I went to see "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry" over the weekend, hoping for the best, but ready for another "Boat Trip." What I found was the latest in a growing trend...

..straight people making comedic movies around the GLBT community. They are targeted at a straight, somewhat phobic, crowd (watch the commercials if you doubt that). They contain the requisite awkward straight boy moments (sleeping in the same bed, being told they have to kiss, pretending not to be turned on by a pretty lady, etc). Yet, tucked in between the "frat boy guffaw" scenes is pure GLBT propaganda.

It's brilliant! The audience is taken on a ride: an absurd, yet "soon to be common," adventure that occurs when insurance company bureaucracy forces a devoted dad to take extreme measures in order to ensure his kids will be cared for if he dies fighting fires.

Once the audience is sucked in by the perfunctory macho aspects - fire fighters, men who can get twin sisters to fight over him by tongue wrestling, and hooters girls.. they are slowly introduced to the ugliness of homophobia.

You've got a Fred Phelps character calling the straight boys "faggots".. There's a fire house full of men who reject their brothers - the ones who have saved their lives in the past - simply because they perceive them to be gay. You've got people rooting through their trash to "out" them. Slowly, you can hear the audience morph from people laughing at the gay jokes to cheering when the phobics in the film lose out.

Sure, there were bi invisibility moments that could have changed the film. While Dan Aykroyd may have said "bisexual, tri-sexual, pansexual, omnisexual, and asexual" (not in that order), they missed the perfect defense of bisexuality in response to Sandler's dalliances with women.

I can excuse that. The reality is - there's a large population that will never come to a GLBT made movie that explains why we should be respected. Sandler, Michael Moore (rumored to be considering doing a documentary on GLBT issues), etal can reach the people we can't.

They may say things that make us cringe at times, but they're speaking in a way that brings those people in and enables them to effect change.

Advanced "C&L" realities: If and when you see this, look for the following
1)Who seems offended by two men defining their relationship in a way that provides them benefits? Str8 people? Or GLBT? Why is that?
2) Who DOES their relationship hurt any way? Using the same argument we used for same gender marriage, how does their definition of a family harm your relationship?
3) Reread the "Beyond Same Sex" petition (http://www.beyondmarriage.org/). Does the movie create an argument for this?
4) If you were/are a fire fighter, would you agree with the endorsement by NY's gay fire fighters? Or do the stereotypes override the positives for you?
5) Does the inclusion of some gay notables (Lance bass, Richard Chamberlain) make the movie OK?