Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 20:41:43 -0500 From: GLAADSFBA@aol.com M E D I A W A T C H for February 24, 1995 by A L K I E L W A S S E R Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter OUT OF ORDER The February 15 broadcast of Law & Order engaged in an uncharacteristic assault on lesbian mothers. In the episode, police detectives Briscoe and Logan (portrayed by actors Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth) interview a lesbian couple, one of whom is pregnant. After leaving the couple's apartment, Logan remarks to his partner: "Brother . . . and I thought I had it bad being brought up by two alcoholics." His partner snidely replies: "I wonder which mommy's going to teach him how to smoke and drink?" This lesbian bashing continues, as Logan says: "Well, it's the nineties . . . eveyone's allowed to be gross and disgusting, not just you." "Well, all I know is that I had one mommy and she did enough ball-breaking for one lifetime." Of course, television programs should portray homophobia; it's a pervasive social disease that demands the nation's attention. However, in this case, the portrayal is simply gratuitous. The police officers' hateful comments are never challenged. No other references to lesbians or gays occur anywhere else in the episode. This sort of fictional dialogue is indefensible at a time when the children of real life lesbians are being torn from their homes by homophobic courts. Law & Order missed an opportunity to explore this urgent and compelling issue. Instead, the program simply pandered to those who -- like Detectives Briscoe and Logan -- think that lesbian parenting is "gross and disgusting." The NBC television network recently adopted a policy against defaming any minority group in its programming, inclduing lesbians and gays. Given this recent Law & Order episode, perhaps the network needs to reaffirm that commitment. Contact Warren Littlefield, Vice President of Entertainment, c/o NBC Viewer Services, 30 Rockerfeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112, tel. 212-664-3370 or tel. 818-840-4444. DENNIS PRAGER: WRONG ABOUT THE RIGHT The Dennis Prager Show is yet another entry in the cramped line-up of TV talk shows. Prager presents himself as an "intellectual," "thinking person's" host. His talk show seldom features any guests, but centers on Prager preaching to a small audience. His style is akin to Rush Limbaugh, though Prager is not nearly as conservative (or lunatic). Still, he's not all that good, either. On his February 21 show, carried by the FOX network, Prager took at look at the so-called "Christian Right." Claiming that the Christian Right suffered from an unfair image, Prager went on to defend certain right-wing objectives. "Everyone is allowed to participate in American politics, except the Christian Right," Prager claimed. "Gays, blacks, Hispanics . . . you name the group, that's great. but not the Christian Right. Why all this fear about the Christian Right?" Now isn't it odd that Prager -- a wealthy, white, heterosexual male -- can't understand "all this fear" about the Christian Right. Across the country, lesbian workers are being fired, school board's are banning gay-themed books, and queer children are being forced onto the streets (or into psychiatric wards) . . . all at the behest of the "Christian" Right. Prager's idiotic and despicable "reasoning" seems to be: If I don't experience the prejudice or the pain, then it just doesn't exist. Worst of all, Prager went on to defend the Christian Right's anti-gay initiative efforts. Parroting right-wing propaganda, Prager claimed that the Christian Right is NOT against civil rights for lesbians and gays, but "special" rights. Since when is the right to work, rent a house or simply live without fear something "special?" Prager suggests that the Christian Right is only interested in equality for all. He believes that the Christian Right actually opposes active discrimination against lesbian and gay people. Yet, if lesbians and gays already enjoy all the rights of other citizens, then why are "sodomy" laws still on the books in over half of the states in the country? And why are caring and loving lesbian mothers still losing custody of their children? Of course, no one from the Christian Right has EVER worked to overturn sodomy laws, ensure the rights of lesbian parents, or do ANYTHING that would correct the homophobic inequities. Prager informed his audience that the Christian Right has been unfairly demonized. To portray the Christian Right as vicious or totalitarian is, in Prager's words, "wrong," "disgusting," and "anti-American." Clearly, Prager -- who portrays himself as a "liberal thinker" -- has never done his homework on the Christian Right, and he completely ignores the destructive effects of their relentless homophobia. Perhaps he might consider a novel approach to his show . . . and actually think before he talks. Send feedback to Dennis Prager, The Dennis Prager Show. P.O. Box 480209, Los Angeles, CA 90048, tel. 213-852-4532; Chase Carey, President, FOX Broadcasting, P.O. Box 900. Beverly Hills, CA 90213, tel. 310-277-2211. AN INDECENT ACT OF CONGRESS In what promises to be one of may efforts to censor the new "information superhighway," the U.S. Senate is currently considering the "Communications Decency Act of 1995" (s. 314) In effect, the act would sexual information on the Internet and other online networks. If passed, this act would require online services to purge "indecent" material from public bulletin boards and discussion groups (and, of course, our lawmakers routinely interpret anything lesbian- or gay-related as ":indecent"). Additionally, the act would prohibit communications with sexual content through private e-mail between consenting adults. making the information superhighway the most censored of the communications media. The act is currently before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpiration. The ACLU and other civil liberties organizations are urging strong opposition to this censorious legislation. Write to the members of the Senate Commerce Committee and your own Senators and Representatives. Senator Larry Pressler, Chair, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, SR-254 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510-6125, tel. 202-224-5842, fax 202-224-1630, e-mail Larry pressler.senate.gov. Contact information for your members of Congress is available by calling 202-224-3121. MEDIA BRIEFS Defensible Video . . . . The producers of a self-defense video project are seeking ideas, suggestions and accounts from victims of physical hate violence. Contact The Best Defense, 601 West 41st Street, # 201, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. Submit ! . . . . A call for submissions has been issued fro two new anthologies, Lesbians Raising Sons and Co-Parenting. Send fiction, essays and first person accounts to Jess Wells, 584 Castro Street, # 224, San Francisco, CA 94114. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # WE MUST CONFRONT THE MEDIA'S HOMOPHOBIA IN ORDER TO CURE IT! TO NOTIFY GLAAD/SFBA OF ANY DEFAMATORY OR AFFIRMATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE CALL OUR 24-HOUR MEDIA WATCH HOTLINE AT 415-861-4588, OR WRITE TO "MEDIA WATCH," GAY & LESBIAN ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION/SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, 1360 MISSION STREET, SUITE 200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103; tel. 415-861-2244, fax 415-861-4893, e-mail GLAAD SFBA@AOL.COM. FOUNDED IN 1988, THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CHAPTER OF GLAAD IS A MEMBERSHIP-BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO CULTURAL ADVOCACY AND MEDIA ACTIVISM. GLAAD/SFBA PROMOTES THE FAIR, ACCURATE AND DIVERSE REPRESENTATION OF LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL LIVES IN ALL FORMS OF MASS MEDIA. "MEDIA WATCH" is a weekly report that may be reprinted or posted without prior permission, provided that, when appropriate, attribution is made to Al Kielwasser and/or GLAAD-SFBA. We greatly appreciate copies of any publications that use all or part of the "MEDIA WATCH." Thank you for your participation in GLAAD's vital work!