Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 20:52:37 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert July 2, 1998 GLAADALERT-July 2, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation EDITOR'S NOTE: GLAAD has been monitoring and analyzing an immense amount of Pride coverage from across the country, and the July 9 GLAADAlert will include a special Media Round-up on the nation's coverage...Watch for it next week! GLAADAlert Index: 1) "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Is Hell 2) GLAAD Media Round-up: GOP in the Crosshairs 3) Getting Air Play If You're Gay 4) Anchorage Daily News Shows its Readers a Special Family Album 5) Hate Rhetoric, Hate Violence: Spotlighting the Link 6) Deconstructing Homophobia 7) Just Saying No To Youth Who Hate 1) "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Is Hell The New York Times Magazine's June 18 cover featured a dramatic shot of a U.S. Marine in formal dress, his rigid salute hiding his face-with good reason: The accompanying story by Jennifer Egan was entitled "The Shadow Life of a Gay Marine." Egan focuses primarily on the experiences of a longtime officer, whom she calls "R." for the sake of anonymity, although it does include comments from a number of other military personnel. R., who plans to leave the Marines at the conclusion of his present enlistment, tells of the extreme burden which is imposed by being gay in the military-problems which have in fact been perpetuated by the government's so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. "[B]y forcing homosexuals to remain invisible, R. says, the policy deprives gay military people of the chance to prove themselves and begin to dispel the prejudices against them," writes Egan. "'The best way to change people's attitudes is the personal one-on-one relationship,' he says...But under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' R. could be discharged simply for having told his friend that he is homosexual." Egan notes that the isolation and invisibility of gays in the military also "leaves R. and his friends in something of a no man's land: socialized by the military but divided from it by sexual orientation; bound to gay culture by definition, yet culturally estranged from it." And she further writes of the personal impact which the military closet can have upon servicemembers as well, noting the example of P., another officer she met through R.: "Each month, P. recalls, a videotape would arrive on his ship, fashioned by the Officers' Wives Club, filled with greetings from loved ones," writes Egan. P. responds by saying that "Everybody else in the squadron's wife or girlfriend would be in the video saying, 'Hey, honey, how're you doing?'...And you'd be the only one without anything on that tape." Egan's conclusion includes one of the article's most poignant comments, explaining R.'s decision to retire: "R. joined the Marines for the brotherhood, the esprit de corps, and ultimately, his sense of brotherhood has been eroded by the years of hiding." Throughout this nine-page article, Egan treats her subjects with refreshing compassion and honesty. She brings to light significant deficiencies in the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and makes all too real for her readers the hardships that lesbian and gay servicemembers face. In an unusual and perceptive mention, Egan notes in the beginning of the piece that bisexuals are affected by the policy as well. Egan sensitively addresses the personal pain felt by so many servicemembers, the unique isolation they feel, and quotes retired Army Gen. Vance Coleman, himself an African-American, who points out that arguments against allowing lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in the military are almost identical to those formerly used against allowing blacks to serve alongside whites. Throughout, Egan uses solid reporting, on-point quotes and an empathic awareness of the plight of lesbian and gay servicemembers to produce a particularly thoughtful and thought-provoking piece. Please thank The New York Times Magazine for its compelling portrait that puts a human face on a controversial government policy. Contact: Adam Moss, Editor, and Jennifer Egan, Reporter, New York Times Magazine, 229 West 43rd St., NY, NY 10036-3959 2) GLAAD Media Round-up: GOP in the Crosshairs One of this week's hot-button political stories centered on efforts by a number of GOP conservatives to rescind President Clinton's executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in federal jobs. That, combined with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's recent comments equating homosexuality with kleptomania and conservative efforts to block gay philanthropist James Hormel's confirmation as ambassador to Luxembourg, enticed political analysts to examine the GOP "trend." Even some journalists who usually speak with conservative voices lambasted the tactic as divisive and ill-advised. Here are some examples: … The New York Times ran a