Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 21:06:52 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert May 29, 1998 GLAADALERT--May 29, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation 1) McNally Play Will Run As Scheduled 2) Wall Street Journal Calls Hormel Controversy "Intolerance" 3) Will the Latest "Kid-Safety" Software Be A Solution? 4) Gay Parenting in the Philadelphia Inquirer 5) Sweeps Month Sleaze Criticism Continues In Detroit 6) A Small Town Gay Youth Tells of A Harrowing Year 7) Chicago Tribune Says Leather Is A Family Affair 8) GLAADAlert Reminder: Castro To Run in June McNally Play Will Run As Scheduled Last week, a number of media outlets, including Daily Variety and New York's Daily News, New York Post and New York Times, reported that the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) had canceled its plans for a fall/winter production of Corpus Christi, a new play by three-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally. A former GLAAD Media Award-winner, McNally has penned theatrical successes such as Love! Valour! Compassion!, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Master Class. But at a press conference held in New York City on May 28, the MTC announced its decision to reinstate the play. MTC Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove said in a prepared statement, "After information about the play appeared prematurely in the press, we received numerous death threats to Mr. McNally, and finally, a threat to exterminate the author, the staff, and our audiences, and 'burn the building to the ground.' We acted promptly and quickly to protect everyone involved, and we announced that we could not proceed responsibly to produce the play at this time. Within the last 24 hours, we have been in contact with New York City Police...which have been overwhelmingly supportive in stepping in to aid our endeavors and to give us the reasonable assurances we need to produce this play responsibly and safely." The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights complained that "the work 'featured a Christ-like character who has sex with the Apostoles' [sic.] and demanding a halt to public funding for the theatre." The MTC described McNally's latest work by saying: "From modern day Corpus Christi, Texas, to ancient Jerusalem, we follow a young gay man named Joshua on his spiritual journey, and get to know the twelve disciples who choose to follow him. In this World Premiere, Terrence McNally gives us his own unique view of 'the greatest story ever told.'" Upon learning of the decision to run the play as scheduled, Catholic League Communications Director Rick Hinshaw told the Daily News, "We will now contact every member of Congress and urge them to examine whether arts funding should go to a theater which would produce this kind of offensive, anti-religious material." While most of the media coverage has been in the form of small news items, the New York Times' attention to this issue has been extensive. Its coverage has included two articles appearing on the cover of its Arts section for two consecutive days, an insightful editorial, and on Friday May 29, a front page story. Please thank the MTC for renewing its plans to stage the production and tell the New York Times that you appreciate the deserved attention it gave this issue. Contact: … Bill Keller, Managing Editor, New York Times, 229 West 43rd St., NY, NY 10036-3959, fax: 212.556.3690, e-mail: letters@nytimes.com (include phone number when sending e-mails) … Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director, and Barry Grove, Executive Producer, Manhattan Theatre Club, 311 West 43rd St., 8th Floor, NY, NY 10036 Wall Street Journal Calls Hormel Controversy "Intolerance" In its May 21 "Politics and People" section, the Wall Street Journal discusses the blatant discrimination James Hormel, openly gay U.S. ambassadorial nominee for Luxembourg, is facing. His appointment "is languishing as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, pandering to the religious right, refuses to let it come to a vote in the full Senate. The Christian right engages in all manner of distortion to disguise the reason they oppose [him]: He is openly gay," writer Albert R. Hunt says. "The real significance of the confirmation struggle is what it says about the religious right, its clout with the Republican party and why the intolerance that has become its hallmark turns off many Americans." He continues, "Overreaching and outright fabrication are ubiquitous in the ugly fight against Mr. Hormel." Hunt points to multiple examples of inflammatory deception used by religious political extremist groups to try to stop the appointment. He adds that numerous conservative senators and Reagan Administration Secretary of State George Schultz have endorsed the appointment. "But several conservative senators, including James Inhofe (R-Okla)-who, incredibly, has likened Mr. Hormel to racist David Duke-are blocking even a vote on the nomination. They are doing the bidding of the conservative Christian organizations. Trent Lott figur[es] this is an easy bone to throw to the religious right. This may work. It matters little who is ambassador to Luxembourg. But what does matter and what is being revealed here is the intolerance of organization that too often call the tune in the Republican Party." Please let the Wall Street Journal know that this frank and insightful commentary on religious political extremist groups is appreciated. Contact: Paul Steiger, Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal, 200 Liberty St., NY, NY 10281-1003, fax: 212.416.2658 (until 4pm EST), e-mail: letter.editor@edit.wsj.com Will the Latest "Kid-Safety" Software Be A Solution? The latest product geared toward keeping children "safe" on the Internet is a surveillance/audit