choose this?” I wholeheartedly agree. I’m unwilling to engage in certain topics of conversation, and this is one of them. I’m not in the business of trying to convince anyone of anything. I know that my God is a loving God who loves people who identify themselves as heterosexual as he does those who identify themselves as something different. And for fundamentalist Christians (as well as others), throwing the Bible in their faces is beyond me. Certain people are so set in their ways that they aren’t even willing to listen to another viewpoint. And without getting into a heated debate (which I will not engage in), I’ll say that the Bible was written, depending on who you talk to as many as 8000 years ago and maybe even longer. A lot can change in 8000 years. Let’s dive in a little deeper…

There are references in the Bible to same-gender sexual behavior, and all of them are undeniably negative. But what is condemned in these passages is the violence, idolatry, and exploitation related to the behavior, not the same-gender nature. Likewise, there are references in the Bible to different-gender sexual behavior that are just as condemning for the same reasons. But no one claims that the condemnation is because the behavior was between a man and a woman.

Specific examples claiming that homosexual activity is a sin can be seen in several verses: Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; and 1 Corinthians 6:9. Romans 1:26-27 teaches specifically that homosexuality is a result of denying and disobeying God. When people continue in sin and unbelief, God “gives them over” to even more wicked and depraved sin to show them the futility and hopelessness of life apart from God. 1 Corinthians 6:9 proclaims that homosexual “offenders” will not inherit the kingdom of God. And again, for the third time in the last three paragraphs, I’ll repeat the opening lines from the movie, “This isn’t my choice. Why would I choose this?” I completely understand how some homosexuals have completely turned their backs to the church. I imagine I would do with how much hate is spewed at them for the genetic makeup they were born with. God loves everyone the same. He does not love homosexuals or any more or any less than heterosexuals. Romans 1: 24-27 states that “God does not create a person with homosexual desires.” Inferred is that the Bible tells us that people become homosexuals because of sin and ultimately because of their own choice. But even the context of this reference has to do with Gentiles rejecting the true God to pursue false gods (such as idolatry). And, the sexual behavior described is orgiastic, not that of a loving, mutual, caring, committed relationship. What is condemned is the worship of false gods.

But the Bible also talks about giving your most intimate self to another. Sexuality is a wonderful gift from God. It is more than the behavior of intercourse. It’s the way we embody and express ourselves in the world. But we cannot love another person intimately without embodying that love, without using our bodies to love. And that does involve genital behavior. Sexual love is to give and receive pleasure with our most intimate partner. It is a means of deepening and strengthening the intimate union that exists. This can only be healthy and good if our behavior is consistent with who we are and with whom we love and true to our own sexuality and orientation.

And for those wishing to dig further into what the Bible says homoerotic behavior, let’s examine the fact that there wasn’t even a word for “homosexual” or “homosexuality” in Hebrew or Greek. These words were created near the end of the 19th century (dozens of centuries after the Bible was written). What was sad about the sexual behavior of two people of the same sex was written well before discovering sexuality as an essential part of human sexuality in all its diversity. It cannot be properly claimed that the Bible says anything about homosexuality because the people who wrote the Bible didn’t have the language for it, nor did they understand it.

But if you want to go even further and say that none of that matters because the Bible is the word of God, and you have to take it for what it’s worth, I’ll say that that is your opinion. But I’ll also bring up what the Bible says about marriage. And what it says about marriage isn’t the way we treat marriage today and isn’t how we’d want marriage to be treated today. In marriage, we are equal to our partners. When the Bible was written, it was a patriarchal culture that assumed men were in control and women were subject to them. Marriage was not an equal partnership but a man owning a woman or multiple women as property. Women provided men with companionship, children, and labor. While love between a man and a woman could exist, it was not the basis of marriage. Is that really what we want our children to grow up thinking marriage is all about?

I am not, nor will I ever be, an expert on the Bible. I am a Christian. I feel like I am closer to God right now, at age 41, than I have been in my entire life. Over the course of the last year, I would say that I’ve been experiencing a spiritual awakening. I won’t go into the details of my past, but I am very comfortable with my relationship with God. I am not the happiest person in the world, but that’s not God’s fault. There are so many factors that have contributed to this, and it’s something that I’m working on and will continue to work on. But I will not let anyone convince me that homosexuality is a sin. I won’t even listen or get into a conversation about it. If you agree with me, that’s great. We don’t need to have a conversation about it. If you disagree with me, then that is your right. I’m certainly not interested in having a conversation about it. People who identify themselves as LGBTQ deserve to pursue happiness the same way straight people can. We shouldn’t shame them into thinking that loving a person that they choose to love is wrong. My God is a God of love. I’m thankful that he is a God of love, and I am grateful for my relationship with God.

***End of Sidebar***

So Michael’s change from being a pioneer for LGBTQ to an ultra-Christian conservative occurred because of a health scare. He worries about the afterlife and believes he will not go to heaven if he continues in a same-sex relationship. But even before this, he begins to question if his assumptions about being gay and being Christian. He wonders if they actually can coexist when, while creating a cross-country documentary with Bennett about homosexuality and faith, he witnesses a young gay man comforting a friend with a prayer on her behalf. But after the scare with his heart, his fear of death and desire to have more from his life leads him to his individual conversion experience.

I Am Michael isn’t an easy watch, but it’s an important one. I encourage everyone to watch it but do understand that this film is not for everyone.

Plot 9.5/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 9/10
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 8/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
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