Subject: MediAlert! - May 24
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 14:20:17 -0400

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INDEX:  "MediAlert! for 24 May 1996"
-Item 1: "Guilty Conscience" [Aetna Life & Casualty; Voice of Conscience
Award; New York Times; Critical Sociology; Public Media Center; AIDS TV].
-Item 2: "Press For Progress" [Arizona Press Club; Echo; Arizona Republic].
-Item 3: "A Few Extra Points" [Extra; Tom Cruise; GLAAD; Contested Closets;
Gay Ethics; Journal of Homosexuality].
-- Item 4: "MediAlert/BRIEFS" [SIECUS Reports; Talking Back Advisories;
Advocacy Institute; Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition International; Image In
Media Award; Free Speech TV; Clothestime; Amendment Two; San Francisco
Chronicle].
-Item 5: "E-MediAlerts" [Channel Q; WebActive; Journal of Technology Law &
Policy; Pacific Sun; Queercore Beat; Amazon Country].
-Item 6: "Sound & (Un)Sound Bites" [Peter McLaren; Bill Clinton].
-General Information [about MediAlerts; author notes].
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               M   e   d   i   A   l    e   r   t   !
               ____________________________

               May 24, 1996        Al Kielwasser

[1]

A D    N A U S E A

Aetna Insurance ran an ad in "The New York Times" (May 2), announcing
recipients of the company's "Voice of Conscience Award."  The advertisement
explained that:  "The Aetna Voice of Conscience Award was created in memory
of Arthur Ashe, tennis great and citizen of the world.  Arthur served on
Aetna's Board of Directors from 1982 until 1993, when he succumbed to AIDS,
the result of a blood transfusion."

Unfortunately, Aetna echoes a deeply-stigmatizing bias.  As one critic of the
ad points out:  "The last part of that advertisement again reminds us, in
case we need reminding, that there's still a difference being made between
those who die of AIDS as a result of their sexual orientation and the
'innocent victims' of this disease.  If Arthur Ashe had died of pneumonia,
would Aetna have added that it was the result of standing out in a rainstorm?
 Maybe its my paranoia, but I get so sick of this."

The criticism is more perceptive than paranoid.  When individual AIDS cases
"result" from blood transfusion, the mainstream media usually highlight cause
-- ad nauseam.  This impulse contrasts the stark, continuing absence of
certain other explanations.  No corporate advertising memorializes gay
citizens of the world who "succumbed to AIDS, the result of bigotry."
 Victims of homophobia do not qualify as media heroes.

The "innocent victims" -- of accidental needle pricks, unclean dentists, and
tainted transfusions -- are real AIDS heroes, according to the mainstream
media.  sexually-active "victims of promiscuity" are sometimes canonized, but
only if they are fully repentant (i.e., inactive) AND heterosexual (currently
at least).

Entertainment, news and advertising media have all participated in dividing
AIDS between "guilty" groups (e.g., young bisexual prostitutes) and their
"innocent" counterparts (e.g., hemophiliacs like Ryan White).  As in Aetna's
ad, this division is simultaneously constructed and concealed.  

Arthur Ashe DID contract his illness through a blood transfusion, after all.
 The ad is ONLY stating a fact.  

Yet this is PRECISELY the problem.  The mainstream media's consonant and
cumulative telling of ONLY CERTAIN FACTS is, in effect, telling a terrible
lie.

Within the dominant media discourse, a specious causality is constructed from
correlations that exist between AIDS and homosexuality.  The subliminal
reasoning argues that gays -- because they are not innocent victims -- must
be perpetrators.  Homosexuality IS disease.

The oblique, repetitive telling of this lie has apparently been effective.
 Disparate acts of hate violence and victimization escalate towards a common
cause -- homosexuality's "cure."

