Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 16:25:28 -0700
From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation <glaad@glaad.org>
Subject: GLAADAlert 12.13.96

GLAADALERT
December 13, 1996
The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation

Contents:

1.  The Good, The Bad and The Larry (Detroit Free Press (newspaper), Larry
King Live (news commentary and talk show))
2.  Uncivilized Honda Civic Ad (American Honda Motor Co. (Automobile
manufacturer)
3.  Public News on Private Acts (WLWT Channel 5 (local television news,
Cincinnati, Ohio))
4.  Is The Proof In The Putting Out? (Larry Sanders Show (television comedy)=
)
5.  The Invisible Man (Upscale (magazine))
6.  We're In The Army Now? (Mona Charen (columnist), Creators Syndicate
(distributor))
7.  Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace on MSNBC (TV/ Online news)
8.  Chicago Tribune Facilitates More Hate (Mike Royko (columnist), Chicago
Tribune (newspaper))
9.  On Both Sides of the Aisle-The Gay Marriage Op-Ed Round-Up  (Waco
Tribune Herald (newspaper), Rapid City (Montana) Journal (newspaper),
Washington Post (newspaper), Los Angeles Times (newspaper), Chicago Tribune
(newspaper), USA Today (newspaper))

The Good, The Bad and The Larry
After Jonathan Schmitz was sentenced for second-degree murder for the
shooting death of openly gay Scott Amedure, the media has made its final
pronouncements on the trial. The Detroit Free Press featured columnist
Susan Ager's December 8 enlightened essay which said, "The tragedy of
Jonathan Schmitz is not that talk show producers set him up to be ambushed
by a gay man's crush, but that society trained him to be humiliated and
angered by it-to the point of murder. Fuses like this smolder from
childhood, lit by parents, teachers and ministers who demonize gay men and
women, and who label homosexuality a perversion...by movies and locker room
talk that makes fun of gays, leading a guy like Schmitz to agonize,
perhaps, over what Amedure's crush on him implied about his own sexuality."
She adds, "Most of us never kill someone who embarrasses us. It is a
tragedy that Jonathan Schmitz could see no other point."

The December 4 episode of Larry King Live, on the other hand, perpetuated
the worst of the "talk show on trial" hype, coupled with the nineties
version of the "homosexual panic" defense, by painting the murderer as
victim. King tried to egg the Amedures into saying the sentence should not
have been first-degree murder because, "[Schmitz is] obviously not a
murderer...Isn't the sentence about right considering all the extenuating
circumstances in this case?" When the Amedures failed to take the bait,
King said, "There has to be a reason for why people do what they do. He
wasn't robbing a bank." Later, King brought Allyn Schmitz (Jonathan's
father) in, who said he thought the sentence was too strict considering,
"his mental condition and how he was basically lured on to the Jenny Jones
show and then basically stalked by Scott Amedure who, in my opinion, was a
sexual predator."

Please thank Susan Ager for her clear-headed and sane response amid the
hype and insanity. Tell Larry King that he has dishonored Amedure and
diminished the severity of anti-gay hate crimes with his words.
Contact: Susan Ager, Detroit Free Press, 321 West Lafayette, Detroit, MI
48226, fax: 313.223.4726,   e-mail: ager@det-freepress.com; Larry King,
Larry King Live, CNN, 820 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002, fax:
202.898.7686, e-mail: lkl@cnn.com.

Uncivilized Honda Civic Ad
A national Honda ad is driving GLAAD and our community to distress. A young
man in his 1997 Civic is shown being interviewed for several implicitly
undesirable career opportunities including raising emu and selling hot dogs
in the desert. In the last interview, the man talks to a sailor who says,
"Twelve men, one boat-What could be better?" while placing his hand on the
man's shoulder. The man looks worriedly at the sailor's hand and then at
the audience, as if to say, "help me."

The idea that the sailor and his crew are a threat to this man's presumed
heterosexuality is clearly the intent of the commercial's final scene. The
"punchline" plays on societal fear and discomfort with homosexuality, and
their assumption that this Civic-driving man is straight and narrow-minded
while the sailor is gay and predatory. This is a homophobic, stereotypical
lemon of a joke. GLAAD has received dozens of AlertLine calls and e-mails
about this offensive, thoughtless and insulting commercial.

Tell Honda that stooping to anti-gay stereotyping is certainly a way to
drive away customers.
Contact: Koichi Amemiya, President, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 1919
Torrance Boulevard, Torrance, CA  90501, fax: 310.783.3900,
WWW:www.honda.com.

