Subject: MEDIA WATCH, Nov. 10
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 1994 11:03:13 -0500

MEDIA WATCH 
for November 10, 1994
By Al Kielwasser,
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE

That singularly-homophobic media watchdog group -- the American Family
Association (AFA) is at 
it again.  The organization's Nov. '94 "Action! Page" (a cheap fundraising
gimmick, actually) calls upon 
AFA sympathizers to "Stop Network TV's Promotion of Homosexuality!"  "This
fall network TV executives 
will continue to try to promote homosexuality as a normal and acceptable
lifestyle" the AFA alert warns, 
"Because homosexuals cannot 'reproduce' themselves, they are forced to
recruit new members.  And the 
target of their recruitment drives are OUR CHILDREN."

The AFA alert also claims that "a major weapon in all these recruitment
efforts is the distortion of truth."  
The alert explains:  "This distortion states that homosexuals are healthy
(why then their fear of 
AIDS?), happy (why then are they so bitter and angry?), normal (why then
can't they reproduce like every 
other species on earth?), and everywhere (that 10% of all Americans are
'gay')!"

The "action page" is a litany of such absurdities, and the AFA's claims of
distortion are profoundly 
hypocritical.  Declaring that "now the truth is out," for example, the AFA
references a new sex survey from 
the University of Chicago, claiming the study "states that, at most, only
2.8% of men and 1.4% of women 
are homosexual."  This is, of course, a misrepresentation of the study (and
an affront to basic statistical 
reasoning!).  Moreover, the AFA alert declares:  "You probably didn't even
hear about that study.  Why?  
Because the liberal media finds (sic) it politically incorrect."  In fact,
the study was widely publicized by the 
media -- liberal or otherwise -- and was even featured on the cover of Time
magazine.

These AFA absurdities would be (almost) laughable were it not for the very
real role that the organization 
plays in scaring off the sponsors of television programs that include any
reference to homosexuality.  With 
this latest "action page," the AFA has provided members with three postcards
targeting Philip Morris 
Companies, Inc., McDonald's Corporation, and the Ford Motor Company.  "Let
these companies know 
that their support of homosexuality is leading many to unhappiness, sorrow
and death," the AFA advises.

The pre-fab "sign and send " AFA postcards call upon each company to "stop
your financial support of 
those programs promoting the homosexual lifestyle."  "Considering the
overwhelming rejection of the 
homosexual agenda by the public," the cards warn, "I don't think that a
boycott of (your company) because 
you push homosexuality would be difficult to promote."

These companies must be encouraged to reject the latest AFA postcard
campaign; moreover, each 
advertiser should be asked to publicly disavow the campaign's bigotry and
deceit.

Contact Chrm. Michael A. Miles, Philip Morris Companies, Inc., 120 Park Ave.,
New York, NY 10017. tel. 
800-343-0975, FAX 212-878-2167; Chrm. Michael R. Quinlan, McDonald's
Corporation, 1 Kroc Dr., Oak 
Brook, IL 6052, tel. 708-575-3000, fax 708-575-5512; Chrm. Alexander J.
Trotman, Ford Motor Company, 
P.O. Box 1899, Dearborn, MI 48121, tel. 800-392-3673.  Should you have any
desire to contact the AFA, 
they're based at P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo MS 38803, tel. 601-844-5036.  Also,
be sure to copy 
correspondence to your favorite talk-show or newspaper; suggest that these
media take a critical look at 
the "media critics" of the AFA.

LIFETIME COURTS MARTINA

The Lifetime cable network recently broadcast a one-hour documentary on
tennis pro Martina Navratilova.  
Relatively comprehensive in scope, the program followed Navratilova from her
childhood in 
Czechoslovakia to her final competition in this year's Wimbledon.   Without
recourse to sensationalism, 
the biography offered a direct, honest treatment of Navratilova's lesbianism
as it unfolded within her life 
and career.  Send encouraging feedback to Judy Girard, Senior Vice President
of Programming, Lifetime 
Television, 309 W. 49th St., New York, NY 10019.