software program called Prudence and a specialized Website database application called EdView. Prudence was highlighted in a May 27 MSNBC article by Washington Technology Corespondent Brock Meeks in which he writes that the software "isn't a boon to parental responsibility: it is a recipe for disaster." Prudence tracks every page, every graphic, and every site a child visits on the Internet, e-mailing this document to parents. Meeks writes that Blue Wolf Network, which manufactures the software, claim that this new tracking method is an alternative to censoring information. But as Meeks points out, "I'd say that conversation should and could take place without using the hammer of threatened snooping.... Parents can always just install the software and let it snoop undetected by the kids. Now that's a wholesome environment. I can imagine the heated arguments that will break out at dinner tables across when Mom and Dad abruptly confront their curious kids with their covertly gathered evidence. This is using technology as a blunt instrument, like attempting to finesse a complex psychosis with electroshock therapy." While the story does not specifically address it, this kind of tracking could easily deter lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth from vital resources on the Internet. On the other hand, a software called EdView does not censor or track information. Instead, it operates on the theory of giving students "good" information. The software presents a database of "educational sites" reviewed by over one hundred educators. While this software may be limited and is still in development, according to an EdView spokesperson, "It is important for students of all ages to have access to information." In addition, this software does provide lesbian and gay sites. The company has also asked GLAAD to suggest other lesbian and gay educational sites to expand its database. Others can suggest sites at http://www.edview.com/referralentry.asp Please tell Blue Wolf Network that the theory of creating "an up-front dialogue" is a noble one. However, Prudence is potentially dangerous to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth who may not be ready to be confronted by their parents and who need the Internet to access community and information. Also, let EdView know that their software is a step in the right direction and that it is important for them to include more lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sites. Contact: … John Barrows, CEO, Blue Wolf Network, 1217 Spruce Street, Berkeley, CA 94709, fax: 510.849.9653, e-mail: wolfpack@bluewolf.net … Dr. Terrance S. Hitchcock, President, EdView, 301 Fourth Avenue South, Suite 470N, Minneapolis, MN 55415, fax: 612.338.6299, e-mail: webmaster@edview.com Gay Parenting in the Philadelphia Inquirer An article in the May 24 Philadelphia Inquirer reveals how children with same-sex parents view themselves and their families. "It is flux time for the American family, a time of blended and newly configured households. Social scientists have offered us precious few conclusions about family makeup, but one in recent years has been that for children, two parents are generally better than one," reporter Murray Dubin writes. "But what if the two parents are of the same sex, what then for their children?" Dubin interviews a number of adult children of lesbian mothers about their childhood experiences, including their experiences of love and comfort, challenges with how to tell friends about parents, and coming to understand the relationship their parents shared. "No one knows much about the long-term ramifications-if any-of growing up in a same-sex household. Finding adults who grew up with two mothers or two fathers is not simple." He notes the studies of esteemed University of Virginia psychologist Charlotte Patterson, who found no major differences between children raised in either parenting structure. "The differences were in self-concept and reaction to stress," he writes. Patterson, he continues, found that children with same-sex parents tended to have a greater sense of well-being, but that they had greater reactions to stress, and speculates that when living in a minority family, children do feel more stress, but have figured out how to handle it, and so have a better sense of self. Please thank the Philadelphia Inquirer for their article on lesbian- and gay-headed families which features leading experts-including psychologists and children. Contact: William Ward, Managing Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer, 400 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19130-4015, fax: 215.854.5884, e-mail: inquirer.letters@phillynews.com Sweeps Month Sleaze Criticism Continues In Detroit The May 28 Detroit Free Press features an article which exposes the sensationalism of a recent WDIV-TV news three-part sweeps period hidden camera "exposee" of public sex between men. Interviewing spokespeople for the news station and critics of the story, Free Press staff reporter John Smyntek notes, "The reports raised several issues worth examining in the broadcasts' aftermath." The WDIV story format used the a hidden camera placed in rest rooms with a reporter or camera man used as a decoy to encourage illicit sexual activity. Once again, the justification of this story's "newsworthiness" was the protection of children. Nothing really distinguished the sweeps month programming from the other two dozen or so done during February and May sweeps by local television news stations nationwide (see GLAADAlerts 5.22.98, 05.15.98, 03.13.98). Detroit Free Press's Smyntek looks at the story, issue by issue. WDIV News Director Deborah Collura denies it was related to sweeps. "But," Smyntek writes, "Keith Griffith, a San Francisco gay activist, says: 'About 20 TV stations' across the country did this same story, all during sweeps. 