Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 15:42:51 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert 11.14.97 GLAADALERT November 14, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Ellen Needs Community's Support This past Wednesday, primetime's only lesbian and gay lead character, Ellen Morgan, served up possibly her best show ever, amid a continuing double standard from ABC. The episode, which bore the night's only parental warning, featured Ellen's growing acceptance of being openly gay as she struggles to feel comfortable showing affection with her new girlfriend Laurie (Lisa Darr). When Ellen meets Laurie's daughter, an initially positive first meeting turns ugly. Later, Ellen is surprised to discover the daughter is upset with her for not showing affection towards Laurie in public, not the other way around, as Ellen had suspected. Laurie also meets Ellen's parents for the very first time. While a number of previous "Ellen" episodes have touched on many important issues facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community ( job discrimination, coming out to parents, trying to find a sense of community, etc.), Wednesday's episode brilliantly handled Ellen's continuing coming out process, including issues surrounding gay parenting and the difficult and often awkward first meetings between parents and their gay child's significant other. This season's "Ellen" is continuing to break ground by handling difficult issues in a humorous and often touching manner. Yet, ABC has set a double standard for lesbian and gay content on television by placing a warning on a show that did not have overt sexual content nor any violence. Ellen featured hugs and same-sex hand holding. In the two shows that proceeded "Ellen" that night, "Dharma & Greg" had sex in a parked car, and "Drew Carey" stripped in a "Full Monty" parody. Neither featured any parental warning. Please write the "Ellen" show and Ellen DeGeneres and thank her for a funny, well-written and thought provoking show. It is crucial that they know that you are supportive. Please copy ABC and Disney on the letters you send. Contact: … "Ellen" Productions, 500 S. Buena Vista, Burbank, CA 91521-2905 … Ellen DeGeneres c/o Arthur Imparato, 1122 S. Roxbury, Los Angeles, CA 90035; … Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angles, CA 90037, fax: 310.557.7679, e-mail: abcaudr@abc.com; … Michael Eisner, Chairman and David Newman, President of Network TV, The Walt Disney Company, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, fax: 818.560.1930, e-mail: WWW: http://www.disney.com/Mail. "The Jackal" Breaks Ground With GLAAD "The Jackal," the big budget Universal Pictures thriller opening today starring Richard Gere and Bruce Willis, will feature a re-edited scene placing the murder of a gay man in a much less problematic light. Willis plays a dangerous assassin who can blend into any situation. At one point, Willis' character goes into a gay bar, meets a gay man (Steven Spinella) kisses him and then much later in the film kills him. According to sources who saw an early test screening, when Spinella's character was murdered, the audience reacted with inappropriate applause and sometimes cheering. In September, GLAAD's Chastity Bono approached Universal and Sean Daniel, one of the producers of "The Jackal," to express GLAAD's grave concerns over the scene and the reactions from test audience. GLAAD worried that audiences could view this act of violence as motivated by anti-gay hate, and be somehow acceptable, as test audiences seemed to feel. Richard Gere told GLAAD that he also supported a re-edited version after he saw the original scene in question. As a result of subsequent conversations the final cut now explicitly shows that the reason Willis shoots Spinella is because his cover is blown. "GLAAD's interest in the situation and Chastity Bono's quite insightful articulation of the impact of how we depict things put a healthy and smart frame of reference (around) how the scene should play," Daniel told GLAAD. Please write the producers of "The Jackal" and Universal Pictures and thank them for recognizing the concerns of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and the escalating problem of anti-gay violence. Contact: … Sean Daniel, Producers, 5300 Melrose Avenue, Suite 204E, Hollywood, CA 90038; … Universal Pictures, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608. Promise Keepers with Tongue-In-Cheek In the November 10 "Orlando Business Journal," guest commentator Kent Hoover examined the October 4 Promise Keepers rally in Washington, DC with a bemused eye, letting no one off the hook. He discusses the sometimes carinvalesque, sometimes tent-revival atmosphere of the rally and the day. Hoover sets the scene by describing the Lesbian Avengers, with puppets and banners