NewsWrap for the week ending October 14, 2000 (As broadcast on This Way Out program #655, distributed 10-16-00) [Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Steve Pride, Chris Ambidge, Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, Greg Gordon & Lucia Chappelle] Anchored by Chase Schulte and Cindy Friedman National Coming Out Day was observed this week across the U.S. and in some other countries as well. But the most remarkable coming out came a little earlier as actor-comic Hong Sok-chon became Korea's first openly gay celebrity. Print media began to circulate the story in mid-September, but in early October Hong spoke for himself in an interview on national television. It was not a moment of pride for Hong, who wept and sobbed and apologized profusely. But having gotten over that hurdle, Hong seemed to grow stronger with every interview, helped by an outpouring of support from hundreds of friends and activists. Hong had grown tired of being the subject of rumors about his sexuality that had people saying one thing to his face and another behind his back, so when a reporter questioned him directly he simply told the truth. He quickly paid a high price for his honesty. He was fired from his most important job on a children's TV show, from his role on a radio sitcom and from future appearances on the TV variety show whose cast first spread the rumors about him. He continues to do occasional entertainment reports on TV, a sitcom on the Internet and a role in a touring musical. Ironically Hong first received widespread recognition as a flamboyant fashion designer on a popular TV sitcom, a character who was supposedly straight but full of stereotypically gay mannerisms. Hong said, "I think I have gotten people talking about homosexuality. This is my contribution. Maybe parents and children will discuss me in their living room. That will be a big start. In the past, homosexuality was something that could never be mentioned in ordinary conversation." Also publicly identifying himself as a gay man for the first time was the chaplain of the Arizona state legislature, Reverend Charles Coppinger. Coppinger made his announcement on National Coming Out Day, October 11th, accompanied by openly gay state Representative Steve May. He said, "My personal integrity is more important than any other consequences. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I encourage every priest and rabbi who struggles with this to come out. There is freedom and joy on this side." Coppinger was ordained as a Baptist and had served as pastor for a small Church of Christ congregation before being appointed to his present post four years ago. He may very well lose his job, as several state legislators have already urged his firing. The legislature does not pay its chaplain. However, a salary has been paid by a private group, the Foundations for Success, which has already asked for and received Coppinger's resignation. Coming out in a very different manner this week was an opponent of equal treatment for U.S. gays and lesbians, Matthew Glavin. This week he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of public indecency. Previously he had vehemently denied the charges, which stemmed from a U.S. Park Service sting in a popular cruising area in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Georgia. It turned out to be the second time he's been arrested in the same place on the same charge. In 1996, he pleaded no contest and was fined $1,000 and given six months probation. This time his sentence could run as high as $5,000, one year in jail and three years probation. When the story broke, Glavin resigned from his post as president and chief executive officer of the Southeast Legal Foundation. He and the foundation became widely known for their attacks on President Bill Clinton, including actions leading to the current disbarment proceedings in Arkansas. But Glavin and the foundation also filed a brief in support of the Boy Scouts of America's successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court this year defending their exclusion of gays. Previously, Glavin and the foundation had won a Georgia Supreme Court ruling striking down the City of Atlanta's employee domestic partner benefits. A second legal challenge to a revised Atlanta benefits policy failed. It's been almost two years since a Massachusetts teenager came out as transgendered, but this week a judge ruled that her public middle school in Brockton must allow her to attend in women's clothes. The now-15-year-old known in court as "Pat Doe" had been told she could not enroll unless she dressed as a male. As a seventh grader, Pat was repeatedly sent home to change clothes, and in eighth grade she was required to report to the principal each morning for approval of her appearance. She dropped out, feeling the principal had created a "hostile climate," and has been repeating the eighth grade with a home tutor. In court, the school district argued that Pat had been disruptive for other students, but admitted that her clothing would have been acceptable for a female student. Last year, the school referred Pat to a therapist who diagnosed her with gender