'Do they think the public is stupid?'" On the issue of privacy rights, Smyntek notes that Collura assured him that all hidden camera footage has since been erased, "but Lauren Bernstein of the Los Angeles-based Privacy Forum was wary. 'It doesn't seem completely appropriate to create tapes like that [in the first place]. You might have cameramen chuckling over the photos,' or saving them for private use unbeknownst to station management. '[The people in the those rest rooms] should have a reasonable expectation of privacy...One cannot help but view this as exploitative of innocent people.'" Please commend the Detroit Free Press for examining the issue of some journalistic standards being sacrificed for the sake of sweeps month ratings at the cost of the lesbian and gay community. Contact: Robert McGruder, Managing Editor, Detroit Free Press, 321 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226-2706, fax: 313.222.5981 A Small Town Gay Youth Tells of A Harrowing Year On May 26 an excellent Moscow-Pullman [Idaho] Daily News article profiled local high school student Joshua Dyer as he looked back on coming out at the start of his senior year. "Dyer spent his senior year at Pullman High School as an openly gay male, experiencing harassment, losing friends and receiving death threats," it begins. "Then, while presenting his senior project on gay issues last week, Dyer announced it had all been an act: He was a heterosexual who had wanted to experience homosexual harassment firsthand for his research paper." It continues by quoting Dyer: "I'm still the same person I've always been. The only thing that has changed is the labels people use to describe me. If people don't have a label for me, it makes them uncomfortable and, hopefully, gets them thinking." The Daily News continues, "Dyer is gay, and certainly not ashamed about it. But he felt the heterosexual fib was needed during his presentation to make people listen to his message: Homophobia is damaging to gays and straights alike." The article discusses the numerous difficulties and threats Dyer has endured from peers over the past year, as well as the mixed support he received from teachers, "Dyer says he doesn't consider the school a safe place for others to come out. 'It was just a small group of people who harassed me,' Dyer said. 'But that small group makes a big difference.'" In addition, the Daily News interviews teacher Gloria Tinder, who oversaw Dyer's project, and notes that Dyer learned "just as much as his fellow students. 'There were times that maybe Josh made assumptions about why his friends were acting a certain way and assumed they weren't accepting him,' Tinder said. 'But then we'd talk and hear a different side, that they were just confused or unsure of how to handle something.'" Please thank the Moscow-Pullman Daily News for their enlightening article about challenges facing lesbian and gay youth, especially in a small community. Contact: Rick Hoover, Managing Editor, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, 409 S. Jackson, Moscow, ID 83843-2251, fax: 208.883.8205, e-mail: letters@moscow.com Chicago Tribune Says Leather Is A Family Affair The May 22 Chicago Tribune features an unusually sensitive and objective story about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leather community. Based around the 20th Annual International Mr. Leather (IML) contest, the article traces the leather community back to Chuck Renslow, "who is considered the 'daddy' of the community because he opened this first leather bar in the United States in Chicago in 1958." The story continues, "Ask men and women who go [to IML] what makes it so special, and they will tell you...[it] is like a big family reunion for the leather fetish community." The article explains basic leather dress codes saying that among men, "the look is decidedly masculine, a studied approximation of male icons." The story also notes that many women are also members of the community, and for the past 12 years have competed in the International Ms. Leather (IMSL). "Yet the chilly reception Renslow and other leather folk received four decades ago can still be felt in more politically correct circles within the gay community," it says. "Still, gays and lesbians in general are more tolerant of other lifestyles than are heterosexuals, who have never had to label themselves in a sexual sense. And many into leather are straight. [Renslow] believes that among leather folk, divisions often found between the genders in the gay and lesbian community gradually will melt away." Please thank the Chicago Tribune for their objective story which reveals the humanity of the community. Contact: Ann Marie Lipinski, Managing Editor, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-4003, fax: 312.222.2598, e-mail: tribletter@aol.com GLAADAlert Reminder: Castro To Run in June The Castro (see GLAADAlerts 4.17.98, 3.14.98), the Peabody Award-winning documentary produced for San Francisco public television station KQED, will be airing on many public broadcasting stations nationwide as part of the celebration of June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. The Peabody committee describes the documentary as "an informative, unusual and provocative look at San Francisco's Castro District that reveals how one neighborhood became the cornerstone for a social and political movement." A majority of participating stations will run the documentary on June 12. However, make sure to check your local listings. To find information about PBS affiliates and their programming, check out the PBS Website at: http://www.pbs.org 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), 404.876.1398 (Atlanta) and 816.756.5991 (Kansas City) 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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