****   ACTION/OPTIONS!  Comments and concerns should be sent to:  Ronald E.
Compton, Chair, Aetna Life & Casualty, 151 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT
06156, tel. 203-273-0123, fax 203-273-6348; correspondence can be copied as
Letters to the Editor, "The New York Times," 229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY
10036, tel. 212-556-1234, e-mail [email-masked].  Lorren Elkins is
Managing Director of Advertising at the "NY Times."
           Resources:   For a useful, related analysis see Cheryl Cole and
Harry Denny's article "Visualizing Deviance in Post-Reagan America:  Magic
Johnson, AIDS, and the Promiscuous World of Professional Sport" ("Critical
Sociology," vol. 20, no. 3, 1994).  The authors conclude that discursive
"mechanisms of containment simultaneously function to conceal the
government's failure to address AIDS, the racism, sexism, and homophobia of
science, and the pharmaceutical industry's interests in AIDS while
authorizing defunding strategies and repressive policies."  Contacts:  Cheryl
L. Cole and Harry Denny, 221 Freer Hall, 906 S. Goodwin Street, University of
Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801; "Critical Sociology" is published three times a
year by the Department of Sociology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403,
tel. 503-346-5039.
            "The Impact of Homophobia and Other Social Biases on AIDS" -- a
special report from the Public Media Center -- examines the mass media's
failed performance.  The conclusion:  "Until the issue of homophobia is
properly and adequately addressed in America, our nation is unlikely to
generate an objective, focused response to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS."
 Contact:  Public Media Center, 466 Green Street, San Francisco, CA 94133,
tel. 415-434-1403, fax 415-986-6779.
           "AIDS TV" (Duke University Press) is a new book by "academic,
activist, and videomaker" Alexandra Juhasz.  The author examines various
media- and AIDS-activist phenomena.  Topics range from PBS documentaries to
safer sex tapes; a videography is included.  Contacts:  Alexandra Juhasz,
Assistant Professor of Film/Video, Pitzer College, 1050 N. Mills Avenue,
Claremont, CA 91762; Duke University Press, Box 90660, Durham, NC 27708-0660,
fax 919-688-4574.

[2]

P R E S S   F O R   P R O G R E S S

The Arizona Press Club (APC) recently honored a gay man -- Jeff Ofstedahl --
as "Community Journalist of the Year."  Such recognition represents a
significant incursion into professional print's mainstream turf.  Ofstedahl
manages "Echo" magazine, a lesbian/gay publication based in Phoenix.

Also noteworthy is the substantive, affirming coverage given to this story in
Phoenix's local newspaper, "The Arizona Republic."  Chuck Kelly's article
("Writer Honored For Work With Echo," May 11) uses the APC award as a
springboard for an exceptional community profile.

"When Jeff Ofstedahl was 20, he plunged into turbulent waters off Rocky Point
and swam a quarter-mile to shore to get gasoline for a boat on which several
of his family members were stranded," Kelly writes.  "Ofstedahl, 32, is still
carrying out rescues. Now, they are journalistic.  As general manager and a
writer for...  a magazine covering gay and lesbian issues, he jumps in to
champion the cause of victims of discrimination and hate."

Kelly highlights various facets of Ofstedahl's experience -- family, work,
health, politics -- without getting bogged or bored in detail.  With an
appropriate degree of admiration, the article conclude by citing a unifying
"passion for fairness and openness" that seems to have permeated Ofstedahl's
life.  

Ultimately, Kelly manages to convey Ofstedahl's struggles and successes,
while avoiding the rose-colored cliches that typify many profiles of
"prominent" gays.  The difference is significant.

Rosy biographies often mask the SYSTEMATIC absence of other stories --
investigative reporting on the psychiatric abuse of queer youth, for example.
 In the hands of a less-capable journalist, "successful homosexuals" are
merely an excuse to downplay (and ultimately ignore) homophobia.

****  ACTION/OPTIONS!    Compliments should be sent to Charles Kelly, Staff
Writer, "The Arizona Republic," Box 1950, Phoenix, AZ 85001, fax
602-271-3179; copy your comments to Jeff Ofstedahl, General Manager, "Echo,"
P.O. Box 16639, Phoenix, AZ 85001-6630, tel. 602-266-0550, fax 602-266-0773,
e-mail [email-masked], URL http://www.comeout.com..

[3]

E X T R A   P O I N T S

"Extra" (May 1) -- the popular entertainment news-magazine  -- broadcast yet
another story on "those rumors" about Tom Cruise's sexual orientation.  Once
again, Cruise has denied the rumors and asserted his heterosexuality.  This
time, however, "Extra" seemed to focus more-selectively on the actor's fury.

San Francisco-based media activist Tim Perkins reports:  "'Extra' emphasized
Cruise's anger over 'the accusations' and rumors, and even quoted an
interview in 'Premiere Magazine' where Cruise curses the 'expletives deleted'
who spread such garbage." 

According to Perkins, this problematic focus not only went unchallenged, but
was actually exacerbated by the on-camera appearance of "a VERY WEAK
representative of GLAAD, whose one line was 'the public doesn't necessarily
have the right to know what an actor does in the bedroom.'"  