identity disorder, but officials did not seem to understand that, and viewed her behavior as simply attention-seeking and defiance. Openly lesbian Superior Court Judge Linda Giles did understand, though, writing that for Pat, wearing women's clothes "is not merely a personal preference but a necessary symbol of her very identity." Giles found that refusing to enroll Pat in her female presentation would constitute sex discrimination and a violation of her free speech rights. As for the other students, Giles wrote that, "exposing children to diversity at an early age serves the important social goals of increasing their ability to tolerate differences and teaching them respect for everyone's unique personal experience." Coming out with an apology this week was "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger, the top-rated U.S. radio talk show host whose anti-gay positions have sparked protests all year against her new low-rated TV show. Schlessinger bought a full-page ad on the back cover of "Daily Variety"'s special "Gay Hollywood" edition for National Coming Out Day. The move by Schlessinger, a convert to Orthodox Judaism, was inspired by the Yom Kippur holiday, as she wrote, "On the Day of Atonement, Jews are commanded to seek forgiveness from people we have hurt. I deeply regret the hurt this situation has caused the gay and lesbian community." She said that some of her words were "poorly chosen" and that the perception of them as "hate speech" had been devastating to her and many others. But Schlessinger's leading opponents were unimpressed, and even the editor of the "Daily Variety" special edition found the apology "suspicious." Part of the skepticism stemmed from Schlessinger having issued a rather similar apology in March only to essentially recant it a few days later in an interview. Then as now her apology was not for her actions but for others' pain in response to them. Joan Garry of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said, "This isn't about 'poorly chosen words.' This is about medical misinformation and defamation. For us it has been about stopping her defamation, and there is nothing in her statement that says she intends to do that." October is also Gay and Lesbian History Month, and this year the 100th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's death comes soon after -- and it just might mean his forgiveness from the Vatican as well. The venerable Jesuit publication "La Civilita Cattolica" once specifically condemned Wilde's poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," but this week it featured an article calling that and his other later works evidence of "an implicit journey of faith." Literary critic and theologian Reverend Antonio Spadaro's article sees Wilde as having turned away from a life of what he called "degradation, vanity and frivolity." In 1895, Wilde was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to two years hard labor. That imprisonment broke his health and heart as well as ruining his stellar career as a writer. But to Spadaro it was the beginning of a spiritual transformation, as Wilde saw a parallel between the crowds jeering his transport to prison with Jesus' treatment after his arrest. The humbling experience of prison Spadaro believes turned Wilde to contemplation of spiritual values, as signaled by his request to stay at a Jesuit retreat house after his release. Wilde was asked to wait a year and never made it there. But Spadaro accepts the perception of the priest who attended Wilde's death, who was "absolutely sure" that Wilde was converting -- even though others saw him as only semiconscious at the time. And finally... October also marked the passing of a treasure of living history, 101-year-old African-American lesbian Ruth Ellis. Thanks to documentary filmmakers, some of her memories have been preserved. In the film "Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis at 100", Ellis told Yvonne Welbon: Ruth Ellis: "I wasn't in what you'd call a closet. Never!. Now my Mother died early in my life so I didn't have to worry about that, but my Dad... and I had three brothers... I never heard anything from them concerning me, except one night my girlfriend and I made a little too much noise. My Dad said, ‘the next time you girls make that much noise I'm going to put you out!’ Now that's the only thing he ever said to me." Born in Springfield, Illinois in 1899, Ellis moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1937 with her late partner "Babe" Franklin. Their home became a gathering place and a shelter for young African-American gays and lesbians: Ruth Ellis: (music in the background) "It was sort of a haven for the young people who didn’t have any place to go. Mostly it would be men, boys would come in… and we’d let ‘em stay there ‘til they’d get on their feet… if they’d get a job, something like that, or maybe they were goin’ to school… sometimes we’d try to help ‘em through school… we tried, wasn’t much… ‘cause you didn’t have much then… and it helped ‘em a little." About thirty years ago Ellis connected with Detroit's organized gay and lesbian community and became a familiar figure at events. The community