- published: 17 Sep 2011
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Common Ground is a 2000 Showtime television movie directed by Donna Deitch and written by Paula Vogel, Terrence McNally and Harvey Fierstein. It stars Brittany Murphy, Jason Priestley, Steven Weber, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Edward Asner and James LeGros. The film contains three short stories about gay Americans during different time periods in the fictional town of Homer, Connecticut, and their efforts to find "common ground" or respect from the heterosexual majority.
In the 1950s Dorothy Nelson (Brittany Murphy) joins the United States Navy where she meets the Friends of Dorothy, a code name for a group of gay and lesbian sailors. Nelson meets Billy (Jason Priestley), who takes her to an interracial nightclub that tolerates gay people. However, the NCIS raids the nightclub, and Nelson is among those servicemembers who receive a Section 8 discharge for "sexual perversion." Returning to Homer, she tries to restart her life as a public school teacher, but her Section 8 discharge prevents her from getting a job. When her homosexuality becomes public knowledge, her mother expels her from the house, forcing her to seek shelter at a family friend's grocery store. However, the townspeople disapprove of this arrangement, and Nelson becomes homeless. An independent-minded woman named Janet (Helen Shaver) at the local diner defends her against the verbal harassment and advises Nelson to go to the bohemian Greenwich Village, the only place where she might be free to be herself.
game is up, we are not worth (we) gambled away our chance got to go, make way and leave preparing for the end
take a ride on wheels of time only decades behind we were fighting side by side for betterings to find
(we) only take the center stage by kicking everybody's face
burning in fire - fire our common ground lies for the liar - liar a fading sound burning in fire - fire our common ground no more desire - desire we're fading out
(the) wheel goes on and days arrived we could enjoy what we got (but) time had come to draw a line we can thank us a lot