I went to see Milk this weekend in Chelsea, and was overwhlemed by it.

Let me first say I am a proudly biased source. I think there was a part of me needing to see a mainstream movie about a gay American hero, and Milk delivered, in spades.

Sometimes my gay pride wilts. I can feel a bit separated from any gay community, even living in New York, and I begin to feel like someone who is proud and who is gay but the two things fall away from each other. I don't know why this is. Perhaps I don't partake enough in the culture, or perhaps I feel turned off by some of the things I see in it when I'm around it -- the adoration of youth, the cliqueish nature of many of our hangouts, the shallow and callow. Make no mistake, this is no different with straight folks. It just serves to make me feel alienated.

So to sit in a packed movie theater and feel like a part of something, and watch as a group something like this, to be reminded of not-so-ancient history and the way gays were hunted down and beaten, and then how a man rose up out of that and became a savior to a community, that was meaningful to me.

I remembered why it's important to be who I am, a gay role model for younger people. I go through the motions in interviews, I say the right things but sometimes I forget. I remembered on Saturday night, watching the struggle for gay rights come through on the screen.

So I loved this movie.

But even if I weren't biased, I have a feeling I would have loved this movie. To say Sean Penn was excellent doesn't express how much he lost himself in this role. I forgot I was watching Penn repeatedly in this movie, in fact it was the type of film in which I was so engrossed I forgot time, where I was, all of that.

Go see it when it opens in your city. Make sure your friends see it. Your families. It's an engrossing and important film and you'll be missing out on an experience if you pass it up.