regularly observed Ruth Ellis Day among February observances of Black History Month. Author Alice Walker called her a woman of "power, audacity and joy." Whenever she was asked what was her favorite period in her life, she'd say, "This is the best part right now." ======================================== HATE AND MARRIAGE HEAT UP THE SECOND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE When the Democratic and Republican candidates for President of the United States met for their second face-to-face debate on October 11th, neither side scored any major points -- and their volleys on the issues of hate crimes, same-gender marriage and gay and lesbian civil rights may have said as much about their preparation and debating skills as about their positions. Vice President Al Gore took aim at Texas Governor George W. Bush by turning his response to moderator Jim Lehrer's query about racial profiling into a comment about the infamous murder of James Byrd, Jr. by white supremacists in his GOP opponent's home state. ----- GORE: ... I think that racial profiling is part of a larger issue of how we deal with race in America. And as for singling people out because of race, you know James Byrd was singled out because of his race, in Texas. And other Americans have been singled out because of their race or--or ethnicity. And that's why I think that we can embody our values by passing a hate crimes law. I think these crimes are different. I think they're different because they're based on prejudice and hatred, which is--which gives rise to crimes that have not just a single victim, but they're intended to stigmatize and dehumanize a whole group of people. LEHRER: Do you have a different view of that? BUSH: No, I don't really. LEHRER: On hate crimes violence? BUSH: No, I--we got one in Texas, and guess what? The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They're going to be put to death. A jury found them guilty and I--it's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death. And it's the right cost; it's the right decision. ----- And a few moments later: ----- GORE: ...I guess I had misunderstood the governor's previous position. The Byrd family may have a misunderstanding of it in Texas also. But I'd like to shift, if I could, to the big issue of education. LEHRER: Well, no, hold on one second. What is the misunderstanding? Let's clear this up. GORE: Well, I had thought that there was a controversy at the end of the legislative session where the hate crimes law in Texas was--failed and that the Byrd family, among others, asked you to support it, Governor, and it died in committee for lack of support. Am I wrong about that? BUSH: Well, you don't realize we have a hate crime statute... GORE: I'm talking about the one that was proposed to deal... BUSH: Well, what the vice president must not understand is we got a hate crimes bill in Texas. And secondly, the people that murdered Mr. Byrd got the ultimate punishment... LEHRER: But they were... BUSH: ... the death penalty. LEHRER: They were prosecuted under the murder laws, were they not... BUSH: Well... LEHRER: ... in Texas? BUSH: In this case, when you murder somebody, it's hate, Jim. LEHRER: No, but... BUSH: Crime is hate. And they got--and they got the ultimate punishment. I'm not exactly sure how you enhance the penalty any more than the death penalty. Well, we happen to have a statute on the books that's a hate crimes statute in Texas. GORE: May I respond? LEHRER: Sure. GORE: I don't want to jump in. (LAUGHTER) I may have been misled by all the news reports about this matter, because the law that was proposed in Texas, that had the support of the Byrd family and a whole lot of people in Texas, did in fact die in committee. There may be some other statute that was already on the books, but certainly the advocates of the hate crimes law felt that a tough new law was needed. And it's important, Jim, not only--not just because of Texas, but because this mirrors the national controversy. There is pending now in the Congress a national hate crimes law because of James Byrd, because of Matthew Shepard, who was crucified on a split-rail fence by bigots, because of others. And that law has died in committee also because of the same kind of opposition. LEHRER: And you would support that bill? GORE: Absolutely. LEHRER: Would you support a national hate crimes law? BUSH: I would support the Orrin Hatch version of it, not the Senator Kennedy version. But let me say to you, Mr. Vice President, we're happy with our laws on our books. That bill--there was another bill that did die in committee. But I want to repeat, if you have a state that fully supports the law like we do in Texas, we're going to go after all crime, and we're going to make sure people get punished for the crime. And in this case, we can't enhance the penalty anymore than putting those three thugs to death. And that's what's going to happen in the state of Texas. ----- In answering Lehrer's question on the hate crimes bill now stalled in the U.S. Congress, Governor Bush distinguished proposals by their recognizable partisan sponsors rather than by their substance. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch's bill provides only for expanded data collection and does not include sexual orientation as a protected category, whereas Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy's does, and also contains enforcement provisions. Bush mis-spoke in that one of the three men convicted in the Byrd killing did not receive the death penalty. And the current law in Texas on hate crimes that Bush referred to is so vague that prosecutors have found it all but impossible to use. It was widely reported at the time that Republican state legislators road-blocked the enhanced hate crimes bill – one that specifically included sexual orientation --so that candidate Bush would not have to contend with the controversy of having to either sign or veto it. Moderator Jim Lehrer next turned specifically to the issue of gay and lesbian civil rights. ----- LEHRER: New subject, new question, another vice presidential debate follow-up. Governor, both Senator Lieberman and Secretary Cheney said they were sympathetically rethinking their views on same-sex relationships. What's your position on that? BUSH: I'm not for gay marriage. I think marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. And I appreciate the way the administration signed the Defense of Marriage Act. I presume the vice president supported it when the president signed that bill and supports it now. But I think--I think marriage is a sacred institution. I'm going to be respectful for people who may disagree with me. I've had a record of doing so in the state of Texas. I've been a person that would--been called a uniter not divider because I accepted some--I accept other people's points of view. But I feel strongly that marriage should be between a man and a woman. LEHRER: Vice President Gore? GORE: I agree with that. And I did support that law. But I think that we should find a way to allow some kind of civic unions. And I basically agree with Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman. And I think the three of us have one view and the governor has another one. LEHRER: Is that right? BUSH: I'm not sure what kind of view he's ascribing to me. I can just tell you, I'm a--I'm a person who respects other people. I respect their--I respect--on the one hand, he says he agrees with me and then he says he doesn't. I'm not sure where he's coming from. But I--I--I will be a tolerant person. I've been a tolerant person all my life. I just happen to believe strongly that marriage is between a man and a woman. LEHRER: Do you believe in general terms that gays and lesbians should have the same rights as other Americans? BUSH: Yes. I don't think they ought to have special rights, but I think they ought to have the same rights. GORE: Well, there's a--there's a law pending called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I strongly support it. What it says is that gays and lesbians can't be fired from their job because they're gay or lesbian, and it would be a federal law preventing that. Now, I wonder if the--it's been blocked by the opponents in the majority in the Congress. I wonder if the Governor would lend his support to that law? LEHRER: Govenor? BUSH: The questioner coming around again? LEHRER: Yes. It's a logical rebuttal. BUSH: Well, I have no idea. I mean, you can throw out all kinds--I don't know the particulars of this law. I will tell you I'm the kind of person--I don't hire or fire somebody based upon their sexual orientation. As a matter of fact, I'd like to take the issue a little further. I don't really think it's any of my, you know, any of my concerns how you conduct your sex life. And I think that's a private matter. And I think that's the way it ought to be. But I'm going to be respectful for people. I'll tolerate people. And I support equal rights, but not special rights for people. LEHRER: And special rights, how does that affect gays and lesbians? BUSH: Well, if they're given--if they're given special protective status. And that doesn't mean we shouldn't fully enforce laws and fully protect people and fully honor people, which I will do as the president of the United States. ----- One of the consistent themes of Governor Bush’s campaign has been to question Vice President Gore’s "credibility". For the record, Bush has been reported to specifically oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the measure he claimed to have no "particulars" on. And despite his statement that people’s sex lives should be "a private matter", according to the June 1999 issue of The Advocate and other press reports, Bush has said he would veto any attempt by the Texas legislature to repeal his state’s sodomy law, calling it "a symbolic gesture of traditional values." The law applies only to same-gender couples, and was ruled unconstitutional by a mid-level Texas appellate court in June. One more debate between presidential candidates Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush is scheduled for Tuesday October 17th. It's quite possible that in that "town hall" format, they will have to deal with more questions on these issues from the live audience. And of course if they do, we’ll have a report on the next edition of "This Way Out".