Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 19:32:10 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert - September 24, 1998 GLAADALERT -- September 24, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation 1) Two Thumbs Up: Roger Ebert Talks About Drag 2) A&E Gives an Investigative Report on the "Transgender Revolution" 3) Toledo Blade Says "Nice Try" to Schmitz's Beef with Jenny Jones 4) Salt Lake Tribune Offers Intelligent Story, Strong Editorial 5) First-Person Take on Bisexuality 6) Miami Herald: Liberals' Last Exception 7) A Reasoned Discussion of the Attack Ads 8) A Candidate Can't Be Both Gay and Moral? 9) GLAADAlert Reminder: 1) Two Thumbs Up: Roger Ebert Talks About Drag Why, a Seattle reader asked film critic Roger Ebert, do so many movies with gay themes revolve around drag queen performances? "'It's as if the movies believe that if you're gay, you automatically find yourself drawn to divas a la Streisand. ... Here's an idea: Make a 'gay' movie where the sexuality is secondary to the characters' intellect, personality and charm.'" In a column that appeared in the Sept. 20 Chicago Sun Times, Ebert replied, "I referred your question to San Francisco film critic B. Ruby Rich, who coined the term 'New Queer Cinema' ... She replied that drag in film is a phenomenon 'of 'straight' Hollywood. It's the image that heterosexuals want to see: cute, campy, gay critters that are just so fun and not threatening at all. ... The other new favorite is the gay best friend, such as Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding. ... The independent films made by gay and lesbian filmmakers generally have had little use for drag." Ebert admirably fielded the question by consulting a colleague considered expert in this particular segment of film industry knowledge. He did not paraphrase but let her answer the question in her own words, and allowed her enough space to give a compact but thorough explanation. Please thank Roger Ebert for providing his readers with information that debunks a stereotype - that gay-themed films all involve drag - while telling readers that gays and lesbians are making their own, independent films - which generally leave Hollywood stereotypes far behind. Contact: Roger Ebert, c/o Andrews McMeel Universal, 4520 Main St., #700, Kansas City, MO 64111-1816 2) A&E Gives an Investigative Report on the "Transgender Revolution" On Monday, October 5, at 9 p.m. EST/10 p.m. PDT, A&E's Investigative Reports (IR) airs its one-hour feature on the transgender rights movement. IR, executive produced and hosted by Bill Kurtis, interviews more than a dozen transgender activists and individuals, beginning with Tonye Barreto-Neto, founder of Transgender Officers Protect and Serve (TOPS). Barreto-Neto is shown at home and at work, interacting with his wife, daughter and friends. IR also speaks with a man in shadow, who calls himself "Terry," described as "a good ol' boy from the South," who, "in reality [is] a woman, who's about to undergo a dangerous sex-change operation." IR accompanies "Terry," his wife and his mother to the hospital. According to IR, sex reassignment surgery is significant for some transgender people because of its implications for legally changing their sex. However, Nancy Nangeroni, executive director of the International Foundation for Gender Education, says, that transgender persons do not necessarily have surgery. "'Transgendered' is a general term. It means that your gender transgresses the norm. I'm not a pre-op or a post-op - because that's not what defines me as a person. I'm a person." IR talks at length with each of the subjects about their diverse experiences, from harassment to violence to workplace discrimination. It mentions Brandon Teena, a young transgender person who was raped, beaten, and subsequently murdered because police would not protect him; and Tyra Hunter, a Washington, D.C.-area male-to-female (MTF) who was critically injured in an accident, and then denied treatment by fire department personnel for eight minutes when they found she was anatomically male. It follows GenderPAC members to Washington, as they lobby Congress. At the end of the piece, GenderPAC's Riki Anne Wilchins says, "For me, a gender revolution... is also about the 16-year-old Midwestern cheerleader who ruins her health with anorexia because 'real women' are supposed to be supernaturally thin and it's about the 'Joe Sixpack' who wraps his car around a crowded school bus on his way home from the bar because 'real men' are supposed to be heavy drinkers." Despite her positive words, Kurtis closes the piece with these down beat words: "Most Americans believe the rules of gender are not mere social conventions, but a fundamental part of morality. They argue that God and Nature meant for the sexes to be separate." The piece was exhaustively researched, presented diverse representations of transgender people and selected prominent, articulate spokespersons. It provided intimate personal profiles