Download: Interview with Dustin Lance Black, Screenwriter of "Milk," on Fresh Air

Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter and executive producer of "Milk," photo by Kevin Winter

An interesting interview with Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter and executive producer of "Milk," on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. I know that Harvey Milk and his story have recently served as an inspiration and a departure point for local San Francisco queer culture, particularly Leo Herrera of HomoChic, but I'm curious what effect the nationwide release of this film will have on our culture at large (I'm sure that's what Gus Van Sant had in mind in the first place). It seems that everyone is looking at the current financial melt-down, and the election of Barack Obama, as an opportunity for their own version of "the New Deal" to blossom, and I wonder what role the controversy over Prop 8, the screening of "Milk" across the country, and the the struggle within the Republican party to define itself, will play in shaping queer culture, identity, and rights over the course of the next administration.