Public News on Private Acts
Once again, in a crass grab for ratings, closeted gay men have been the
target of televised raids of a public sex area (see GLAADAlert 12.6.96). On
November 11, as part of sweeps month, Cincinnati's WLWT-TV, Channel 5 News
featured a segment entitled "Private Acts in Public Places," which not only
detailed the activities at Devou Park, but chronicles the process in which
the men pick up one another, going far beyond presenting legitimate news to
reveal a sensationalized soap opera-style, ratings-grabbing narrative that
demonized the participants. A retired police officer is interviewed,
saying, "We just can't keep homosexuals out of the park." The station also
named specific areas in the park where these acts occur.

WLWT's story is lacking in many respects: The fact that heterosexuals often
engage in public sex is virtually ignored; those targeted in the story are
referred to as gay or homosexual, ignoring the possibility that a majority
of the men may be married or identify as heterosexual; and WLWT never
mentions homophobia and its subsequent social impact on individuals who
lead closeted lives. By naming the specific areas where these men
congregate, the story also exposed the men to the risk of gay-bashing. WLWT
not only failed to interview any gay or civil liberties activists, they
were completely dismissive of a protest letter by the gay civil rights
group Stonewall Cincinnati. WLWT's James Clayton denied "condemning any
particular lifestyle," and refused Stonewall Cincinnati's offer to hold a
sensitivity training for the news staff.

Let WLWT-TV know that trading real news for ratings sweeps sleaze demeans
its journalistic integrity and its audience. While private acts in public
places is a problem, the underlying political and social climate of
homophobia and hate that fuels it must also be addressed.  WLWT is merely
demonizing and endangering our community.
Contact: James A. Clayton, Vice President & General Manager, WLWT 5, 140
West Ninth Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202-1975, fax: 513.352.5098, e-mail:
mail@wlwt.com.

Is The Proof In The Putting Out?
Using the controversy surrounding the coming out of Ellen DeGeneres's Ellen
character as a springboard, Garry Shandling's December 11 Larry Sanders
Show jumps onto the Ellen bandwagon. While celebrating his boss' (Rip Torn)
birthday, Larry spies Ellen dining with a female friend. At Torn's request,
Sanders invites Ellen to do his show and when she agrees Torn asks Sanders
if he thinks Ellen will come out on the show and bring her girlfriend,
assuming her dining companion is her lesbian lover. Sanders points out that
two people of the same sex dining together does not make them gay. Meeting
later to discuss what they will talk about on the show, Larry and Ellen end
up sleeping together. Assuming this proves she is straight, Larry is taken
aback when office chatter from a self-proclaimed "expert" on gay people who
says some lesbians sleep with men. On the show, a confused Larry pummels
Ellen with leading questions about her sexual orientation, which she
dodges, consistent with her other talk show appearances.

This clever take on the much-revisited Ellen theme of "will she or won't
she?" demonstrates that many times, assumptions made about a person's
sexual orientation based on preconceived notions or "clues" are often
unreliable and inconsequential.

Please write The Larry Sanders Show and congratulate them on interesting
and gay-positive programming, that was both engaging and thought-provoking.
Contact: The Larry Sanders Show, c/o HBO, 1100 6th Avenue, New York, New
York 10036, fax: 212.512.5517, WWW: http://www.hbo.com/cmp/feedback.html.

The Invisible Man
In November's Upscale, a magazine targeted at the "success-oriented"
African-American community, an article entitled "Invisible Life:
Discovering Your Mate is Bisexual" examines bisexuality head-on. Written by
William July II, it centers around the different dynamics of bisexuality
within the institution of marriage, and the implications for those
involved. July says, "Most people assume that a married person is
[necessarily] straight...Wrong. Bisexuals, lesbians and gay men get married
every day." July discusses the different social pressures that bisexual
people face, adding that "bisexuals are a quieter segment of the black
population...they refrain from broadcasting their sexual preference for
fear of society's judgment."

While the Upscale article is not perfect, it makes important points about
misperceptions concerning sexual orientation. And while use of the phrase
"sexual preference" is disconcerting, it is an achievement for any magazine
to include an article recognizing and validating bisexuality as a part of
the American and specifically African-American landscape.

Please thank Upscale for exploring the complexities of being
African-American, married and bisexual. Encourage them to further explore
the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender African Americans.
Contact: Sheila Bronner, editor-in-chief, Upscale, PO Box 10798, Atlanta,
Georgia 30310, fax: 404.755.9892.