GLAAD's Tamra King, "did nothing to explain why Cruise shouldn't be insulted
by the idea that some people think he's gay," said Perkins.

Even worse, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance AGAINST Defamation has AFFIRMED one
the media's most stale and defamatory notions...  and did so on national TV,
no less.  

King's suggestion that sexual orientation is a subject best kept "in the
bedroom" is utterly homophobic.  Asking or speculating about an actor's
sexual orientation (a fact of life) is NOT the same as asking who, where, or
what happened in his bed last night (a private life).  

The "right to know" is not really at issue here, but the RIGHT TO ASK.
 "Don't Ask," says GLAAD.  "Don't Tell," says the Christian Coalition.
 What's the difference?

Of course Michelangelo Signorile and numerous others have already argued this
case, years ago.  "Homosexuality is not a PRIVATE issue (it's simply a fact
of life)," Signorile explains.  "Yes, gay public figures CAN have private
lives and still be OPENLY gay (just as straight public figures can retain
private lives and still be openly straight)."

Even more to the point, Jeremiah McCarthy has suggested that "privacy"
positions -- like the one expounded by King -- are not simply muddle-headed.
 They are, in effect, claims for another right -- "a right to oppress oneself
and others."

"To the extent that one wants to protect sexual orientation as a
non-disclosable trait of a person, as private, one has to argue as well,
however, that honoring the closet promotes autonomy," says McCarthy.  "There
is no reason based on dignity to respect the celebrity closet.  The only way
to get rid of that is to encourage honest reporting, a policy which is
morally unobjectionable, or at least less objectionable than the present
arrangement, which is its only real alternative." 

According to it's mission statement, GLAAD is a national organization that
"promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and
events in the media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of
discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity."

****   ACTION/OPTIONS!   Feedback can be sent to:  Tamra King, Entertainment
Media Director, GLAAD/National, 8455 Beverly Blvd., #305, Los Angeles, CA
90048, tel. 213-658-6775, fax 213-658-6776, e-mail [email-masked], URL
http://www.glaad.org; David Friend, Executive Producer, "Extra," 1840 Victory
Blvd., Glendale, CA 91201, e-mail [email-masked].
           Resources:   Larry Gross' "Contested Closets:  The Politics and
Ethics of Outing" (University of Minnesota Press) provides a readable
analysis of privacy rights, and wrongs, vis-a-vis the media; the book
reprints several of Signorile's early columns, along with other source
material originally published in alternative and lesbian/gay media (and
consequently not available in many "mainstream" libraries today).  Contacts:
 Larry Gross, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA 19104; University of Minnesota Press, 2037 University Avenue
Southeast, Minneapolis, MN 55455-3092.
          McCarthy's moderate rejection of "those arguments that criticize
outing as a violation of privacy" was first published in the "Journal of
Homosexuality" (vol. 27, no. 3-4, 1994) and subsequently reprinted in "Gay
Ethics:  Controversies in Outing, Civil Rights, and Sexual Science"
(Harrington Park Press).  Contact:  John DeCecco, Editor, "Journal of
Homosexuality," Center for Research and Education in Sexuality, San Francisco
State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132; Harrington
Park Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, tel. 800-342-9678,
fax 607-722-1424.

[4]

M  E  D  I  A  L  E  R  T   /   B  R  I  E  F  S

**  SEX EDUCATION . . .      The April/May 1996 "SIECUS Reports" -- a
"Sexuality and the Media" special issue -- includes an article on "Lesbians
and Gays in the Broadcast Media."  "SIECUS Reports" is a publication of the
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which has
an outstanding record on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy
(particularly in challenging homophobia and sexual ignorance in the nation's
schools, grades K-12).

Contact:  SIECUS, 130 West 42nd Street, Suite 2500, New York, NY 10036, tel.
212-819-9770, e-mail [email-masked].

**  BACK TALK . . .      "Rhetoric to counter the right" describes a series
of "Talking Back" advisories, of particular use to media activists, and
distributed by the Advocacy Institute.  One recent advisory suggests ways to
counter Right Wing "framing" techniques (e.g., the spinning of all social
ills as products of "big government"); another new advisory takes "a look at
the ways in which the Right has tapped into four key persistent myths that
Americans have used to explain what's happening...  and how progressives can
use those same myths to turn the tables."
     The Advocacy Institute actively welcomes suggestions "about the issues
and strategies that should be addressed in 'Talking Back' advisories."