OPINIONS VS. LIES

The Oct. 21 edition of The Reflector, the Mississippi State University
newspaper, printed an Op-Ed piece 
that brings "higher learning" to a new low.  The editorial, written by
Reflector staff member Jonathan Hall 
Barlow, asks:  "Is Homosexuality Psychologically and Theologically Wrong?"
 According to Barlow, the 
answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Nearly every line of the editorial hangs on a homophobic lie or bigoted
superstition.  For example, Barlow 
argues that homosexuality arises out of "a relational breakdown and a lack of
bonding between the young 
person and the same-sex parent."  Homosexuality can be cured by reading the
Bible, Barlow also 
suggests; through the Bible, lesbians and gay men will be "led out from under
the guilt, shame and 
bitterness of this slavery we call homosexuality."  Barlow even re-hashes
 the old "what you need is a good 
man" argument:  "There also is a large incidence of lesbians who have had
hurt inflicted by their fathers or 
other male relatives," he states (though "much of the emotional torment is
self-inflicted and based on 
imagined biases, he explains).

Significantly, this opinion piece -- like so many others --  is sprinkled
with references to "facts" about homosexuality (e.g., "Roughly 80 percent of
homosexuals come from homes in which the father was an alcoholic or drug
user").  However, no effort is made to provide citations for any of these
less-than-credible claims .  Surely, a university 
newspaper -- and a responsible journalist -- could aspire to a higher
standard of evidence.  The right to hold an opinion does not, after all,
imply the right to tell a lie.

Comments can be directed to The Reflector, P.O. Drawer 5407, Mississippi
State University, MS 39762, 
tel. 601-325-2374, fax 601-325-8985, e-mail [email-masked].

Media Briefs

* HOMO VIDEO:  Frameline -- presenter of the annual San Francisco
International Lesbian & Gay Film 
Festival -- has opened its collection to home viewers by launching
"Frameline's Lesbian & Gay Cinema 
Collection," the first lesbian and gay home video line available in the
United States.  For more 
information, contact Frameline, 346 Ninth St., S.F., CA 94103, tel.
800-439-1433, fax 415-861-1404. 

* BI-STAR PICTURES:  The latest (Summer 1994) issue of Anything That Moves
("the magazine for 
the discriminating bisexual") includes an essay on bisexual movie stars, as
well as a roundtable 
discussion of pornography.  Available at the newsstand or through BABN, 2404
California St., #24, 
S.F., CA 94115, tel. 415-564-2226.

* SPECIAL WRITES:  Media Alliance is offering athree-part workshop, "Writing
on Gay Issues & How 
to Sell Your Stories," Nov. 29, Dec. 6 & 13, 6:30 - 9:00 PM.  For details,
contact Media Alliance, 814 
Mission St., Suite 205, S.F., CA 94103, tel. 415-546-6491, e-mail [email-masked].

* BAD NEIGHBORS:  Journalist and net-surfer Rex Wockner reports that the
Polish women's 
magazine Your Style recently asked 1,112 readers to complete the sentence,
"You would not like to 
have a neighbor who is . . ."  Seventy-nine percent chose "a homosexual."
 Neighborly advice 
can be sent to Your Style, Swietojerska 5/7, Warsaw, Poland, tel.
48-58-635-9533.

* HATE MAIL:  An anonymous, homophobic flyer appeared last week in San
Francisco mail boxes; 
featuring photos of political cnadidates Carole Migden, Susan Leal, and Tom
Ammiano (being greeted with a kiss by former Mayor Art Agnos), the flyer
asked:  "Is This What San Francisco Represents?  Is This What San Franciscans

Want?  NO on Nov. 8th!"  As always, any time such hate mail crosses your
doorstep, be sure to send 
it to your local radio/TV stations and newspapers, suggesting  that they
cover a side of homophobia 
that is seldom seen by the general public.

WE MUST CONFRONT THE MEDIA'S HOMOPHOBIA IN 
ORDER TO CURE IT!  TO NOTIFY THE GAY & LESBIAN 
ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION OF ANY DEFAMATORY 
OR AFFIRMATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE CALL OUR 24-
HOUR MEDIA WATCH HOTLINE AT 415-861-4588, OR WRITE 
TO GLAAD/SFBA, 1360 MISSION 
STREET, SUITE 200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103; FAX, 415-
861-4893; E-MAIL GLAAD [email-masked].

SEND ITEMS FOR THIS WEEKLY REPORT TO THE 
ATTENTION OF "MEDIA WATCH" AT GLAAD/SFBA OR E-
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MADE TO AL KIELWASSER AND/OR GLAAD/SFBA.  AS 
ALWAYS, WE GREATLY APPRECIATE COPIES OF ANY 
PUBLICATIONS THAT USE ALL OR PART OF THE "MEDIA 
WATCH."  

THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUING INTEREST IN GLAAD'S 
WORK!