that were ethnically and geographically diverse, inclusive both of the FTM and MTF communities. It also provided a promising and accurate portrait of a burgeoning rights community, which Wilchins describes as "the last great movement to emerge this century." However, Kurtis' commentary seemed unable to avoid sensationalism. It is especially disappointing that he closed with such pessimism. Please watch "Transgender Revolution" and let A&E know what you think. Contact: Terry Bennett, Viewer Services, A&E, 235 E. 45th St., NY, NY 10017-3305, fax: 212.983.4370 3) Toledo Blade Says "Nice Try" to Schmitz's Beef with Jenny Jones "Even Hollywood couldn't produce a better script than the twisted version being rewritten in the so-called 'talk-show slaying,'" begins a Sept. 19 editorial in Toledo's Blade newspaper. "Conceivably it might be titled 'Heterosexual men who kill their homosexual admirers and win reprieve on legal technicalities.'" The editorial, entitled "The killer as 'victim,'" refers to the case of Jonathan Schmitz, who was convicted of second-degree murder after shooting openly gay Scott Amedure, who had appeared on the Jenny Jones Show in 1996 to admit his "secret crush" on Schmitz. The Michigan Court of Appeals recently overturned Schmitz's conviction on the basis of a legal technicality involving juror selection. The Blade writes, "Defense attorneys blamed the show for exacerbating the mental fragility of Schmitz and indirectly causing him to commit murder. Nice try, but the defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm during a felony." It continues, "Oakland County prosecutors are appealing the decision," but "defense attorneys scoff that a new trial would result in conviction of a misdemeanor at most. They say Schmitz won't be found guilty of more than the careless and reckless discharge of a firearm resulting in death." Describing it as a "mid-boggling but real" possibility, the Blade points out that this turn of events "could have a happy ending for ... Schmitz, who, it may be argued, was provoked through no fault of his own to carelessly discharge his gun in reckless proximity of ... Amedure, resulting in the victim's unfortunate loss off [sic.] life. Let Hollywood top that one." This smart editorial provides insight through its directness and cynical wit. It points out that the Jenny Jones Show did not kill Amedure - that instead, it was Schmitz himself - and illuminates the sensationalism and drama which have surrounded the case from its beginning. When the case originally broke, many media outlets featured coverage which painted the picture of Schmitz as a man victimized by his experience on the Jenny Jones Show [see GLAADAlerts 08.30.96, 07.29.96, 11.1.96, 11.22.96, 12.06.96, 12.13.96]. Thanks to reporting like the Toledo Blade's editorial, though, readers are able to discern the fact that the killing was motivated not by his appearance on the show, per se, but rather, by his own homophobia. Please thank the Toledo Blade for cutting through the hype and giving a straightforward account of Scott Amedure's murder. Contact: Tom Walton, Editor, The Blade, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660-0001, fax: 419.724.6191, e-mail: letters@theblade.com 4) Salt Lake Tribune Offers Intelligent Story, Strong Editorial In a Sept. 18 article on a move by some Utah legislators to revive a century- old debate about polygamy, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Greg Burton zeroes in on an apparent inconsistency by a conservative state activist. "The conservative Utah Eagle Forum has campaigned against gay rights, which President Gayle Ruzicka says is a question of morality," Burton writes, "but men who live with several women in polygamy 'may find support in the Bible.' For polygamous folks - it is a religious belief and at least through their religious ceremonies they think they are married before God. Homosexuality is not part of some person's religion.'' Burton quotes Ruzicka as saying, "Polygamy has been blown totally out of proportion. ... These people out there living polygamous lives are not bothering anybody.'' The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons), centered in Salt Lake City, originally allowed polygamy; Utah legislators outlawed the practice about a century ago. In the lead editorial the same day the newspaper castigated Ruzicka as "retrograde," "bigoted" and a "resident busybody" who "wields undue influence" in Utah's legislature since the state Eagle Forum president "injected herself into the District 30 race because the Democratic candidate, Jackie Biskupski, is a lesbian. Ruzicka cannot countenance the prospect of an admitted homosexual serving in the Legislature, a body in which she wields undue influence." "Ruzicka and her band of Mesdames Defarges," the editorial continues, "can support whom they like, but the basis of their opposition to Biskupski is, quite simply, bigotry - that is, the intolerance of another for her very identity, not simply