Timely film on same-sex marriage

A timely documentary defending same-sex marriage, “Tying the Knot,” opens Friday at Laemmle Sunset 5 in West Hollywood and at the Art Theater in Long Beach.

Activist filmmaker Jim de Seve casts same-sex marriage as an issue of civil rights, rather than morality, in this film aimed at audiences open to the argument. Woven into the film are the stories of a lesbian police officer and a gay rancher, both of whom considered themselves married to their recently deceased partners and who are in the legal fight to attain the same death benefits afforded heterosexual spouses.

“You shouldn’t have a farm taken away from you. You should get your pension. Once [uninformed audiences] understand the reality of what gay and lesbian couples are going through, they will come on to the right side,” De Seve says. “The challenge is getting them to see the film.”

The 82-minute film opens as the U.S. House is poised to vote this month on the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman only. About a dozen states have similar amendments on their ballots this year.

In contrast to the polemic style of Michael Moore, De Seve says, his tone is low key and respectful of opposition voices such as President Bush, defending “the sanctity of marriage,” and James Dobson, founder of the conservative Focus on the Family. The film indirectly refutes the claim made by some opponents that marriage is a 6,000-year-old tradition by revealing the secular history of marriage as an exchange of property before the Catholic Church declared it a sacrament in the 13th century.

The film also contains footage of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry’s qualified support of same-sex unions -- in the context of civil rights -- and notes that former President Clinton ran ads in some states saying he resisted the “homosexual agenda.”

Released by Roadside Attractions (“Super Size Me”), “Tying the Knot” is opening here and in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and will later expand nationwide.