Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 20:54:01 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert 01.23.98 GLAADALERT January 23, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Save Ellen's Future! ABC will soon be announcing its decision on whether or not to renew Ellen for a new season. While producers to the show are committed to its ongoing success and the program's ratings have remained constant, ABC has continued its love/hate relationship with Ellen's open and realistic representations of lesbian and gay life. Ellen consistently wins in its timeslot. But ABC continues to be assaulted by constant pressure from radical religious groups targeting ABC and its parent company, Disney, based on their inclusion of gay people. The anti-gay group American Family Association is now urging their ranks to demand that ABC pull the show, claiming that such a decision would indicate that Americans reject fair representations of lesbians and gay men. Ellen needs your support now! Let ABC and Disney know how much you value the show. Please include testimonials on how this show is especially important to young people dealing with their own sexual orientation, to families dealing with understanding a lesbian or gay family member and to viewers of quality television everywhere. Contact: … Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, 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. Leave Your Stamp on History! The U.S. Postal Service is planning an upcoming stamp collection commemorating the twentieth century, and there is a chance that lesbian and gay history could be included--with your participation. For the "Celebrate the Century" campaign, stamps will be issued to commemorate each decade, and the public will get to vote on which ones will honor the 1950s-1990s. The nominations to be voted on by the public will be chosen by the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC). This committee needs to hear from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and those concerned with honoring America's lesbian and gay heritage, and GLAAD is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to ensure that Americans will be able to vote for a major lesbian and gay event in American history as a possible candidate for the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. "This is a unique opportunity for our community to have a direct impact on lesbian and gay visibility in a medium that Americans use every day--stamps," said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. "While there are lesbian, gay and bisexual people represented in some stamps (Bessie Smith, James Dean, Tennessee Williams and Cole Porter, most notably), our community's larger history is invisible in the world of stamps." Please ask the CSAC to include the Stonewall Riots for the 1960s, slain civil rights leader and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk for the 1970s, the 1987 display of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington, D.C. for the 1980s and the historic 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Civil Rights and Liberation. In addition, explain why each event holds special historical meaning. Act quickly, as the ballots for the 1960s could be finalized as early as the beginning of March! Contact: Stamps Department, Attn.: Dr. Virginia Noelke, Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, RM 4474E, Washington, D.C. 20260-6753 Go on, "Girlfriend" While she may be coy about her own sexual orientation, rapper Queen Pen's new song, "Girlfriend," openly discusses a liaison with a woman from the perspective of her female lover. From the album My Melody, the chorus of "Girlfriend" starts: "Girlfriend, girlfriend--Yes, I had your girlfriend/If that was your girlfriend/She wasn't last night." It continues: "I'll be/The one that your main squeeze been digging/Pull you out your closet/Sex so wicked/It's my business what I do." After telling the guy who thought the woman was his girlfriend a few things about her and the evening they spent together, she finishes by addressing the woman, saying, "It never ceases to amaze me/Break it down/'Cause I like to get down/I will/I love to love you baby." In the world of rap music, affirmations of lesbians and gay men are slim to none, and this explicit, proud work is both an homage to Me'Shell N'degeocello and a celebration of women passionately loving other women. Let Interscope Records and Queen Pen know you appreciate this sassy, tight song. Also, encourage local radio stations and dance clubs to give it a spin. Contact: Interscope Records, 10900 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1230, Los Angeles, CA 90024, fax: 310.208.6547, e-mail: interscope@interscope.com. Discovering the Hypothalamus The February issue of Discover magazine's "Science Classics" cartoon column discussed the nature/nurture debate of sexual orientation as it relates to the hypothalamus. One panel's caption explains how "When a region of the human brain was found to be smaller in homosexual men than in heterosexual men, it was suggested that the brain difference might somehow cause the difference in sexual preference." The picture shows two men holding hands, with one asking, "Hey, how's your hypothalamus?" and the other responding, "Small!" The next panel's caption reads, "But the brain isn't just an information processor...It's also an organ, and organs can change their size and shape." The picture has one of the men suddenly all buff, saying, "Like, look at what happened to my biceps since the last panel." After discussing a study about this theory, it concludes in one panel that, "Differences between brains may be the result, rather than the cause of differences in behavior [such as sexual orientation]." The boys say, "Oh well, who cares?" and "Um, I care about biceps now." Without moralizing about either nature or nurture, the cartoon explains the basic debate around the gay hypothalamus theory in a light-hearted, highly accessible way. Let Discover know that this fun