Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 14:47:41 -0700 From: glaad@glaad.org (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Subject: GLAADAlert 08.30.96 GLAADALERT August 30, 1996 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation A Marriage of Convenience In a vacuum of mainstream media coverage about lesbian and gay issues at the Democratic National Convention, the August 26 San Francisco Examiner featured a column by Gwen Knapp analyzing the tenuous relationship between lesbian and gay Democratic delegates in Chicago and President Clinton following what she describes as "the notorious bookends of his first term - 'don't ask, don't tell' and the Orwellian Defense of Marriage Act." While George Stephanopoulos actively courted gay delegates with rousing speeches of the President's lesbian, gay and AIDS achievements at a reception for the delegates, Knapp noted that "the place was filled with party loyalists and pragmatists, who cherish political crumbs from Clinton because all the other cupboards are bare." In the words of one delegate, "'Was Bill Clinton an "A" president for lesbians and gays? No, but he deserves a "B." And every other president in history got an "F."'" As Knapp summed it up, "What a difference four years makes. Then, Clinton promised to seek tolerance for gay Americans. Now, he needs it from them." Please let the Examiner know that Knapp's column provides an important reminder in the midst of Democratic Convention fever-while Clinton may have a better record on lesbian and gay issues than Dole, he has a long way to go, and the lesbian and gay vote should never be taken for granted. Contact: Phil Bronstein, editor, San Francisco Examiner, 110 5th Street, San Francisco, CA 94111, fax: 415.512.1264, e-mail: sfexaminer@examiner.com. Military Witch Hunt Exposed in Hawaii In the September 2 U.S. News & World Report, an article called "Is the Air Force Asking and Telling? Gays Allege a Witch Hunt at a Hawaiian Base," reported on the zealousness with which the military has recently asked, told and pursued gay men at Hickam Air Force Base. According to U.S. News, the military gave Senior Airman Bryan Scott Harris, who is facing a long prison term for sexually assaulting another man, a reduced sentence if he would turn over the names of other military members involved in acts of sodomy. Additionally, the military also demanded that Harris identify anyone who bought a drink at Hula's Bar and Lei Stand, a Honolulu club with a heavily gay clientele. Again, according to the article, military investigators have asked Honolulu's Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), which ministers to gays and lesbians, for membership lists and records of commitment ceremonies. Since President Clinton ordered the "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy, the article suggested that the military has stepped up its pursuit of lesbians and gays. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a legal advocacy group, have been attempting to break this story for months, and U.S. News & World Report should be commended for a balanced and well-researched report that goes beyond the coverage seen elsewhere in the mainstream media. Contact: U.S. News & World Report, 2400 N Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-1196 fax: 202.955.2685, e-mail 71154.1006@compuserve.com. Everything's Coming Out Rosie Talk show diva and comedian Rosie O'Donnell is in a loving lesbian relationship, according to the September 3 Globe. Based on the testimony of several friends, the supermarket tabloid tells what is a mostly affirming tale of Rosie and thirtysomething singer-dancer Michelle Blakely. "The loving couple is ecstatic," said the Globe. Accompanying photos show the two hanging out at O'Donnell's Miami Beach condo as well as cruising together on a motorcycle. Unfortunately, the Globe also feels it necessary to speculate on what causes a talk show host to become a lesbian. According to "sources," Rosie's mom died when she was 10, and "'Rosie was devastated and turned to her father Edward for understanding and comfort-but was rebuffed. That seared her mind,' a pal confides, 'and Rosie decided men could never meet her emotional needs.'" This is the worst kind of anti-gay psychobabble, making the archaic claim that lesbianism is caused by a father's scorn or a mother's absence. Regardless of the veracity of its claim about the Queen of Nice's sexual orientation, the Globe's tired and wholly discounted theory of the cause of homosexuality does a disservice to lesbians and perpetuates the myth that people are gay because of traumatic childhoods or bad experiences with the opposite sex. Contact: Dan Dolan, Editor, Globe, 5401 NW Broken Sound Boulevard, Boca Raton, FL 33487, phone: 407.997.7733. Barney Frank's Politically Incorrect Menage-a-Trois On August 27, during the "Strange Bedfellows" segment of Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect, openly gay Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) appeared in bed with regulars Al Franken and Arianna Huffington. Huffington apologized on behalf of all Republicans for Dick Army's infamous "Barney Fag" comment on the House floor last year and for his attempt to justify it as a slip of the tongue. Frank replied, "My mother has reported that in the 59 years she's been Elsie Frank, no one has ever introduced her as "Elsie Fag." At the end of the segment, both Franken and Huffington kissed Frank on the cheek and said goodnight to one another. Afterwards, the regular panelists briefly discussed the segment. Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) noted that Frank was one of the funniest and smartest people in Congress, and comedian Joan Rivers said, "It's so sad that someone would use the gay thing against someone else. If they don't want gays in the military, just make the uniforms ugly." Please thank Politically Incorrect for featuring Representative Frank in their special Democratic National Convention coverage and, in its own unconventional way, addressing the issues of homophobia and politics within both of the major parties. Contact: Politically Incorrect, Comedy Central, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90036. email: pi@cis.compuserve.com Gay Delegate Cruised in Doonesbury On August 28, newspapers nationwide carried a storyline in the Doonesbury comic strip in which a gay delegate to the Democratic National Convention expresses his frustration and sense of abandonment over President Clinton's support for the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The journalist interviewing him tells Mark, another newscaster, via remote, that the delegate has been "forsaken by his own party. This is one gay, Democratic activist who's feeling very lonely just now!" Mark responds by asking "Um...Is he cute?" Please thank Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau for sending out the message that lesbian and gay Democrats have mixed feelings about the current administration, and that lesbians and gay men are everywhere, including both Democratic delegates and mainstream media journalists. Contact: Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury, 459 Columbus Avenue, Suite 113, New York, NY 10024. Focus on the Family Is Out of Focus Online The virulently homophobic Focus on the Family has a new article on their sprawling America Online site that gives destructive and warped advice to teachers dealing with student's comes to them with questions about their sexual orientation. The author, Beth J. Leuders, claims that "young people scarred by molestation and family violence or duped by the moral apathy in our society often push their sexual curiosity to the limit. These vulnerable kids become the prime targets for pro-gay groups looking for young recruits on high school campuses." Later, Donna Rene Hopkins, a counselor for New Creation Ministries, which tries to "reform" lesbians and gay men by encouraging them to deny their feelings and try to live as heterosexual, suggests that "the gay community is feasting on what is basically already a turbulent and confusing time in an adolescent's life." Both the writer and her sources clearly have an anti-gay agenda, making false claims about lesbians and gay men as predators of the young, about the lie of "recruitment," and about the myth that people are gay because of childhood molestation or abuse. In addition to hauling all of the usual lies and stereotypes about lesbians and gay men out of their war chest, Focus on the Family points teachers in the direction of a number of radical religious organizations which claim to be able to "cure" homosexuality, and a handful of books that are all anti-gay radical religious right propaganda. The article's guise of being a "guide" for teachers could mislead them into doing something harmful to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered youth, leaving them feeling even more alienated and confused. With lesbian and gay young people so at risk for suicide, alcoholism and drug abuse, Focus on the Family is doing the most destructive thing it can to America's gay youth, denying their sexual orientation and propelling them into a cycle of despair. Let Focus on the Family know how destructive their lies and myths about lesbians and gay men are to young people. However, be aware that time spent in the AOL Focus on the Family forum increases their revenue, so accessing the site and posting there comes at a price. (E-mail to Focus on the Family, however, does not.) Contact: Letters to the Editor, Teachers in Focus magazine, Focus on the Family, Colorado Srings, CO 80995, fax: 719-531-3424, e-mail: fofmail@aol.com. A Very Cosmopolitan Coming Out The September Cosmopolitan features a cover story entitled "Coming Out: Why I Had to Leave My Husband for Another Woman." Author Pamela Bouras described her recent decision to acknowledge her real feelings, ditch her husband of six years and move in with her girlfriend. She wonders whether to tell her boss, co-workers and family and how to deal with hate notes her ex-husband leaves on her car. She feels guilty about the years misleading her ex-husband and deceiving herself. Mostly, she emphasizes her sexual awakening through a college affair and the woman that brought her out of the closet. In Cosmo-lesbian-chic, Bouras describes her lover as "blonde, voluptuous [and looking] a lot like Heather Locklear." In bed they "caress and cuddle." She continues, "I'm male-female, then female-male; a flying creature, then an earthbound one. Next morning, we both feel like the sexiest women alive." The story is illustrated by a Laura Ashley-esque photograph of two very feminine models sitting on a dock in white lawn dresses eating watermelon