From: MediAction@aol.com Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 11:34:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: "MEDIAlert!" - 06.6.97 [PART "A" ONLY] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX: "MEDIAlert!" - 06.6.97 [Part "A" ONLY] -ITEM 1: "Post Beef" [Washington Post; Cary Grant; New Yorker]. -ITEM 2: "Better Dead Than Read?" [Circle of Friends; Stevensville High School; Montana Human Rights Network; Bitterroot Star; Attacks on the Freedom to Learn]. NOTE: Part "B" (Media/BRIEFS) posted separately. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M E D I A l e r t ! ___________________________ May 24 - June 6 Al Kielwasser [1] P O S T B E E F "How gay Cary Grant? Way gay? Semi-gay? Bi? Ungay, but misunderstood? Or -- does anybody care?" So asks Stephen Hunter in a "Washington Post" (June 5) column that is at once ignorant and insulting. Specifically, Hunter attempts an attack on literary critic Brendan Gill. In the current issue of the "New Yorker," Gill reviews two new books on Cary Grant's life. Both books failed to account for persistent rumors about Grant's sexual orientation, and Gill -- correctly -- called their authors on the omission. In Hunter's (so-called) mind, however, the mere suggestion that Cary Grant could be gay is akin to blasphemy. According to Hunter: "There are two questions here, both of them slightly offensive. First, was Grant gay? Second, does it matter?" In answering the first "offensive" question, Hunter argues that: "Grant, after all, was married five times, fathered a daughter, reputedly fell in love with Sophia Loren... (and) had dozens, if not hundreds, of affairs with women before his death in 1986." There is no evidence that Grant was gay or bisexual, says Hunter, only "simple rumor of the sort that surrounds every attractive personality, reflecting some deep mistrust of beauty wherever it occurs." Of course, Hunter completely -- and deliberately -- ignores how homophobia ravages so much of history, often leaving behind rumors as the only (if not the best) evidence. Such evidence is not the product of any neurotic "mistrust of beauty," but a psychotic fear of homosexuality. Indeed, the specific history of homosexuality in Hollywood is riddled with gay actors who fronted all of the seemingly heterosexual ploys described by Hunter. Faux marriages and affairs were (and to some extent still are) publicity mainstays of the what film historian Vitto Russo deemed "the celluloid closet." Hunter's second question -- "does it matter?" -- is an increasingly common response to lesbian and gay visibility, especially from critics who would not otherwise describe themselves as bigots. In raising such a question, however, these critics are only attempting to re-build the closet. They want to have their homophobic cake and eat it too. Critics of Ellen DeGeneres, for example, frequently tried to argue that -- if the actress' sexual orientation is irrelevant -- she had no reason to come out (i.e., she should have just stayed in the closet and continued to live a lie). Questions like "who cares?" or "does it matter?" are not simply disingenuous, but deeply insulting. They ignore the reality of homophobia in a society that still tears children away from their loving lesbian mothers and forces gay teens to undergo horrific psychiatric tortures. For suggesting that Cary Grant might have been gay, Hunter accuses Gill of caring too much about sexual orientation. In a similar way, racist bigots have attacked those who support affirmative action for caring too much about race. Yet it is Hunter who is obviously obsessed -- with heterosexuality. Hunter goes on, at length, describing the "extreme beauty" of Grant's "regular features" -- right down to "that final little blessing from God, a cleft in the dead center of his chin." "Does that make him gay?," he sarcastically asks. Perhaps Hunter should ask himself why he is so fascinated with Cary Grant's body. Hunter's particular paranoia -- that someone with "regular features" could actually be queer -- is not uncommon. As critic Richard Mohr points out, "the normal-appearing person being out is a major threat and source of cultural anxiety. For that the normal can be queer means that anyone -- father, brother, even you -- may be gay." Ultimately, in his attack on Gill, Hunter belittles every effort to reclaim lesbian, gay, or bisexual history. For Hunter, simply raising such questions can be "more offensive" than any answers. "But there's something more offensive in all this than its strict truth," Hunter writes. "That's the sense of pride that Gill takes in outing Grant. It's smirky and mean-spirited, as if he's taking some pleasure, under the guise of imparting a higher truth, in tweaking the memories of the millions of heterosexuals who yearned to be the great Cary Grant." "Is one more for the gay team one less for the straight team,?" Hunter facetiously asks. "Have we just lost points on the big sexual-preference scoreboard in the sky?" In conclusion, Hunter warns that there is a "reductionist" danger in asking questions about sexual orientation. According to Hunter: "Gill deploys the mechanism of reduction on Grant in much the same way that many homosexuals have been reduced for years in a repressive society. That reduction means that their entire personalities -- their accomplishments, their lives, their families -- become secondary to their sexual preference; if they're gay, that's all they are." Grossly unfair, critics like Hunter are quick to attack historical outing as a repressive "mechanism of reduction." Ironically, only a homophobe would be truly blinded to the other qualities of a gay actor. In the end, a genuine concern for "homosexuals in a repressive society" is denied by Hunter's own column. He IS the voice of repression. * * * ACTION ALERT! Critical comments should be directed to: Stephen Hunter, Staff Writer, "Washington Post," 1150 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20071-0002, fax 202-334-4475, e-mail webnews@washpost.com, web-site http://www.washingtonpost.com; complaints should be copied to Robert G. Kaiser, Managing Editor, "Washington Post," at the same address. Feedback can also be sent to: "The New Yorker," 20 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Re/Sources: For historical and critical takes on homophobia in Hollywood, see Vitto Russo's "The Celluloid Closet" (New York: Harper & Row, 1985) and Larry Gross' "Contested