Message is between the lines

For TV viewers who know her only as Claire Meade, the quirky matriarch on “Ugly Betty,” one of the gay-friendliest shows on television, actress Judith Light’s performance in “Save Me” may be a bit jarring.

In the new indie drama opening today in Atlanta, Light portrays Gayle, a no-nonsense Christian who runs Genesis House, a church-run facility that cures homosexual young men of their “sexual brokenness.”

Chad Allen (“Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”) plays Mark, a drug and sex addict who ends up at Genesis House after a suicide attempt. Robert Gant (“Queer As Folk”) plays Scott, who checks himself in to the treatment center seeking the approval of his dying, disappointed father.

The three actors were so sold on “Save Me,” the trio also serve as producers on the film. Light’s husband, Robert Desiderio, wrote the script.

Unlike other films that have mined “ex-gay” ministries for laughs or cynicism, “Save Me” never states its agenda.

Light sympathetically portrays Gayle as a woman who believes she’s heaven-sent to “cure” these young men since her own teenage son committed suicide after coming out to her.

And she’s hell-bent on accomplishing her missionary work with Mark, who reminds her of her lost child.

Did Light, a 1998 recipient of a GLAAD Vision Award, have any trepidation about stepping into Gayle’s sensible shoes?

“Not for a moment,” Light told the AJC last week during a rare break from shooting “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order: SVU” simultaneously in New York.

“It was very important for all of us not to demonize these people. Gayle is a human being. Her intentions are good if misguided. She’s not evil, and it was important not to portray her that way. For all of us, we realized it was far more important to begin a conversation between the people who are often accused of bigotry and the [gay, lesbian and transgendered] community. That was the goal.”

While Light has won critical acclaim for the nuances and humanity she brings to Gayle, her favorite review remains what Christianity Today published after the film’s Sundance Festival premiere.

Pastor David Swanson wrote: “One of the things that struck me about this film was how the filmmakers (some who are themselves gay as we learned during the question and answer time following the screening) portrayed the motives and stories of the conservative Christians who lead the ex-gay ministry with tenderness and grace. Is it possible that many in the gay community are more gracious in their understanding of Evangelical Christians than we are towards them?”

“When I heard that Christianity Today had written about the movie, I braced myself,” Light recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh, well, here we go.’ It was read aloud to us. By the end, we were all weeping.

“It’s a powerful thing when what you’re trying to communicate as an actor is heard. I remember thinking, ‘They got it. They understand what we were trying to do,’ ” she says.

Light is also thrilled that “Save Me” is slowly but surely making its way from big city cinemas to smaller markets as well.

“The gay community inspires me with their courage,” Light says. “That’s an ongoing lesson for us in the straight community. We need to let people be who they are. And not just in Los Angeles and New York but everywhere. Hopefully, this film will reach people wherever they live who have the courage every day to be themselves.”