Back in January I posted about Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller pulling BrokeBack Mountain from the movie schedule of a theater he owns before the film’s first showing, stating he was setting “an example for the people of Utah.”

Miller recently spoke at the University of Utah, and was met by over 100 people wearing cowboy hats in a silent protest over his decision.

The Salt Lake Tribune:

“We’re wearing the hats to show how individuals were hurt when he didn’t show ‘Brokeback Mountain,'” said Charles Milne, coordinator for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center at the U. But “we’re going to be here listening to his speech in celebration of his right to speak.”

Milne was one of about 30 people who met with Miller on Thursday to discuss concerns that orginally prompted some students to protest organizers’ choice for the speech, part of “Discover U Days,” several days of events encouraging the community to get involved with the university.

Before moving into his planned speech, Miller took a few minutes to describe that meeting. “Something remarkable happened in this building the other day,” he said, tears welling in his eyes. “For two hours, we had a remarkably open dialogue, and I learned a lot.’

Miller said people on all sides of the issue went into the meeting “with one thing in common: fear and trepidation,” but the group quickly established a feeling of respect, if not agreement. Miller said people in the meeting told him stories of being ostracized by family members and the community in general because of their sexual orientation.

“One of the great lessons learned by me, and maybe others in that room, is that we have a lot more in common than we previously thought.”

More on Thursday’s meeting from “Miller at the U.: Second thoughts about ‘Brokeback’?”:

During the meeting, folks talked about coming out to their families about being gay and the heartbreak of not being accepted. Others talked about the fear of being physically harmed while walking in public with their partner, said Kathryn Stockton, the U.’s gender studies program director.

“I felt like he cared about what we had to say,” said Charles Milne, coordinator of the university’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Campus Resource Center. “I wouldn’t say we changed his mind, but I think he did come away with ideas he had to process.”

By pulling the movie from the Jordan Commons movie complex, Miller said he thought he was demonstrating a “social statement,” but he didn’t think about the consequences, perpetuating gay stereotypes or “the toes I had stepped on.”

“In 2006, it’s wrong that they have to live in that fear,” he said about the stories he heard during the meeting.

Miller had this comment after the meeting ended: “Now, I understand how something I said inadvertently made them feel demeaned as individuals… Maybe their well-being trumps my beliefs, my rights to express myself.”