the disagreement with her views." The editorial then argues that Ruzicka's contention that Biskupski "is living an illegal lifestyle" is "merely an argument that Utah's anti-sodomy laws should be repealed," the editorial contends. "They are unenforceable and without public legitimacy, because many heterosexuals engage in sodomy. ... When a law's utility degenerates to the point where it is a tool for hate mongering, it has outlived its usefulness and should be erased." The news article examines a powerful conservative lobbyist's refusal to brand polygamy as immoral in the context of her pasting that label on lesbian and gay civil rights. The sharply worded editorial lambastes this woman's "meddling" in a state legislative race solely because one of the candidates is a lesbian. The piece contains one unfortunate word usage: describing the candidate's lesbianism as a "lifestyle." Overall, however, the editorial is a no-punches-pulled condemnation of one lobbyist's attempts to smear a legislative candidate for no other reason than her sexual identity. Please convey to the Salt Lake Tribune your appreciation for its perceptive reporting and its spirited editorial support. Contact: James E. Shelledy, Editor, The Salt Lake Tribune, 143 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, UT 84111-1945, fax: 801.521.9418, e-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com (include phone number with all correspondence) 5) First-Person Take on Bisexuality After having sex in her late teens with both men and women, Sallie Tisdale writes in Salon magazine, "I spent about 10 years wondering what the hell was wrong with me. One word: bisexual." Referring to the recent spate of "recruit and cure" ads, Tisdale says, "I do, in fact, believe it's possible for a person to spend years in sexual relations with people of one gender and then find true happiness in the other. What I find sad is how many times people feel they need to either repudiate the past or deny the present." The mainstream media "lately has accepted and used the phrase 'converted gays' as if it were a statement of fact," she writes. Newsweek devoted a recent cover story to the conversion movement without using the word 'bisexual' once. I believe it is bisexuality that allows any so-called conversion - or recruiting - to take place, because what is happening is only the awakening of something dormant in many people." While the scientific jury still is very much out on the determinants of sexual and gender identity, Tisdale offers interesting speculation about how both genetics and environment may work together to determine a person's identity - and in so doing, provides an intriguing and very believable perspective on the phenomenon behind the so-called "conversion" groups. Tisdale also advances a plausible explanation of how many persons' sexual identity may be quite fluid over time. Finally, she provides valuable insight into the interior life of a bisexual and how that person may interact with the lesbian and gay male communities. Please express to Salon your appreciation for its presentation of these sensible theories and helpful explanations of bisexuality. Contact: David Talbot, Editor, Salon, 706 Mission Street, Second Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103, fax: 415.882.8731, e-mail: salon@salonmagazine.com, WWW: http://www.salon1999.com/contact 6) Miami Herald: Liberals' Last Exception "For gays and lesbians seeking a Dade [County, Fla.] human-rights ordinance," "Outlooks" columnist Steve Rothaus writes in the Sept. 16 Miami Herald, "it would be comforting to believe that only a fringe group of religious conservatives would deny them equal protection. It would also be wrong." He blames "lifetimes of social and religious conditioning" for often preventing "even the most liberal-minded heterosexuals from accepting homosexuality." Rothaus quotes journalist and diversity trainer Walt Swanston as saying. "'People who would not dream about discriminating against people because of race and ethnicity make an exception for people who are gay and lesbian.'" The columnist quotes Arthur N. Teitelbaum, southern area director of the Anti- Defamation League in Miami, as saying, "'There's no question the gay community is the victim of the same kind of stereotypical thinking that is directed at other minorities, often with the same discriminatory results.'" Rothaus cites both Latino/a and African-American spokesmen as saying they've encountered anti-gay prejudice in their communities - and quotes them as saying that among factors helping most to alleviate the prejudice is when community members have the opportunity to get to know other members who are openly lesbian or gay. In the context of writing about a pending county human rights ordinance, Rothaus does an excellent job of discussing a sensitive issue within the community in a way that explains rather than accuses - and that closes by pointing to some practical suggestions for easing tensions and furthering