Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: Greg Hefner / Flickr Sean Penn: admirable activist or ultimate hypocrite?

Sean Penn's not a gay rights advocate, but he plays one on TV.

Penn recently took home an Oscar for his depiction of gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The actor revealed his unwavering dedication to hypocrisy during his Oscar acceptance speech: "I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame."

Sit and reflect? Anticipate their great shame? That Penn's statement is dripping with self-righteousness does not even need to be pointed out. Perhaps what does need to be addressed is the irony of Penn taking on the role of the gay rights advocate off-screen.

Posing as a journalist, Penn details his trip to meet the dictators of Venezuela and Cuba in a November 2008 article in The Nation. His mission was to "debunk the myths" of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Cuban president Raul Castro.

Towards the end of the article, Penn documents the seven-hour interview between himself and the younger Castro. They laugh. They drink tea. They discuss foreign policy over dinner and wine. Penn calls him "Raul." Castro calls him "Sean." They hold hands - sorry, I'm getting a little carried away. Their budding friendship really chokes me up.

It's only on the fourth and last page of Penn's rambling, self-indulgent narrative that he mentions that nagging issue of human rights in Cuba. As soon as he does, he is quick to follow it up with, "I can't help but think of the nearby U.S. prison at Guantanamo and the horrendous U.S. offenses against human rights there." When Castro confidently assures Penn that the U.S. grossly exaggerates Cuba's human rights violations, Penn is satisfied. He got the answer he came for. No need to question it. Nowhere does Penn bring up the persecution of homosexuals in Cuba and Venezuela.

In 1988, the Cuban Penal Code was revised so that gays could only be punished for "publicly manifested" homosexuality. Only in 1993 did Cuba stop the forcible quarantine of HIV-positive gays, who are "responsible" for their illness in the eyes of the government. Gay rights organizations in Cuba are still banned. In Venezuela, discrimination based on sexual orientation was outlawed only in 1999. In both countries, gays still face persecution and discrimination.

What does Penn have to say about this? Not much. Actually, nothing at all. He does, however, leave plenty of room for gushing over his new foreign pals. "Raul Castro," Penn asserts, "was warm, open, energetic and sharp of wit. It's true, Chavez may not be a good man," he admits, "but he may well be a great one."

Chavez is also buddies with President Ahmadinejad of Iran, who claims that there are no homosexuals in his country. This is probably true: homosexual behaviour in Iran is punishable by death. If there are no gays in Iran, it's because Ahmadinejad has taken care of that problem.

"We've got to have equal rights for everyone," Penn affirmed in his Oscar acceptance speech. Everyone, I guess, except Iranians, Venezuelans, and Cubans.

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