Closets" (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993). Richard Mohr's observations are elaborated in his book "Gay Ideas - Outing and Other Controversies" (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992). [2] B E T T E R D E A D T H A N R E A D ? Circle of Friends, a Washington-based distributor of multicultural books for children, has come under attack in Montana. Recently, the company's new catalogue (which includes 23 lesbian- or gay-inclusive titles) was mailed to local school officials, prompting a death threat against owner Carol Miller. After receiving the catalog, a school district employee placed an anonymous call to Miller, advising her that: "Anyone with any brains at all would know that gays are abnormal and against God's will." "People like you don't deserve to live," the caller warned. "Someone like you better watch out." Police were able to trace the call to an office phone at Stevensville High School in Montana. Local school officials have declined to investigate -- or even condemn -- the incident, however. According to Christine Kaufmann, research director for the Montana Human Rights Network: "The catalogue was mailed to Superintendent Tony Tognetti, but school officials -- who acknowledge they KNOW the identity of the caller -- have refused to say if Tognetti placed the call." Instead, School board president Gary Burgett has dismissed the incident. "The phone call was misinterpreted by the persons who got the call," Burgett said, "and it's kind of been blowed [sic] out of proportion." A local weekly newspaper, "The Bitterroot Star," has filed suit against school board members, claiming they violated open-meeting laws in their handling of this case. "The paper wants to know how the board investigated and made their decisions about how to respond to the phone call," Kaufmann reports. "But that was all done in closed-door sessions without proper notification, according to the lawsuit." In lieu of explanation, the school board has vaguely defended its decision to repudiate neither the caller nor his call. "As a board, we decided to let it resolve itself," said board member Katy Majors. Shifting blame to the victim, Majors added that she was "shocked" that books about children who have lesbian mothers (or gay fathers) were even "being offered in Montana." "I don't think we are interested," said Majors. Upset by this response, Ami Thurber -- director of the Women's Center at the University of Montana -- requested time to address the school board at its next meeting. Though he allowed her to offer public testimony, Burgett told Thurber that she could not use the words "gay," "lesbian," or "homosexual" in her statement. "On a very basic level, this phone call legitimized the use of hate speech, condoned violence and essentially gave a green light for anyone to threaten and even harm a person or group of people the do not like or do not understand," Thurber told the board. "Clearly, we cannot tolerate our educators setting examples of violence." According to the Montana Human Rights Network, local activists are continuing to call upon the school board "to publicly condemn the threatening call and to offer support for the safety of all students and for their right to be who they are." Network staff have also spoken to Carol Miller of Circle of Friends, who expressed "an interest in offering a workshop on inclusiveness in the Stevensville area." * * * ACTION ALERT! Share your concerns with: Principal, Stevensville High School, 300 Park Street, Stevensville, MT 59870, tel. 406-777-5481; Gary Burgett, 3450 Baldwin Road, Stevensville, MT 59870-2903, tel. 406-777-2210; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Office of Public Instruction, Room 106, State Capitol, Helena MT 59620. Copies of correspondence and/or additional feedback can be sent to: Carlotta Grandstaff, Editor, "Bitterroot Star," 215 Main, P.O. Box 8, Stevensville, MT 59870, tel. 406-777-3928, fax 406-777-4265, e-mail thestar@bitterroot.net, web site http://www.bitterroot.net/star/star.html. Circle of Friends catalogs are free for the asking; you might request a copy for your local Board of Education or school librarian! Contact: Circle of Friends, P.O. Box 132, Friday Harbor, WA 98250, tel. 800-269-0420 or 360-378-2586, fax 360-378-2011, e-mail camil@cofbooks.com, web-site http://www.cofbooks.com. Re/Sources: The Montana Human Rights Network is described as a "frontline human rights group in the heart of militia country; MHRN publishes a newsletter, the "Network News." Contact: MHRN, P.O. Box 1222, Helena, MT 59624, tel. 406-442-5506. "Attacks on the Freedom to Learn" is an online, bimonthly newsletter distributed by People For the American Way. Each issue reports on "attempts to remove or restrict educational materials or programs in classrooms and libraries.... from Alaska to Maryland, from elementary schools to high schools." Individuals are encouraged to notify PFAW of censorship efforts in their local school districts; the group's web site [http://pfaw.org]makes it easy to report an incident or subscribe to the newsletter. This fall, PFAW also will release a report on "the Religious Right's attack on public education." Contact: People For the American Way, 2000 M Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036, e-mail pfaw@pfaw.org. [end "Part A"] -------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT MEDIALERTS Distributed as a community press service since 1992, "MEDIAlert!" [TM] is a biweekly, advocacy-oriented column of media criticism, primarily focused on lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues. Recipients may print, publish or post this 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!" File copies of publications using all or part of any "MEDIAlert!" are always appreciated. Next "MEDIAlert!" = June 20, 1997. Contact: MEDIAction, 163 Park Street, San Francisco, CA 94110-5835, voice-mail/fax 415-826-5203, e-mail mediaction@aol.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR NOTES Al Kielwasser is the editor of "Gay People, Sex and the Media" (New York: Haworth Press). His media criticism and research has appeared widely, in both mainstream and academic publications (including the "Journal of American Culture," "Journal of Homosexuality," "Journal of Popular Culture," and "Critical Studies in Mass Communication"); he was twice elected Chair of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/San Francisco Bay Area.