GLAAD ATLANTA NEWS JULY 6, 1994
by Carl Lange

NATIONAL STONEWALL COVERAGE
For the most part, the major television networks offered competent coverage
of Stonewall 25 March and related events.  The Gay Games, despite their
ranking as among the largest sporting events of the year, were given
relatively less coverage.  
CBS Evening News coverage featured diverse spokespersons for the community,
including an African-American lesbian activist.  CBS also pointed out that,
despite the success of the June events, the international struggle for queer
equal rights is "only in its early stages." 
The NBC Nightly News focused on the increased visibility of lesbians, gays
and bisexuals at many levels of society.  Significantly, NBC also featured an
interview with an older drag queen, acknowledging the fundamental role that
the drag and transgendered communities played in the Stonewall Riots.
ABC World News offered a lengthy piece on the history of lesbian and gay
activism.  
Send your feedback to Eric Ober, Pres., CBS News, 51 W. 52nd St./NY, NY
10019, tel. 212-975-4321; Andrew Lack, Pres., NBC Nightly News, 30
Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY 10021, tel. 212-664-4444; Roone Arledge, Pres., ABC
News, 47 W. 66th St., NY, NY 10023, tel. 212-456-7777.

A TEXAS COMMITMENT
The El Paso Times, a member of the Gannett Group, has begun including
same-gender commitment ceremony announcements alongside heterosexual wedding
announcements.  The first was of Alex Herrera, 23, and Rob Knight, 28,
published on Sunday, June 26, 1994.  The Times is one of at least a dozen
mainstream papers, including The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, to recognize
the relationships of its gay and lesbian readers.  
The others are The Miami Herald (FL), The San Jose Mercury News (CA), The
Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), The Austin American-Statesman (TX), The Keene
Sentinel (NH), The Greenfield Recorder (MA), The Marin Independent Journal
(CA), The Brattleboro Reformer (VT), The Daily Hampshire Gazette (MA), The
Herald (Everet, WA) and The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA).
Concurrent with the announcement in the El Paso Times was a statement by
Dionicio "Don" Flores, editor and publisher, stating that while the
announcements might be not be popular with all, the decision to publish them
was based on the paper's views on individual rights and "the principle that
we are all equal, and we should all enjoy the same privileges."
Mr. Flores and the El Paso Times deserves your praise and support.  Contact
Dionicio "Don" Flores by calling (800) 351-1677 or (915) 546-6149.  Write:
Letters to the editor, El Paso Times, P.O. Box 20, El Paso, Texas 79999.
 fax: (915) 546-6415.

This column is a product of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation/Atlanta, Incorporated.  For more information about GLAAD/Atlanta
write PO Box 55111, Atlanta, GA 30308; phone 404-876-1398; fax 404-876-4051;
internet: glaadatl@aol.com

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