Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 18:52:47 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert August 27, 1998 GLAADALERT - August 27, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation GLAADAlert Index: 1) Wall Street Journal Tackles Controversy Sparked By Ads 2) "Conversion" Therapy: Blue Smoke, Fear and Mirrors? 3) People's Growing Up Gay: The Challenges - and the Possibilities 4) Time Magazine: "Gay Films Are Moving Into the Mainstream" 5) Island Paradise? 6) (Editor's Note) 1) Wall Street Journal Tackles Controversy Sparked By Ads Two widely varying views about lesbian and gay civil rights were presented in the Wall Street Journal in August. In an Aug. 13 opinion piece, Yale computer science professor David Gelernter suggests a compromise between lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender persons (lgbt) and those opposing their civil rights. While lgbt persons should not have the right to marry, he says, they should not face discrimination in housing, in being able to serve in the military or at work - "so long as they keep their sexual preferences to themselves." Referring to the recent ad campaign by religious-political extremists, which argued that lgbt persons can change their sexual orientation, Gelernter suggests a compromise: that lgbt civil rights "should be off the public agenda. We don't want to see the ads. We don't want to see the counter-ads." In the Journal's Aug. 20 "Politics & People" column, Albert R. Hunt argues that conservative Christians' actions are influenced by political rather than religious goals. "Whether on the offense or defense," Hunt writes, "the religious right sets this predicate: If you're with them, you are a person of faith; if you are against them, you're not." Hunt writers that "demagogic intolerance is central to the religious right's political agenda, such as the diatribe against gays, a top priority. ...Now, there's room for spirited debate between persons of faith over gay marriages, whether gays should serve in the military or be able to adopt children. But one's opinions on these issues doesn't determine whether or not one is a good Christian." The first column's assumptions and conclusions are as shaky as the second's are solid. Gelertner throughout makes sweeping assertions that attempt but fail to disguise failures of objective reasoning. For example, he argues that lgbt persons do not need marriage rights, that "if two homosexuals want to live together in love and devotion, who's stopping them?" No one, probably - but to date, every single state prevents same-gender couples from enjoying the long list of financial and social benefits accruing to heterosexual marrieds. Hunt's column, in contrast, is thick with examples to illustrate his points. However, they attempt to cloak their actions in scripture, he says, those organizing the current campaign against lgbt civil rights have as much, perhaps more, of a political agenda than a religious one. Gelertner's column repeatedly offered sweeping, unsupported and highly arguable assumptions. Please discuss with the Wall Street Journal how Gelertner's column creates a lost opportunity for engaging in more informed and closely reasoned debate on the same topic. Please thank the newspaper and columnist Hunt for his thorough, example-rich look at how religious-political extremists' agendas often intersect more with the political than the religious. Contact: Paul Steiger, Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal, 200 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281-1003, fax: 212.416.2658 (until 4pm EST), e-mail: letter.editor@edit.wsj.com 2) "Conversion" Therapy: Blue Smoke, Fear and Mirrors? In the Aug. 26 Newsday, author Sandy Rapp examines the historical context for so-called "conversion" therapies - which in former decades often meant medical "treatments" such as electro-shock therapy. She links the one-time popularity of such treatments to a concurrent shift toward "thinking of homosexuals as 'sick' rather than 'sinful.'" Noting that "sinners" once were burned at the stake, she writes that seeing homosexuality as mental illness meant "one needn't always set fire to the diseased. ...One didn't have to fry the whole gay person, just the brain." Medical treatments such as electro-shock now are almost universally discredited, Rapp writes. However, "attempts at religion-induced conversions persist" - and are as ineffective: They often lean on sexual abstinence - but "behaving heterosexually is not the equivalent of being heterosexual. ...Immeasurable harm can be done." She concludes, "The pseudo-medicine of religious 'reparation' is blatantly politicized by the Christian Coalition and others. Their strategy is fund-raising through fear-mongering. In fact, ignorance is the only problem and education is the only answer." Rapp's column briskly examines a still-underreported aspect of the "ex-gay" movement's claim that lgbt persons can become heterosexual. She places the current foment by extremists for such religious-induced "conversions" firmly in its larger historical and scientific context. Therefore, she is able to state unequivocally that such therapies not only are dismissed by almost all major U.S. psychiatric and psychological associations but also are known as able to cause "incalculable" harm. Please express to Newsday the value of Rapp's much-needed and still under- emphasized considerations in the "conversion" debate: That such "therapies" largely have been discredited because they do not work - and more importantly, that they can inflict significant psychological damage on those they purport to help. Contact: Pat Brandt, Editor, Part Two, Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville, NY 11747-4250, fax: 516.843.2953 3) People's Growing Up Gay: The Challenges - and the Possibilities A lengthy report in the Aug. 17 People magazine examines the challenges of growing up as lesbian or gay. The article writes: "For America's teenagers, coming out can be a harrowing - yet ultimately liberating - experience." The magazine cites a 1995 poll of more than 4,000 students conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Education, which concluded that "the high school years are rife with abuse of homosexuals, some of it self-inflicted. Gay males and lesbians were five times more likely than straight kids to skip school out of fear for their safety. ...Even more alarming: According to the survey, a stunning 36.5 percent of gay and lesbian high schoolers try to kill themselves each year." Nonetheless, the article concludes, "Despite all the obstacles, it is still possible to grow up gay, healthy and safe within the educational mainstream." The article examines fully, but without sensationalizing, the many challenges that can face lesbian and gay youth. It cites the most authoritative studies and quotes persons established as national experts. Through well-chosen interviews, it personalizes the story effectively. Finally, while not glossing over the statistical dangers facing lesbian and gay youth, it is careful to point out that with basic safeguards - school teachers and administrators refusing to tolerate homophobia from other students, for instance - it still is possible to grow up both gay and healthy. Please thank People magazine for this thorough, factual and highly accessible examination of members of the lgbt community whose vulnerability and challenges are outweighed only by their resiliency, determination and courage. Contact: Carol Wallace, Managing Editor, People Magazine, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY 10020, fax: 212.522.0794, e-mail: editor@people.com 4) Time Magazine: "Gay Films Are Moving Into the Mainstream" Richard Corliss's article in the "Arts/Cinema" section of the Aug. 24 Time magazine begins with a familiar film scenario: "Fate, that impish old bitch, has thrown the smart one and the cute one in bed together for the first time." The hook: both characters are men. Corliss characterizes the movie, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, as "a bubbly musical comedy romance ...as modest as it is beguiling." But, he says, "the trend it represents has some heft to it. There are more gay-theme independent films than ever. ...And they aim to appeal to viewers of all sexual orientations. Gays have come out of the celluloid closet and into the movie mainstream." Corliss qualifies that statement by noting that in mainstream films such as As Good As It Gets, gay men appear in "sympathetic but supporting roles," while in independent films, "which are made inexpensively for niche audiences, gays get star treatment." Among examples he cites: The Opposite of Sex and Love and Death on Long Island. Just as important, Corliss writes, is that instead of ghettoizing the gay experience, many of the new films integrate it into the larger society: "gays and straights laughing, loving, misunderstanding one another." What Corliss calls "the new Gay Wave" has as its goal, he says, "to tear off the labels of stereotype, the better to consider the common fabric of our emotional lives." Many of these films never are expected to draw the major box office of a Titanic or even a Full Monte, Corliss writes: "They appeal to people who are open to gays and to modestly experimental films. ...The point isn't that everyone needs to see these films. It is that ëoutí films are finally and fully out there." With perception and insight, Corliss analysizes several recent and current releases to develop a snapshot as detailed as it is entertaining of the advances the film industry has made in portraying lesbians and gay men, and in its realistic inclusion of lesbian and gay characters in films, and its increased acceptance of films centered on lesbian or gay characters. Please convey to Time magazine your appreciation for this informed and accessible analysis of an encouraging entertainment industry trend. Contact: Walter Isaacson, Managing Editor, Time Magazine, Time-Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, fax: 212.522.8949, e-mail: Letters@time.com (include phone and address with all correspondence) 5) Island Paradise? The sub-headline on the Saturday, Aug. 22, feature in the Miami Herald laid it all out: "Broward's 'Island City' is becoming known as a gay-friendly community." The story, by staff writer Liz Doup, details how Wilton Manors, a tree-lined residential community north of Fort Lauderdale has drawn lesbians and gay men attracted by the friendly atmosphere and reasonable real estate and rental prices. The article details how a main shopping center is dominated by gay-owned or gay-friendly businesses, how a gay man is vice-mayor. Doup writes, "Like every community, Wilton Manors has always been home to gay residents. A big difference today is the increased visibility and clout." She tells how the previous mayor, "who was seen as anti-gay, was soundly bounced from office in March." The report uses the more accurate "lesbians and gay men" terminology to describe our community. It has a finely-developed awareness of the realities of the lgbt role in American life, as witnessed by noting, "Like any community, Wilton Manors has always been home to gay residents." Doup also recognizes the community's extensive diversity, noting that one man moved to Wilton Manors because he was tired of the more high profile South Beach gay social scene. Please convey to Doup and the Miami Herald your appreciation of an informed report that portrays lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender persons as homeowners, business owners, family members and professionals, sharing the same concerns as their heterosexual neighbors. Contact: Larry Olmstead, Managing Editor, Miami Herald, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693, fax: 305.376.8950, e-mail: HeraldEd@herald.com 6) Editor's Note: GLAAD will soon report on the new movie 54, in general release Aug. 28. The Miramax Films production is centered on Studio 54, the famous Manhattan nightclub. 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 (LA), 212.807.1700 (NY), 415.861.2244 (San Francisco), 202.986.1360 (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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