and drinking fresh orange juice. While it reads like a playful True Confession, it articulates the inner struggles of deciding to come out as well as the feelings of liberation and euphoria that can follow. Let Cosmo know that lesbian coming out stories are appreciated, and encourage them to keep it up - maybe next time they can even include lesbians who don't look like Heather Locklear. Contact: Helen Gurley Brown, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan, 224 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019-3299, fax: 212.956.3268. Jenny Jones Killer Revisited Columnist J. Max Robins has just seen the never-aired and infamous same-sex 'Secret Crush' Jenny Jones episode, and in the August 31 issue of TV Guide he wrote, "the episode stands as a chilling document of talk-show excess." Jenny Jones producers booked neighbors Jonathan Schmitz and Scott Amedure as guests on the show. Unbeknownst to Schmitz, Amedure admitted his secret sexual attraction for his neighbor. Three days after the taping of the show, Schmitz shot and killed Amedure. According to Robins, Schmitz is "shocked" when Amedure greets him by hugging him on the show, and "covers his face" when Amedure's elaborates on his fantasies. Schmitz asserts that he's "'definitely heterosexual,'" and by the end of the episode, Schmitz seemed clearly upset. Robins then criticized the show, saying, "The reality is [the shows] are planned to be as sensational as possible by playing off human frailties, prejudices and taboos. A successful show too often relies on turning public embarrassment into ratings gold." In the talk show circuit, gays and lesbians are often used as carnival freaks to titillate and amuse viewers. In this case, that exploitation turned violent. J. Max Robins did not go far enough in his critique of the exploitative practices of talk show producers. Nowhere does Robins mention the words "anti-gay," "homophobia" or "hate crime." While Schmitz's embarrassment may be central to what drives him to murder Amedure three days later, it has to be noted that the underlying source of the embarrassment was Schmitz's raw and violent homophobia. The "reality" that goes unmentioned is that, for whatever reason, Schmitz was so threatened by the idea of being the object of another man's desire and having that desire displayed on national television that he felt justified in killing that other man. The kind of occurrences are all too common in society. Let Robins know that his critique of the talk shows genre good, though it did not go far enough. In order to end homophobia, we have to call it when we see it. Schmitz's hatred and fear of homosexuality is the real story of the 'Secret Crush' tragedy. Contact: Letters Department, TV Guide, Radnor, PA 19088. WWW: http://www.iguide.com/report.htm Miami Deaf Community Speaks Out About AIDS A story entitled, "Dead Get Educated on HIV/AIDS," in the August 18 Miami Herald discussed the ways in which many safer-sex messages fail to reach the deaf community, and ways in which the South Beach AIDS Project is trying to counter that. The Herald explained that for many deaf people, "written English is a second language and the average reading level among the deaf is between a third and fifth grade level. As such, most safer-sex education efforts fail to serve the deaf community. According to a survey by Deaf Life magazine, 98% of their readers responded that they knew little or nothing about basic facts of HIV and AIDS." While the South Beach AIDS Project has safer-sex workshops specifically for gay deaf men, the Herald reported, Connie Ramos-Vargas, who lost her 25-year-old deaf gay son to AIDS, has also taken outreach a step further by forming the first deaf chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) in Ft. Lauderdale. "'A lot of parents don't even want to think about their children being gay,'" Ramos-Vargos said, "'but gay deaf people have enough to deal with without worrying about losing the support of their families. You don't stop loving your children because they're deaf, so why would you stop loving them, if they are also gay?'" The Miami Herald does an excellent job of reporting on a widely-ignored issue, both in the interviews and the resources provided at the end of the story. Please let them know that the inclusion of the particular difficulties with AIDS prevention and outreach for the deaf community is thought-provoking, sensitive and critical. Contact: Miami Herald, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693. fax: 305.376.5287. e-mail: heralded@aol.com. The Pine-Sol Lady Comes Clean In an August 26 San Francisco Chronicle interview promoting her new performance piece, "Balancing Act," Diane Amos, best known as the Pine-Sol Lady, spoke about growing up in an interracial family headed by two lesbian moms. The article recounts her experience in the early 1960s as a young African-American girl who moved with her mothers from an Indianapolis ghetto to her alternative family in San Francisco with a new Jewish lesbian mom and two new siblings. "To the 38-year-old Amos, her story is cut from the wholesome cloth of American life. It just happens to have an unorthodox shape," wrote Chronicle staff writer Steven Winn. "'When you're a kid, you understand love,' says Amos, 'and that's what I felt when my mother got together with Norma. Suddenly she was singing and