Penn on the 'Issue'

Josh: What effect do you think this film [Milk] may have on audiences, especially audiences grappling with their own feelings on gay rights issues?

Sean Penn: Even the word “issue” about this—it’s only an issue because of ignorance in the first place. If we could criminalize—we don’t have an excuse of being ignorant of the law, so if we could have no excuse of being ignorant of human history, then any support of Proposition 8 would be, minimally, manslaughter, because history tells us there will be teenage boys who will hang themselves out of a reach for an identity they can’t get. As long as it’s an issue it’s an obscenity, and if this movie is part of an engine to help reveal that, that’s going to make all of us really happy and proud. I also think it’s important to remember that the tension is not between the gay and faith communities, but between the gay community and a pseudo-faith community which has nothing to do with god, love, or anything of real faith. It’s really just hypocrisy and hatred. So any faith community that deserves the title of “faith community” really won’t have a problem with these issues.

Read the interview.