Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 18:06:12 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADLines 01.13.97 GLAADLINES contact: Don Romesburg (415) 861-2244 romesburg@glaad.org http://www.glaad.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 1997 News, Tips, and Breaking Stories about the Gay & Lesbian Community GLAAD EXCLUSIVE--ELLEN COMES OUT SINGING: Ellen Morgan sang her way out of the closet during the January 10 taping of ABC's Ellen. In the episode, Ellen attends a rock 'n' roll fantasy camp, featuring guest musicians David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Aaron Neville. Ellen and her special guests perform a song, which she penned, called "I'm Scared of Being Afraid." In the third take of the song, the Morgan character crooned, "So here's what I have to say...And by the way, I'm gay! It's okay!" As the studio audience cheers and applauds, she ends the song with the refrain "I'm gay! I'm gay! I'm gay!" A spokesperson for Ellen indicated that the take was unscripted, and seemed to be a spontaneous improvisation by DeGeneres. He did not indicate whether it would be aired. The coming out song does seem to make clear DeGeneres' intention to let her character out of the closet, according to GLAAD. A January 10 Associated Press story quoted ABC Entertainment President Jamie Tarses as wavering on whether a coming out episode would air, and announced ABC was pulling Ellen from their line-up during March and April to showcase a new sitcom starring Arsenio Hall. GLAAD's Managing Director William Waybourn stated that "it would be a grave injustice if ABC robbed the American public of this tremendous opportunity to get to know such a positive lesbian character." For more information contact Alan Klein (GLAAD national communications director) at (212) 807-1700 or e-mail klein@glaad.org. CALIFORNIA GAY YOUTH LOBBY FOR JUSTICE: On January 15, over 500 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people, from all over California will gather in Sacramento to increase awareness of youth issues. The LIFE Youth Lobby Day is sponsored by LIFE Lobby, an organization which coordinates, develops and promotes the statewide community-driven public policy agendas of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and HIV-affected Californians. Activities will include a legislative briefing, a rally at the California State Capitol steps, workshops and visits with elected officials. For more information contact Ellen McCormick at (916) 444-0424. GAY YOUTH ELECTED TO CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD: Whitney Young High School senior Miguel Ayala, 17, will sit as a nonvoting member of the Chicago School Board beginning this month, making him the first gay or Latino student ever to be elected to the position. Ayala also serves as president of Whitney Young's Pride Club, which promotes awareness of issues affection gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, and is a student representative at his high school's student council and member of the school's Somos Latinos Coalition. He has also formed Student Pride USA, which is part of the national student gay/straight alliance. For more information contact the Department of Education Office of Communications at (773) 535-3760 or Miguel Ayala via e-mail: miguel@studentalliance.org or WWW: www.studentalliance.org/migl.htm. CHASTITY BONO HOSTS VIRTUAL TOWN MEETINGS ON AOL AND COMPUSERVE: Chastity Bono, GLAAD Entertainment Media Director, will be the featured guest in two global Virtual Town Meetings on America Online's Gay & Lesbian Community Forum/onQ Los Angeles and on Pride! on CompuServe. Bono will lead a discussion about lesbian and gay images in Hollywood and throughout the media and will interact live with audience members from around the world. These global Virtual Town Meetings are the first in a series of online forums that GLAAD will present this year. Bono will appear on AOL's onQ Los Angeles (KEYWORD: ONQLA) Thursday, January 16, at 6 p.m. Pacific/ 9 p.m. Eastern and on CompuServe's Pride! (GO: PRIDE) Wednesday, January 22, at 7 p.m. Pacific/ 10 p.m. Eastern. For more information contact Loren Javier (GLAAD Interactive Media Director) at (213) 658-6775 or e-mail javier@glaad.org. GAY-RELATED MUSIC GARNERS GRAMMY NOMINATIONS: On January 7, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 39th Grammy Awards, including a number of nominations in diverse categories for lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender- and AIDS-related musicians and albums. Me'Shell Ndegeocello's Peace Beyond Passion was nominated for Rhythm and Blues Album of the Year, while in the Opera Recording category, openly gay composer Benjamin Britten's gay-themed work Peter Grimes received a nomination. The original cast recordings of both the trans-hit Victor/Victoria and the gay-, lesbian- and drag-inclusive Rent have garnered nominations in the Musical Show Album category. For more information, contact Alan Klein (GLAAD national communications director) at (212) 807-1700 or e-mail klein@glaad.org. To report events that merit media coverage, or news stories breaking in your area, please contact us. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is the nation's lesbian & gay news bureau and the only national lesbian & gay multimedia watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate, and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. To subscribe contact Don Romesburg at (415) 861-2244 or at romesburg@glaad.org. "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA - Call GLAAD's Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online. TO JOIN GLAAD AND RECEIVE GLAAD's DISPATCH AND QUARTERLY IMAGES MAGAZINE, call 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or join on the Web today at www.glaad.org/glaad/join/join-about.html TO SUBSCRIBE TO GLAAD-Net, GLAAD's electronic mailing list, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Subscribe GLAAD-Net" TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Unsubscribe GLAAD-Net" GLAAD is the nation's lesbian and gay news bureau and the only national lesbian and gay multimedia watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.