Dustin Lance Black to speak
Academy Award winner raised in SA will speak in Laurie Auditorium
Jessie Burch
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Scene
Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black's moving Academy Award acceptance speech in 2009 caught attention nation-wide, but was especially noteworthy to the San Antonio community: Black was raised until the age of 13 in a conservative Mormon home right here in San Antonio.
During the speech, he talked about the impact of his move to California.
"I heard the story of Harvey Milk, and it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married."
Who would have thought that, years later, Black would be accepting an Academy Award for his effort to create a screenplay that portrayed the life of the influential California politician?
Apparently, Milk's story not only gave Black the hope that he could one day be accepted fully as a gay man, but also the keys to success in Hollywood.
Harvey Milk was an openly gay politician who stood up for gay rights in San Francisco in the 1970s. In 1978, assassin Dan White shot and killed Milk and mayor George Mascone.
Rob Huesca, associate professor of communication, faculty station manager of the communication department and director of International Programs, was attending college in California when Milk died.
"The reaction, of course, wasn't on the scale of the JFK assassination, but it was very somber, very intense-especially in California," Huesca recalled. I distinctly remember that day and thinking it was a huge set back for gay rights. Now I also see how the tragedy galvanized a lot of people into action," Candlelight vigils and the trial of the assassin made Milk a national figure. The defense of assassin White, as Huesca recalled, is now infamous as the "Twinkie Defense." White was acting in "diminished capacity" because of high blood sugar. Huesca noted that the film, "Milk," does not follow the after-effects of Milk's death but rather focuses on his life.
During the speech, he talked about the impact of his move to California.
"I heard the story of Harvey Milk, and it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married."
Who would have thought that, years later, Black would be accepting an Academy Award for his effort to create a screenplay that portrayed the life of the influential California politician?
Apparently, Milk's story not only gave Black the hope that he could one day be accepted fully as a gay man, but also the keys to success in Hollywood.
Harvey Milk was an openly gay politician who stood up for gay rights in San Francisco in the 1970s. In 1978, assassin Dan White shot and killed Milk and mayor George Mascone.
Rob Huesca, associate professor of communication, faculty station manager of the communication department and director of International Programs, was attending college in California when Milk died.
"The reaction, of course, wasn't on the scale of the JFK assassination, but it was very somber, very intense-especially in California," Huesca recalled. I distinctly remember that day and thinking it was a huge set back for gay rights. Now I also see how the tragedy galvanized a lot of people into action," Candlelight vigils and the trial of the assassin made Milk a national figure. The defense of assassin White, as Huesca recalled, is now infamous as the "Twinkie Defense." White was acting in "diminished capacity" because of high blood sugar. Huesca noted that the film, "Milk," does not follow the after-effects of Milk's death but rather focuses on his life.
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