Contact:  Mike Pertschuk, Co-Director, Advocacy Institute, 1707 L Street, NW
#400, Washington, DC 20036, tel. 202-659-8475, fax 202-659-8484, e-mail
[email-masked].

**  SUBSTANCE & IMAGE . . .      The Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition
International (GLPCI) presents an "Image In Media" award each year, to "honor
members of the media who have demonstrated or supported the positive
influence gay and lesbian parents have on their children."
     Past "Image In Media" recipients include Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey,
and Tracey Ullman.  Among this year's nominees are "Essence" (magazine),
"Love Makes A Family" (radio talk show), "Making Love Visible" (book), and
"Sisters" (network TV series).
     The "Image In Media" award will be announced at GLPCI's 17th Annual
Family Conference, July 3-7, 1996, in Minneapolis.

Contact:  GLPCI, P.O. Box 43206, Montclair, NJ 07043, tel./fax 201-783-6204,
e-mail [email-masked], URL
http://www.qrd.org/QRD/www/orgs/glpci/HOME.HTM.

**  THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE . . .      Free Speech TV (FStv) is a cable
access programming service that promises viewers "the best of activist,
community-based and alternative media...  a thought-provoking alternative to
the conservative programming pervading the airwaves of mainstream TV."  
     Launched in the summer of 1995, FStv is now in the midst of building a
national network -- full-time, satellite-fed -- that will "serve progressive
groups, media artists, activists, and television viewers."

Contact:  To plug into this effort, request more information from Free Speech
TV, P.O. Box 6060, Boulder, CO 80306, tel. 303-442-8445, fax 303-442-6472,
hotline 303-649-6411, listener line 303-649-6432, e-mail [email-masked],
URL http://www.freespeech.org.

**  WELL WORN . . .      Clothestime -- a major manufacturer of women's
clothing -- has decided to redress consumer heterosexism.  The company
launched a new ad campaign that includes lesbian and transgender images.
     While queer images have begun to appear in a few high-profile magazine
and newspaper ads, television spots remain virtual homosexual-free zones.  It
was only two years ago that IKEA broke new ground when the company included a
gay yuppie (guppie?) couple in a TV spot.
    IKEA's ad drew hell and spitfire from the American Family Association
(AFA) and other venomous organizations.  Clothestime's effort will
undoubtedly become a similar target of hate mail and boycott threats.
 Homophobia hasn't gone out of style.

Contact:  Clothestime, 5325 East Hunter Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92807; messages
can also be left on Clothestime's "Advertisement Comment Line," tel.
714-779-1033.

**  WRONG-HEADED? . . .      The news surge the Supreme Court's ruling on
Amendment Two revealed a range of substance, style and spin.  Anyone who
didn't read past the headlines, however, might easily believe that the court
delivered nothing less than a "Queer Bill of Rights."
     Headlines in many newspapers resembled the "San Francisco Examiner's"
(May 21) front-page banner:  "High Court Upholds Gay Rights."
     Never mind that "gay rights" are really, technically, CIVIL or EQUAL
rights ("rights" have yet to be granted to gays alone).  The suggestion that
the court UPHELD such rights evokes an exaggerated image of protection.
 Defeating anti-gay legislation is one thing; winning pro-gay legislation is
quite another.  
    American queers do not, in fact, enjoy the same rights and privileges of
other citizens.  Fortunately, the Supreme Court prevented this situation from
getting much, much worse.  That doesn't mean things are getting any better.
    Yet.

Contact:  "San Francisco Chronicle," 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
94103-2988, tel. 415-777-7183, fax 415-896-1107, e-mail
[email-masked], URL http://www.sfgate.com.

[5]

E  -  M  E  D  I  A  L  E  R  T  S

*  CHANNEL Q -- "Channel Q" makes it easy to keep informed and involved; this
list sources of "up-to-the-minute action alerts and news," representing a
range of organizational and individual contributions.  To subscribe, send
e-mail to [email-masked], with the subject heading:  SUBSCRIBE.

*  WEB ACTIVE -- The "WebActive Directory" provides an online,  searchable
database... "connecting you to over 700 of the best progressive sites on the
web."  Contact:  URL http://www.webactive.com; e-mail [email-masked].