June 30 front-page analysis of the flurry of anti-gay comments by conservative leaders and noting that those remarks have left other Republicans trying to distance themselves from a feared backlash. … One June 24, conservative columnist Arianna Huffington wrote of Lott, "Our nation's Senate Majority Leader went on Armstrong Williams' show and compared homosexuality to alcoholism, sex addiction and kleptomania. I think a more apt metaphor is Trent Lott's Senate leadership record and chronic fatigue syndrome." … Cokie and Steven V. Roberts, in a syndicated column published in newspapers including the New York Daily News (June 24) and the Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune (June 27), wrote, "The religious right is a legitimate force in Republican politics and deserves to be heard but they threaten to stain the whole party with their brand of self-righteous intolerance." … Columnist Rob Morse wrote in his June 28 San Francisco Examiner piece, "Yes, politicians lectured the American people on sexuality and sin while killing major tobacco legislation and who knows how many teenagers." … The lead editorial in the June 27 edition of New York's Daily News, which was entitled "Some Straight Talk About the GOP", read: "[O]ne doesn't have to be a Republican to be embarrassed, for this is more than a GOP frat-boy fight. The demonization of gays is un-American." 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) … Arianna Huffington, c/o Creators Syndicate, 577 West Century Blvd. #700, LA, CA 90045-5677 … Michael Parks, Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, LA, CA 90053, fax: 213.237.7679, e-mail: letters@latimes.com … Christopher Hull, Managing Editor, United Feature Syndicate, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, NY, NY 10016-3903 … Sharon Rosenhause, Managing Editor, and Rob Morse, Columnist, San Francisco Examiner, PO Box 7260, San Francisco, CA 94120-7260 … Michael Goodwin, Editorial Page Editor, Daily News, 450 West 33rd St., NY, NY 10001-2681, fax: 212.643.7832, e-mail: letters@dailynews.com 3) Getting Air Play If You're Gay Being an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender recording artist is still one tough job-but at least it is no longer impossible, says an article in the June 27 Billboard Magazine. The article quotes Raleigh, North Carolina, record store manager Naomi Collier as saying, "'I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being somewhat conservative when it comes to stocking music by gay artists who aren't at the superstar level like Elton John or Melissa Etheridge. I know it's not fair, but when you're dealing with the extraordinarily high volume of releases that retailers do, it's hard to justify stepping out on a limb for a specialty group." Being out is worth it anyway, say some recording artists quoted in the article. Says Alan Wiley, who recently made his debut on Short round records with "Soundtrack," "I'm out in my lyrics and that makes a certain segment of the population uncomfortable. I like that. I'm not making my music for them. What's important to me is that I could possibly make somebody else feel a little better about where they are in life." This well-balanced article does a solid job of presenting several interesting aspects of seeking success as an openly lesbian or gay recording artist in a culture that is still predominantly heterosexual. Please thank Billboard for its matter-of-fact presentation of sexual orientation as a factor that can have an impact upon an artist's recording career. Contact: Susan Nunziata, Managing Editor, Billboard, 1515 Broadway, 14th Floor, NY, NY 10036-8901, fax: 212.536.5345, e-mail: snunziata@billboard.com 4) Anchorage Daily News Shows its Readers a Special Family Album A prominent photo in Alaska's June 18 Anchorage Daily News shows an African-American family-two adults, two kids-all smiling for the camera. Other photos show other families. The captions reveal the accompanying article's intent by noting "that these are not traditional families. The extra guy in the photo is Daddy's lover. The two women aren't sisters but life partners. The man gently coddling a baby actually is a transgender woman. These are not ordinary families. And yet they are ordinary." Thus begins the newspaper's coverage of the traveling photo exhibit "Love Makes a Family: Living in Lesbian and Gay Families," which was on exhibit in Anchorage. These photos and text work together to create a positive and affirming look at an important but under-covered segment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life. Please thank the Anchorage Daily News for its sensitive treatment of this important topic. Contact: Pat Dougherty, Managing Editor, Anchorage Daily News, PO Box 149001, Anchorage, AK 99514-9001, fax: 907.258.2157, e-mail: pdougherty@adn.com 5) Hate Rhetoric, Hate Violence: Spotlighting the Link Asks lesbian columnist Debbie Woodell in the June 26 Philadelphia Daily News: "What is more frightening-Pat Robertson's prophecy