"U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount, said on Wednesday that he had nothing to do with a 2003 art house film that depicts gay sex, violent beatings and drug use.

“I never gave any money to that film. Wouldn’t do it,” Goode said. “Haven’t even seen it. Wouldn’t see it.”

In a bizarre twist to Goode’s re-election bid against challenger Democrat Tom Perriello, news rocketed across Virginia’s blogosphere on Wednesday that Goode and his wife, Lucy, are thanked in the closing credits of “Eden’s Curve,” a gay coming-of-age film that was inspired by a true story that occurred in Danville during the 1970s.

“This is a smear tactic,” said Jerry Meadors, the Danville native who wrote and produced “Eden’s Curve.” “It’s inappropriate journalism. It’s almost anti-gay on the part of the press, as far as I’m concerned.”

The film is about a young man who goes off to an all-male college and begins to explore his sexuality, eventually engaging in a ménage a trois with his roommate and his roommate’s girlfriend. Afterward, the roommate becomes jealous and savagely beats the protagonist. A poetry professor takes in the injured main character and they begin a sexual relationship of their own. Once their affair is made public, however, the student leaves school and the professor commits suicide.

“Have you seen ‘Brokeback Mountain?’” Meadors said. “It’s no more graphic than ‘Brokeback Mountain.’”

Goode’s longtime press secretary, Linwood Duncan, had a small speaking role in the film as dean of the college. Duncan pointed out that the movie was filmed in and around Danville and featured many local residents.

“I’m a lifelong actor,” Duncan said. “I’ve been acting ever since I was in elementary school. It’s a good outlet for me. It’s my escape.”

Revelations about “Eden’s Curve” emerged at a Wednesday morning press conference convened by liberal blogger and activist Mike Stark. Stark, a student at the University of Virginia School of Law, is best known for getting tackled by several George Allen supporters in a video filmed at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel in 2006.

Stark said he was tipped off about the film’s connections to Goode because Stark is a nationally known antagonist of conservative Republicans. “Eden’s Curve” is relevant to Goode’s re-election campaign, Stark said, because Goode is a vocal opponent of same-sex mar-riage.“When you stick to the facts, there’s a question of hypocrisy,” Stark said. “Virgil Goode sets forth this vision of family values that excludes, in a vituperative way, homosexuals. … There’s enough smoke here. And there’s certainly the fire of hypocrisy.”

In 2003, Goode secured a $150,000 federal economic development earmark to help businessman Roy Gignac finance a $3.5 million restoration of the North Theater in Danville. Meadors is the artistic managing director of the theater.

Gignac is one of Goode’s longtime campaign contributors, giving a total of at least $9,000 since 2001, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Eden’s Curve” was filmed two years prior to the earmark, Duncan pointed out, indicating that no taxpayer money supported the movie.Meadors said the 2003 earmark had nothing to do with “Eden’s Curve.” It was, he said, merely a Housing and Urban Development grant that aimed to support funding for the arts in the 5th Congressional District.

Goode and his wife were thanked in the film’s closing credits, Meadors said, because they had long been supportive of his artistic endeavors in Danville. Alongside Goode in the credits are the Danville Community Market, the Danville Police Department and the president of Averett University.

“I was just thanking everyone in the community who had been supportive,” Meadors said. “Virgil Goode had nothing to do with the film. He didn’t give us a dime. I’m sure he hasn’t even seen the film.”

Goode said that he has obtained numerous earmarks for arts and cultural projects in Martinsville, Danville and elsewhere.

Goode added that he was unaware of the subject matter of “Eden’s Curve.” He only knew, he said, that Duncan had a role in “some film.”

A spokeswoman of Perriello, Goode’s opponent in the Nov. 4 election, declined to comment.

“We just learned about this,” spokeswoman Jessica Barba said. “We’re still trying to process the details. We’re not going to comment on this right now.”" (Brian McNeill, The Daily Progress, October 15, 2008)