approach to scientific theory around sexual orientation is valuable and engaging. Contact: Marc Zabludoff, Editor In Chief, Discover, 114 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011-5604, fax: 212.633.4817 Blue Boy Is Back The cast of ABC's critically acclaimed NYPD Blue once again features the sensitive, together gay police aide John, played by Bill Broctrup. In the past, John was occasionally given storylines, and as a soft-spoken openly gay man, he brought both calm and dignity to the police station. Broctrup left the show two years ago to pursue larger roles on two other Steven Bochco productions, Public Morals and Total Security, both of which have subsequently been canceled. Please commend Bochco's production company for bringing back John and encourage them to develop major plotlines for the character. Contact: Steven Bochco Productions, 10201 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035 GLAADAlert Media Round-Up: Media Play On AOL and McVeigh For the past two weeks, the story of sailor Timothy McVeigh's discharge proceedings for allegedly being gay has unfolded. At issue is the Navy's apparent abuse of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (EPCA) in asking America Online to reveal McVeigh's identity after his screen name identified his married status as "gay." In addition, AOL broke their own terms of service, and possibly the EPCA, by giving the information to the Navy. Around the country, media have been weighing in on the rights of privacy and the aggressive pursuit of gay servicemembers by the military in an electronic age. Following are some of the best and worst media moments: … On January 16, San Jose Mercury News Technology Columnist Dan Gillmor wrote, "As more and more supposedly private information goes into databases, we'll have to do more to ensure that businesses and governments insist on handling the data properly. They need to keep it safe from internal misuse. When it comes to private information, let's apply at least part of the military's policy: Don't tell." … Frank Rich, in his January 17 New York Times column, compares the two Timothy McVeighs, noting that this McVeigh has "served his country for 17 years with a spotless record," earned many medals, and has excellent performance reviews. During the Oklahoma City bomber McVeigh's Army stint, he "was known for fomenting racial polarization by slurring his black peers, openly trafficked in anti-Semitic and racist literature, and participated in the activities of organizations toying with armed resistance to the Government." Rich asks, "What does it say about Americans fairness and justice--let alone our priorities in national security--that the military looked the other way at that McVeigh's ostentatious public psychosis while it torments the exemplary McVeigh for the 'crime' of having a private life that should be nobody's business but his own?" … The New York Post demonized Timothy McVeigh as the wrongdoer in this whole affair, claiming in a January 20 editorial that since the AOL screen name was "boysrch," which presumably means "boy search," McVeigh might be a dangerous child molester. "There is a warranted nationwide concern about the use of cyberspace as a hidden network for pedophiles, and here was McVeigh, sending out e-mail that sounded as though he were targeting for his attentions the children of his shipmates." In reality, McVeigh was co-planning a Christmas charity toy drive for the kids of the base, but leave it to the Post to disregard facts when they think bigotry sells more papers. … Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer wrote on January 20, "Chatting online under a pseudonym is clearly a private activity....Once again, it is the homophobes who are the real threat to the integrity of the Navy. Clearly they are the likely security risks since they have demonstrated so little respect for the law. Instead of fabricating evidence to frame dedicated members of the military, the Pentagon should be educating its officers in the lessons of tolerance. It is not the business of the military in a free society to make war on its own people." … On Sunday, January 25 at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and again Pacific), CNN's Impact will devote the program to the ways in which the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is also used to silence women who fend off sexual harassment and abuse by threatening to call them lesbians. … On January 21, AOL admitted "Our member services representative did confirm information presented to him by the Navy. This clearly should not have happened and we regret it....This was a case of human error under very unusual circumstances," adding that, "The Navy deliberately ignored both Federal law and well-established procedures for handling government inquiries about AOL members." They said they are "instituting additional measures that will reinforce our privacy policies and procedures to our member services representatives." Contact: … Dan Gillmor, c/o San Jose Mercury News, 750 Ridder Park Dr., San Jose, CA 95190-0001, fax: 408.920.5917, e-mail: dgillmor@sjmercury.com … Frank Rich, c/o New York Times, 229 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036-3959 … Ken Chandler, Editor, New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-8790 … Robert Scheer, c/o Los Angeles Times, Times-Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 … Pamela Hill, Executive Producer, Impact, One CNN Center, Atlanta, GA 30303, fax: 404.827.4443, e-mail c/o: kimberly.buckwalter@turner.com … Steve Case, President and CEO, America Online, 8619 Westwood Center Drive, Vienna, VA 22182, e-mail: stevecase@aol.com The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation in the media as a means of challenging homophobia and 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), and 404.607.1204 (Atlanta) Feel free to pass GLAADAlert on to friends, family and associates! 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. 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