Interview by John Hobbs
Photography by John Skalicky
www.skalickyphoto.com
Styling by Leon and Michael at Opium www.boutiqueopium.com

Actors Chad Donella and Seth Peterson may be straight, but there’s certainly nothing narrow about their opinions on gay rights. Not only do the outspoken studs star in the provocative thriller Hate Crime, being released on DVD Nov. 14, but they’ve also become champions of gay rights—or human rights, as they call them—speaking out and helping raise money for organizations providing relief to victims of violent crimes across the United States and Canada.

What made you guys want to get involved with Hate Crime?

Chad: I read the script and I thought it was a really interesting project. I liked the role of Chris Boyd because of the amount of conflict he was in. I think that sort of conflict is a pretty intense place to live: someone whose religious upbringing has made them completely deny their sexuality.

Seth: I thought it was a project with a lot to say. My character was really complex and I really liked the overall journey that he had to take. It’s really intense.

Sounds like the recent scandal with Ted Haggard. Chad, your very conflicted character calls to mind the recent scandal with the evangelical Ted Haggard. After embodying someone so similar to him, what do you think of his story?

Chad: I think it’s a good example of what’s going on and how, if the Bible is interpreted in a certain way, it can lead people to hate their own sexual urges. Maybe if [Haggard’s] community was a little more tolerant of the gay lifestyle, this man could have acted on his urges in a healthy, consensual adult way instead of jacking himself up on dust and getting involved in prostitution.

What did you both learn from your roles in Hate Crime?

Chad: It was pretty shocking to me. I visited some Baptist churches in Texas and some of the rhetoric was absurd. If you don’t understand people’s sexual orientation, it’s OK, but it’s not [OK] to act on it. I mean if you saw gay men and women picketing against straight rights, preaching to hate straights and beat them up, it would be totally absurd to the straight community.

Seth: I learned a lot. Being involved in this project really helped to open my eyes as to the severity of what is going on.

What do you hope audiences will take away with them from the film?

Chad: I think we just need to make people aware that these things happen all the time. The FBI reported last year that there were 1,330 sexually motivated hate crimes and they only report half of what they see. There’s no reason for this stuff to happen.

Seth: I hope we can get people talking about the issue of hate crimes. It’s something that we don’t think really happens, but it does—it happens a lot. [These are] human rights and it’s a fight that I thought was won already, but it turns out we are still fighting it.

There were a lot of themes interwoven into the storyline. Which theme resonated the most with you?

Chad: I would say religious intolerance. It’s not every Baptist church in the country, but there are some pastors who hate homosexuality and use biblical references and religion—a lot of times out of context—to preach hate to young impressionable minds.

Seth: Being the person that had to deal with the tragedy affecting my character the way it did, I guess the thing that I came away with was how people’s lives are drastically altered when something this horrible and unexpected occurs. Every plan and dream that they had of sharing their life with that person they love is taken away from them.

Tell me a little bit about the charity work you are doing alongside the promotion of the film.

Seth: That was one of the things that I was really proud of. [Filmmaker Tommy Stovall and producer Ebony Tay] really care about the issues. They launched this program where in every state that we went, we had a certain amount of money dedicated to a different charity to raise money for victims of violent crimes—gay and straight. All kinds of people benefited from this project.