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Register & Bee staff writer
Published: October 15, 2008
Updated: October 15, 2008
Though Congressman Virgil Goode actively opposes any rights for homosexuals, the producer of an R-rated film exploring homosexuality thanks the Rocky Mount Republican in the movie’s closing credits.
“Eden’s Curve” is a 2003 film that has been described as a gay coming of age story at a posh Virginia college. It involves Goode’s press secretary, Linwood Duncan, and is written and produced by Jerry Meadors, who is the artistic director of the North Theatre, a project Goode has supported with federal dollars in the past.
Goode’s name is listed among those Meadors thanks in the film credits.
“I don’t support the movie,” Goode said Wednesday. “I have never seen the movie and never gave them a donation.”
The congressman pointed out that the movie thanked a lot of people and organizations, including the Danville Register & Bee and Danville Parks and Recreation, among others.
Goode has spoken forcefully against rights for homosexual people and strongly supported the Marriage Amendment Act of 2006, which would have made marriage legal only between a man and a woman.
“Eden’s Curve,” according to the Internet movie database, tells the story of a boy who goes to college and becomes involved in a sexual relationship with his male roommate and his roommate’s girlfriend, and a relationship with his male poetry professor. The film’s trailer features homosexual sex scenes and a violent beating.
Meadors co-wrote and produced the film, based on a Danville native’s life. Duncan has a minor role as the dean of the college. A number of other Danville residents are listed in the cast and credits.
Duncan didn’t say anything about his own role in the movie when contacted Tuesday, but said he didn’t know why Meadors would have included Goode’s name in the film credits.
Meadors said Goode had no specific involvement with his controversial film, but thanked him in the closing credits because of his support for other projects.
“In the special thanks, you end up listing anyone who’s ever supported you,” Meadors said Wednesday. “He’s been very supportive of my artistic activities in the city.”
Meadors said he was a big supporter of Goode when he was first running for Congress on the Democratic ticket in 1996.
In 2003, the same year “Eden’s Curve” was produced, Goode earmarked $150,000 in federal taxpayer funds to Danville’s North Theatre.
The Danville Register & Bee at the time questioned Goode’s perceived favoritism with these projects because Duncan and Goode’s wife Lucy are both on the board of the North Theatre.
In 2003, Duncan told the Register & Bee he didn’t see any conflict with the earmarked dollars. “I don’t even know how a question of a conflict even arises,” he said.
Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.
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Reader Reactions
Pity that we live in an area of the country where bigotry is not just tolerated—it’s embraced to the point that the politicians boast that they’re bigots.
Disgusting. I don’t care about this movie one way or the other, but I do care about the hatred of people just because of who they love.
Is this really the world the locals would have for their children?
What I don’t understand is why an article like this surprises anyone with the biased liberal media we all know we have in this country.
And the mentality of many of those responding here is almost breath taking. Many cannot even read the article and understand what is does and does NOT say.
I remember as early as elementary school you would be given a story to read then be asked questions about this. Hah, wonder how many made it through that class the first time.
The article, as biased as it is, never said Goode agreed with the movie, never said he supported it with money, etc. etc.
Goode, don’t waste your time explaining your position. Some will never understand what you are saying anyway.
Just know you have had in the past, still do now, and will continue in the future, to have the support of those that know the good you do for our community. And the liberal media cannot change what you do for us, just throw mud at you.
OOopps! YELLOW Journalism at its best and old news to boot. Only a lefty would welcome such old news and think it is valid and news worthy. I wonder what Tom would think about this?
At Last…Hats off to Sarah Arkin for a well written and timely article that is in the best tradition of American journalism.
Whether Goode knew or didn’t know, and if he did when, makes no different. He and his “nancy” boys have been winking, blinking and whatever at the values of the people of this area for years. ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE…
The question raised to Tom was: If for some reason you are not elected in November will the volunteering stop on the Southside? His response was It will for me and I am sure it will for the others. Then he went off and started talking about volunteering. It was almost 43 minutes into the show. Others heard the same thing I did. The question was plain to the ear that was asked..
Letstalk - If I am correct, Tom Periello said on that same television show that he has always done community service work and that he continues to do so after the election. I believe he expects his staff and volunteers to do work in the community that they are serving in. I bet you also believe that he’s from New York, the commercial from Virgil Goode states that he is a NY lawyer, he may have worked in New York but he is a Charlottesville native.
Political motivated? I would say yes. Yes just like Virgil running an ad that shows Perriello with a beard when he came back from Afganistan.
Guess what? The Bush administration after 3 years from Tom’s report, is now finally taking the recommendations Tom presented to them in 2005.
“ In what is taking shape as a substantial policy shift, [the U.S.] wants to use tribes to bring law and order to the vast areas of the country beyond the government’s authority.
The successful uprising of tribal chiefs in Iraq against Al Qaeda - the “Anbar Awakening” - has created momentum, as has endemic corruption in President Hamid Karzai’s government.
The government is not competent enough to deal with the dire threats now facing Afghanistan, says Seth Jones, an analyst at the RAND Corp., a security consultancy in Arlington, Va., that works with the Pentagon. “This means working with the tribal leaders,“ he says.
Such a policy promises great risk and reward. Done carelessly, it could unleash the tribal and ethnic forces that led to civil war in the early 1990s, warns tribal leader Mr. Zahir, as well as analysts. Yet his experience - and that of aid agencies and local law-enforcement officials - suggests that tribal elders can often deliver results that the government alone cannot.
In a Pentagon briefing last week the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, said: “It seems to me that, with the lead of the government of Afghanistan, engaging those tribes and connecting them to governance - whether it’s at the provincial level or the district level - seems to be a smart thing to do to assist with the security of a huge country.“
But if this is not politically motivated then what is it. The movie came out in 03 and this is 08.. I don’t think they just inserted Virgil’s name into the credits this year. This whole thing is just to smear him. The Democrats and others want him out of Washinton and they are trying to stop at nothing to do it. Virgil is strong and he will get thru this.
Please do not bring in political gimmics, which all politicans do during election time. I went to debates from Danville to Charlottesville in 04 and 06 and now 08; I can say Virgil has plenty of gimmics. People in glass houses??
Good for you for defending what you believe in and thanks for being sociable.
I wasn’t meaning to shout, I am just tired of people reading something that is not there…
Hey, why don’t you folks ask Tom Perriello what he meant on tv a few weeks ago in an interview when he said if he was not elected in November that his volunteering that he has been doing on the southside would stop… Sounds to me he is only doing it for a political gimic.
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