Piece Comment

Review of RN Documentary: Love Exile on the Road


The argument the piece makes is that to not recognize gay union is to not recognize their love, their personhood. Love Exiles is a very apt term. A lot of what’s here though is second referenced… responses to speeches after the fact and not many stories about the struggles and actual relationships themselves. The focus is on the eight-day caravan… the nuts and bolts of the journey. It has a very summer campy feel. Everyone is very self-conscious about the romantic and historically important trip they are making. It’s nice, but I think it would be better heard as a companion piece alongside some other programming that deals with actual stories, political reporting and opinion pieces. On the topic of gay marriage. Love’s Exiles is, for better or for worse, a travelogue—a road diary-- that walks you through what it must have been like to have been along for the ride. I imagine that anyone who couldn’t be there for the caravan will take great comfort and solace in being able to be a virtual travel companion to these people through this radio program. As long as respected public figures are still saying hateful things about gays and gay kids are still trying to kill themselves rather than come out to their families, programming like this is a must. “If gay people can get married just like straight people I must be as deserving as respect and dignity as anyone else.” That’s what these rights are all about.