displaying Rosie the Riveter and Ellen DeGeneres, "making their way through a sea of fundamentalist male spectators." (Unfortunately, he also describes the group as "militantly gay.") He goes onto talk about how people can "reject each other's world view without going to war." And just when the reader might think that the Promise Keepers will escape unscathed, Hoover brings up the very fears that feminists have brought up, telling readers to see "The Handmaid's Tale" for an "nightmare vision" of what happens when radically religious men impose their morality on others. He finished by saying that perhaps we should trust the Promise Keepers that they're honest about only wanting to bring men back to spirituality, "[i]f, however, the Promise Keepers start taking political stands, we'll know they had their fingers crossed all along." With no participant (or protester) left unturned, Hoover manages to cut through the continual reverential tone of the majority of Promise Keepers coverage, and lets reader see the very human (and sometimes funny) side of the day. Thank the "Orlando Business Journal" for a funny and relatively balanced column on a subject that seemed to otherwise turn into a school yard fight of "boys against girls." Contact: Pat Beall, Editor, "Orlando Business Journal", 315 E. Robinson St., Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32801, fax: 407.649.8469, feedback form on WWW: http://www.amcity.com/orlando/lettertotheeditor.html. "The Forward" Steps Out In the November 7 edition of "The Forward," a 100-year old Jewish newspaper, violinist Alicia Svigals is interviewed about her musical career and her new album. Svigals may be best known as having played violin with the klezmer (a traditional form of Jewish folk music) group the Klezmatics, she has also collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, and has now gone solo with the album "Fidl." In addition to a survey of Svigals' career, which began with playing on New York's number 1 subway line, and recently played in the string section of the Led Zepplin reunion tour, the article discusses Svigals' life with her partner and their two year old son Benjamin. "It's like my music[...] I want it all to be integrated-my music, my Jewishness, my politics, my feminism, the fact that I am a lesbian mother. Being 'out' is important." Please thank "The Forward" for presenting a vivid and multi-faceted portrait of a deeply committed and talented musician. Contact: "The Forward", 45 East 33rd Street, New York, NY 10016, fax: 212.447.6406, e-mail: editor@forward.com. "LA Times" Gets to Know Ellen's New Squeeze The November 12 "Los Angeles Times" featured an in-depth article about Lisa Darr, the actress portraying Ellen Morgan's first girlfriend on "Ellen." "Getting To Know Her," by Greg Braxton, explores the actresses' career to date, including a short stint on "NYPD Blue" as a lesbian, her success on "Ellen" and her views on playing gay (she is heterosexual). "Playing characters like this is a non-issue for me, and I didn't really think about it at all," Darr tells the "Times." "These are two women (her character and Ellen's) that just happen to be gay. Their sexuality is not the focus of who they are. I'm really proud to be able to bring this to the forefront. It's a part of life, and should be accepted as such," she adds. Please thank Lisa Darr for freely expressing her views on sexual orientation and for not shying away from lesbian roles on television. Also, thank the "Los Angeles Times" for such an in-depth article on her. Contact: … Lisa Darr c/o Marc Scroggs, Paul Kohner, Inc., 9300 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 555, Beverly Hills, CA 900212; … Michael Parks, Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, fax: 213.237.4712, e-mail: letters@latimes.com. The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. Contact GLAAD by e-mail at glaad@glaad.org or by phone at 213.658.6775 (Los Angeles), 212.807.1700 (New York), 415.861.2244 (San Francisco), 202.986.1360 (Washington, DC), 404.607.1204 (Atlanta) and 816.374.5927 (Kansas City) Report defamation in the media by calling GLAAD's Toll-Free AlertLine! 1-800-GAY-MEDIA (1-800-429-6334) Visit GLAAD Online at http://www.glaad.org "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA - Call GLAAD's Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online. TO JOIN GLAAD AND RECEIVE GLAAD's DISPATCH AND QUARTERLY IMAGES MAGAZINE, call 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or join on the Web today at www.glaad.org/glaad/join/join-about.html TO SUBSCRIBE TO GLAAD-Net, GLAAD's electronic mailing list, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Subscribe GLAAD-Net" TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Unsubscribe GLAAD-Net" GLAAD is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.