cooking again. And my sister and I had these two other kids to play with.'" Winn described the ways in which the children could not speak of their moms' relationship in public, because it could have cost them their jobs, and, Amos says, "'Racism broke our family up.' Norma, whose own mother never approved of the match, moved out six years later." Since then, Amos has gone on to professional success and a happy (heterosexual) marriage. She's optimistic about the future: "'I know the parts for a big black woman are limited, but I don't dwell on what's not available. I know the texture and color I can lend to a part. And I know I'm not going to end up as background. That's just not me, and it never has been.'" Please thank the San Francisco Chronicle for an unusual profile of a wonderful woman, and for telling the all-too-often ignored story of the children of lesbian and gay parents in all their diversity. Contact: William German, editor, San Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-2988, fax: 415.512.8196. email: cronletters@sfgate.com Turbo Is a Prime Example In the Malibu Comic Prime (issue 9 and 10), superhero Turbo comes out as gay to the main character, Prime. Prime is actually a 13-year-old boy named Kevin who turns into a hulking, muscular flying adult. Turbo doesn't know that Kevin (aka - Prime) is only 13, and when he comes out to him, Prime is uncomfortable. As a 13-year-old, he's never known an openly gay person before, so he runs away. The portrayal of Turbo's and Prime's initial uneasiness and gradual acceptance of each other is full, personal and wholly appropriate to the many young people who read the comic book. Issue 9 ends with Prime realizing that keeping one's sexual orientation a secret is similar to keeps his own age a secret. Prime thinks aloud, "what would it be like if I didn't have anybody who knew my secret? What if I was really alone? And what if I told my secrets to somebody and he didn't want to listen?" By the end of issue10, Prime "comes out" to Turbo as a 13-year-old, and tells him that he's "really looking forward to being [his] friend!" Please thank Malibu comics for an excellent discussion of coming out, and how the experience can bring two friends closer together. Contact: Gerard Jones and Len Strazewski, Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc., 3340 Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405. The Life and Times of Network Q The August 25 New York Times included a feature story on "Network Q: Out Across America," a news omnibus that focuses on lesbian and gay Americans and is beginning its second season on public-television stations across the nation. The article details the struggle that Network Q and its creator, David Surber, have had in getting it on the air and keeping it there. While Surber faces significant financial hardship and is always grappling with funding issues, he does the show because he feels it is so critical to have positive gay programming broadcast nationally, and the program's weekly viewership is now 300,000 households. In a time when public television faces huge cuts in funding, it is especially important to cover the success stories of lesbian and gay public television programming. Let The New York Times know that you appreciate their inclusive reporting on Network Q, and encourage them to do more stories on independent lesbian and gay media around the country. Contact: Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, The New York Times, 229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, fax: 212.556.3622, e-mail: letters@nytimes.com. Fresh Voices Speak Out Against Homophobia In the August 26 Parade magazine, the "Fresh Voices" column, where youth address issues of the day, included the words of an 18-year-old from Houston who does not tolerate homophobia. The young woman, Deja Weston described her self-education on lesbian and gay issues that began in the eighth grade. In a class presentation, she told fellow students that "just because people are homosexual, they do not deserve to be put down or hurt in any way." Her enlightened stance initially caused some trouble for Deja. "People said I was gay," she said. "I was harassed verbally, emotionally, and physically for a full year. But I'm not sorry for the stand I took. No one has the right to be cruel or violent to other people because [they are gay]." Please tell Parade that the inclusion of lesbian and gay issues in their youth coverage is not only appreciated, but essential, and that by letting young people speak for themselves, "Fresh Voices" articulates the very real issues of homophobia that affect not only gay youth, but all those who are perceived to be gay as well. Contact: Parade, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017-4014, fax: 212.450.7284. The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD is the lesbian and gay news bureau and the only national lesbian and gay multimedia watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. Copies of articles referred to in the GLAADAlert are available to our members by contacting GLAAD. Contact GLAAD by e-mail at glaad@glaad.org or by phone at 213.658.6775 (Los Angeles), 212.807.1700 (New York), 413.586.8928 (Northampton), 503.224.5285 (Portland, Oregon), 202.986.1360 (Washington, DC) or 415.861.2244(San Francisco). 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