*  TECH LAW -- The Spring 1996 issue of the "Journal of Technology Law &
Policy" is now available, in full, online
(http://journal.law.ufl.edu/~techlaw/).  Articles include two opposing
opinions on the CDA:  "Unsafe At Any [Modem] Speed: Indecent Communications
Via Computer and the Communications Decency Act of 1996" (co-authored by
notorious Christian Coalition homophobe Jay Sekulow) and "The
Constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act: Censorship on the
Internet" (by David Sobel, co-counsel in "ACLU et al. v. Reno;" Sobel argues
that the CDA is "unconstitutional, ineffective, and unnecessary").  Contact:
 "Journal of Technology Law & Policy," University of Florida, College of Law,
P.O. Box 117640, Gainesville, FL 32611-7640, tel. 352-371-7573, fax
352-377-7655, e-mail [email-masked].

*  QUEERCORE BEAT -- "Queercore Beat" is a free, online bulletin "regarding
gay and lesbian music, gay artists, radio news and shows."  This service is
collectively compiled and distributed daily.  Contact:  [email-masked].

*  PACIFIC SUN -- The May 15-21 issue of "Pacific Sun" (a weekly newspaper
published in the San Francisco Bay Area) includes Bruce Mirken's brief
article, "Logging On for Support."  Mirken directly sources a number of gay
teens who explain why, in a fiercely homophobic society, "the on-line world
can be a refuge."  Their comments suggest the vital, evolving role that will
be played by new technologies in combating homophobia.  As Mirken notes:
 "The on-line world these young people describe is a far cry from what's
usually portrayed in the media:  a seamy underworld of hard-core pornography
and dirty old men looking to seduce the innocent."  Contact:  "Pacific Sun,"
21 Corte Madera Avenue, P.O. Box 5553, Mill Valley, CA 94942, tel.
415-383-4500, fax 415-383-4159, e-mail [email-masked] (Editor) or [email-masked]
(Mirken).

*  AMAZON COUNTRY -- "Amazon Country" is a Philadelphia-based lesbian radio
show... "the oldest one in the country!," according to staff.  Debra
d'Alesandro, the show's producer, is currently seeking "more demos from dyke
bands and singers and comics."  Contact:  [email-masked].

[6]

S  O  U  N  D    B  I  T  E

"In the midst of such a culture of silence, even the most well-intentioned
heterosexual groups frequently choose to ignore the democratic imperatives of
a just society by failing to respond to the AIDS crisis, and by unwittingly
creating a politics of exclusion and victimization of gay and lesbian
perspectives through their own unacknowledged homophobia.  Regrettably, in a
culture which chooses to motivate its subjects into moral inertia through a
politics of forgetfulness and exclusion, even the most progressive liberals
insist on turning democracy itself into an empty signifier that points to a
better, more tolerant, and less homophobic future only on condition that such
a future be eternally delayed."

          -- Peter McLaren, educator, in "The High School Journal," January
1994

(  U  N  )  S  O  U  N  D    B  I  T  E

"Well, first of all, as I understand it, what the bill does -- let's make it
clear.  As I understand it, what the bill does is to state that marriage is
an institution between a man and a woman, that, among other things, is used
to bring children into the world, but the legal effect of the bill -- as I
understand it, the only legal effect of the bill is to make it clear that
states can deny recognition of gay marriages that occurred in other states.
 And if that's all it does, then I will sign it.  Now, having said that, I do
not favor discrimination against people because they're homosexual."

          -- Bill Clinton, president, at a press conference, May 1996

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ABOUT MEDIALERTS

"MediAlert!" [TM] is an activist-oriented column of media criticism, focused
on lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues, and distributed weekly on
request.

Recipients may print, publish or post "MediAlert!" material, in whole or
part, under this or any title, without prior permission.  When appropriate,
attribution can be made to "Al Kielwasser" and/or "MediAlert."  Files copies
of any publications using all or part of "MediAlert!" are most appreciated.

Contact:  MediAlert!, voice-mail 415-826-5203,  fax 415-826-5203 (ext. 8),
 e-mail [email-masked].    Next MediAlert!  =  Friday, May 31, 1996

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AUTHOR NOTES

Al Kielwasser is the editor of "Gay People, Sex and the Media" (Haworth
Press).  He has taught a wide range of courses and workshops in media theory
and practice, seeking to integrate activism and academia at the intersection
of queer and popular cultures; his research is published in the "Journal of
American Culture," "Journal of Homosexuality," "Journal of Popular Culture,"
"Feedback," "Critical Studies in Mass Communication," and other journals.
 Most recently, he ended a two-year term as Chair of the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation/San Francisco Bay Area.

       ___________________________________________

             Shape the forces that shape our society . . .
             challenge homophobia in and through the media!
        ___________________________________________