The Miracles on Honey Bee Hill

     There have recently been allegations against an MTSU professor, Dr. Bob Pondillo, that the children in his short film, The Miracles on Honey Bee Hill, may have been "mentally" harmed in the making. The film was about a Christian girl who was looking for love and happened to find it with another girl. At the beginning of the film she is loved by everyone in her church, but when she brings her new partner to a service they all turn on her telling her that it’s a sin. 

     The controversial aspect of this movie was that Dr. Pondillo had children playing adult roles. The children never did anything sexual. There was a “wedding ceremony”, conducted by God, and at the end of it they pinky swore instead of kissed. The reason for Dr. Pondillo’s choice to use children instead of adults was to take the sex element out of a gay relationship and view it purely on the basis of love. Since he used children he told the story with an innocence of a fairy tale. 

     The controversy started from someone attending a special screening of the film during MTLambda’s SpringOut. This person didn’t agree with the short film and wrote a letter to Senator Bill Ketron. Senator Ketron didn’t see the film but didn’t hesitate to write another letter to the University stating his concerns. While Dr. Pondillo is still under investigation with the state, President McPhee and Dean Babbili fully support Dr. Pondillo and have called off all investigations done by the University. 

     As a member of the LGBT community and someone who saw the movie, I fully support Dr. Pondillo and think that it was an amazing film. Anyone who views the movie with an open mind will completely understand and love it. I encourage everyone to go to the official opening night of the film on May 8 at 7:30PM at The Belcourt Theatre in Nashville.