the acceptance of Latino/a and African-American lesbians and gays by others in their ethnic communities. Please thank Rothaus for this valuable public service. Please express to the Miami Herald your appreciation of this sophisticated yet positive coverage of lesbian and gay communities of color, and explain how such increased understanding can be of direct and significant help to lesbians and gay men struggling to gain acceptance in those communities. Contact: Larry Olmstead, Managing Editor, Miami Herald, One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693, fax: 305.376.8950, e-mail: HeraldEd@herald.com 7) A Reasoned Discussion of the Attack Ads "When the subject is sex," Virginia Postrel writes in the October Reason magazine, "many commentators take leave of their senses and forget everything they know about people. The only other subjects that make for dumber political discussions are religion and statistics and, at a much more subtle level, nature. This summer's debate [about whether gays can change] dumped all these sense-impairing topics into one big mess." She quotes Janet Folger of the Center for Reclaiming America, who coordinated this summer's $200,000 attack ad campaign, as telling National Public Radio that the ads' message "'shatters the foundation of the homosexual movement. ... the myth that homosexuals are born that way and change is impossible. If that was true, then thousands would not disprove that. And that's what they've done and that's what these ads show." Postrel writes, "Well, not exactly. Folger's claim depends on using sex, religion, and statistics--and some ambiguous language--to fool the public. "America is a huge country," Postrel writes, "more than 260 million people. Take a quarter billion people and drop them on a bell curve, and you will find some of everything. ... The number of gay Americans is in the millions; even if only 1 percent of those people are motivated to exchange sexual satisfaction for family life or quiet consciences, you've still got tens of thousands of 'ex-gays.'" Ultimately, Postrel suggests, Senate Majority leader Trent Lott "may have done gay rights a favor, by inadvertently clarifying the argument. What distinguishes homosexuality from kleptomania isn't that one is natural and the other isn't. It's that love and theft have dramatically different consequences. ... If we want a peaceful society in which a wide range of individuals can flourish, we'd better get used to evaluating behavior by its consequences, not its causes." Postrel's deconstruction of the religious-political extremists' attack ads provides a closely reasoned and persuasive dialectic explaining the ad campaign's underlying flaws. Please express to Reason magazine your appreciation for this substantive contribution to the important work of debunking the ads' misleading and harmful claims. Contact: Virginia I. Postrel, Editor, Reason, 3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd., #400, LA, CA 90034-6060, fax: 310.391.4395 8) A Candidate Can't Be Both Gay and Moral? In a Sept. 21 article in the Savannah Morning News headlined "Campaigns drop to a new level of nastiness this year," Lawrence Vile states that Republican campaign consultant Linda Hamrick, "who is employed by strategist Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition... pointed to the rumor" that one GOP candidate was gay - "which, if true, could be a death sentence for a religious right candidate." Viele then quotes Hamrick as denying that the candidate is a gay male by saying, "The rumor is 'absolutely not true. He's highly moral.'" The lengthy article contained no further explication of the "rumor;" it included no challenge, either from the reporter or from another source, to Hamrick's assumption that a candidate she considers moral therefore could not also be gay. Please point out to the Savannah Morning News that neither genetics nor environment exclude a lesbian, gay male, bisexual or transgender person from also being a moral person. Please explain to the newspaper how letting such an erroneous and defamatory statement stand unchallenged demeans all lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons - while reducing the newspaper's credibility with this community. Contact: Dan Suwyn, Managing Editor, Savannah Morning News, 111 West Bay, Savannah, GA 31401-1191, fax: 912.234.6522 9) GLAADAlert Reminder: On Wednesday, September 30th cable's Bravo will premiere The Real Ellen Story, a documentary that was a hit this summer at a number of lesbian and gay film festivals. The World of Wonder project (Tickled Pink, The RuPaul Show, Party Monster) tells the story of the making of the "coming out" episode of TV's groundbreaking sitcom Ellen, and features clips from the show's last day of shooting. 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 (SF), 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! 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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