FAMILY FUNDAMENTALS

Christian missionary David Livingstone once wrote, “I do not know how the loving Father will bring out the light at last, but He knows and He will do it.” One hopes that FAMILY FUNDAMENTALS is somehow part of that enlightment. Documentarian Arthur Dong, while compiling his screen treatise on homophobic homicide “Licensed to Kill” (21st CIFF, 1997), was struck by the Scripture-based motives of many murderers of gay men and women. Here he confronts the issue of faith that tears apart families. He finds that even the closest human ties cannot span the yawning philosophical schism between homosexuals and religious conservatives. Kathleen Bremner, winner of awards for her work on behalf of Pentecostalism, has channeled her anguish that her daughter and grandson are gay into raising awareness of the issue ? with seminars and videotapes that sew misinformation and warnings (peer pressure makes one queer), not acceptance. California Congressman Bob Dornan derides “pedophiles” on the statehouse floor, even though one of his dearest friends and Republican advisors, a devout Catholic and surrogate son to the politician, is himself homosexual. Brett Matthews, gay son of a Mormon bishop, must persevere knowing that his family constantly prays for his ?recovery.? At one point they try to talk him out of appearing in Dong's film. “What makes them think they can try any harder to make me straight than they already did?” he asks, bitterly adding “Anything they can't refute is the devil's work.”