of doom for Orlando, Fla., or someone helping it come true?" Woodell said the TV minister's widely-quoted statements were "funny, in a sick sort of way, for about a minute, until you realized someone might actually take him seriously. Oh, someone already has? That would be the 19-year-old from Orlando who is accused of ripping down dozens of those rainbow flags because he worried that God's wrath would rain down on the city...Okay, so it was only property destroyed in Orlando...But I have a prediction too. I did not turn to the Bible, but relied instead on my own God-given common sense: Someone will get killed or seriously hurt because of what Pat Robertson said. My crystal ball is not clear enough to show whether it will be a teenage boy fatally beaten in an alley or community center ripped apart by a blast. Maybe both. But someone will try to get in God's-and Robertson's-good graces." Woodell's point is precisely on target. For at least three years now, annual hate crime reports issued by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs have shown a direct link between anti-gay rhetoric and anti-gay violence. Most recently, the Coalition's report on 1997 incidents demonstrated that the most attacks against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people occurred in May and June-the two months which preceded the ABC sitcom Ellen's coming-out episodes and which included vocal criticism from conservative opponents of the show. Aside from New York Times columnist Frank Rich, Woodell has been essentially alone among mainstream media writers in bringing to light this alarming linkage of homophobic rhetoric and homophobic violence. Please commend Woodell for her perceptive exposure of a little-examined but very real consequence of public figures' expressions of homophobia. Contact: Ellen Foley, Managing Editor, and Debbie Woodell, Philadelphia Daily News, 400 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130-4015, fax: 215.854.5910, e-mail: dailynews.opinion@phillynews.com 6) Deconstructing Homophobia Columnist William Wineke, in the June 27 Wisconsin State Journal, asks: "Can someone define for me what a 'homosexual lifestyle' is? The phrase seems used generally as the second part of a statement about gay and lesbian people. The first part goes something like, 'we don't hate the homosexual...' and ends criticizing the 'homosexual lifestyle.' That all sounds somewhat reasonable, but I don't really know what these people are talking about...The term 'homosexual lifestyle' conjures up images of lurid orgies and San Francisco bath houses and, I guess, such exist. This is a big, diverse country, and there are many, many weird people in it. Some of them, I'm sure, are gay and lesbian. But not the men and women I know." Wineke uses a light touch and a heavy dose of common sense to deconstruct one of the most common homophobic buzz phrases in a way that spotlights its ultimate lack of meaning. Please thank the Wisconsin State Journal for this perceptive column. Contact: Clifford C. Behnke, Managing Editor, Wisconsin State Journal, PO Box 8505, Madison, WI 53708, fax: 608.252.6119, e-mail: wsjopine@madison.com 7) Just Saying No To Youth Who Hate "Something is terribly wrong at San Ramon Valley High School," begins a June 17 editorial in California's San Ramon Valley Times. "This is a campus where...students spit on a Gay Pride Week display and someone skulks back after dark to scrawl 'God hates fags' and 'Fags must die' on the school's walls. This is a campus in trouble. It is in trouble because the young people who have committed these acts don't know that their actions are wrong...this is a school district whose parents worked day and night on Measure D, a bond measure, to make sure that their children will go to schools that are in decent physical condition...It would be nice to see them spend as much energy making sure their children understand the great social and moral lessons of the 19th and 20th centuries-what slavery and fascism mean, and the consequences of intolerance...That is what the children in their care need now. They need it desperately." This forceful editorial focuses on real effects of several incidents of intolerance at the San Ramon Valley High School, including attacks against already at-risk lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The editorial also directs suggestions for corrective action toward the city's schools and churches, and especially toward parents who tolerate hate. Please write to thank the San Ramon Valley Times for its recognition of the gravity of the problems at its local high school and its direct approach toward a solution. Contact: Karen Magnuson, Managing Editor, San Ramon Valley Times, P.O. Box 68, Danville, CA 94526, fax: 925.837.4334, e-mail: SRVTimes@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), 404.876.1398 (Atlanta) and 816.756.5991 (Kansas City) Feel free to pass GLAADAlert on to friends, family and associates! 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