We're In The Army Now?
In a column entitled "The Army of Cultural Liberalism" that recently
appeared in the Omaha World-Herald, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, Mona Charen defends her own
intolerance. Referring to the Baehr v. Miike ruling, she says, "A few
well-placed judges-who went to the same schools as the cultural liberals
and share their inclinations-can bypass the legislative process. It ain't
democratic." Then, citing the Newsweek cover story on gay parenting she
says, tongue-in-cheek, "What stands in the way of happiness for [gay
parents] and their children? Why nothing but prejudice and bigotry." She
then sums up why she thinks same-sex marriage and parenting is bad:
"Permitting large numbers of children to be raised by homosexual couples is
just asking for misery. Everything we know about human development points
to one conclusion: Children do best when raised by two parents (male and
female). Whatever parents do to compromise that possibility for their
children-fail to marry, divorce or take a homosexual lover-is destructive.
That is a fact of human nature speaking, not 'intolerance.'"

In her seemingly boundless ignorance, Charen bemoans the failure of the
judicial branch of our government to protect the rights of the minority
over the majority (one specific reason for the existence of the Judicial
branch according to the checks and balances of the U.S. Constitution),
believes that those who disagree with her are part of a conspiratorial web
(presumably Newsweek is in the hip-pocket of her imaginary "army of
cultural liberals") and ignores all of the evidence put forth in the Baehr
v. Miike trial proving that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as
well-adjusted as those of straight parents.

Let Charen know that her delirious rantings are offensive and completely
baseless, and that despite her efforts to justify her hate, she has only
further proven how wrong her intolerance is.
Contact: Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Boulevard, Suite
700, Los Angeles, CA 90045, fax: 310.337.7625, e-mail: cre804s@aol.com.

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace on MSNBC
At the MSNBC website, the question is currently being posed: "Same-sex
marriage-The end of family life as we know it...or no big deal?" The
responses vary from the hostile to the supportive.

The question is worded oddly. After all, same-sex marriage is a "big deal,"
but it is not the "end of family life as we know it." While the legal
sanction of same-sex marriage will bring additional rights that lesbian,
gay and bisexual couples fundamentally deserve, it will also enhance the
family life of thousands of lesbian, gay and bisexual couples, with or
without children, who already have loving, committed relationships.

=46eel free to speak out on this online forum at
http://www.msnbc.com/news/44791.asp and take a stand for same-sex marriage
and against this catch-22 question.
Contact: Mark Harrington, Vice President, MSNBC, 2200 Fletcher Avenue, Fort
Lee, NJ 07024, fax: 201.583.5512, e-mail: features@msnbc.com.

Chicago Tribune Facilitates More Hate
=46or the second week running, the Chicago Tribune has published a column by
Mike Royko that dismisses and mocks lesbian and gay domestic violence. In
the December 10 follow-up to his December 5 column that attacked same-sex
marriage and belittled gay spousal abuse, Royko says he is "pro-choice"
when it comes to the estimated 500,000 gay male survivors of domestic abuse
in the U.S. "By 'pro-choice' I mean that if 500,000 guys choose to live
with mentally unhinged 'partners' who beat them up, that is their choice,"
Royko writes. "It should be easier for a man to walk away from an abusive
relationship since men don't get pregnant or have babies. Also, men have a
better deal in the job market." He continues, saying "If [someone being
abused] chooses to stick around, whose problem is his fat lip? Not mine,
not society's and surely not the cops or a judge. If a man decides that he
is so deeply in love that it is worth the pain of being whopped regularly,
it is his frayed hide."

Royko's flippant tone and cynical words contribute to the problem of
same-sex spousal violence. No one chooses to be beaten, and by further
stigmatizing the survivors of abuse, Royko only aggravates the tragedy.
Aside from seeking social support, victims should know that it is the
business, and duty, of both the police and judges to defend all citizens
from violence, regardless of sexual orientation. Royko, and the Chicago
Tribune are making light of a critical and overlooked issue. In addition,
several area organizations, including Horizons Community Services and the
Illinois Federation for Human Rights, have been rebuffed in their efforts
to forge a dialogue with the Tribune about these articles.

Demand the Chicago Tribune condemn Royko, issue a public apology for
putting victims of domestic violence at further risk, and follow up with a
comprehensive story on the realities of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender domestic violence.
Contact: Howard Tyner, Editor, Chicago Tribune, P.O. Box 4041, Chicago, IL
60611-4041, fax: 312.222.3143, e-mail: tribletter@aol.com.

On Both Sides of the Aisle-The Gay Marriage Op-Ed Round-Up:
Since the December 3 Baehr v. Miike ruling in favor of same-sex marriage,
people from all around the country have weighed in with their opinions. The
issue, once discussed only by the major metropolitan papers, has now become
truly national in scope as smaller towns such as Waco, Texas, and Rapid
City, Montana weigh in on the issue.
=85 The December 11 edition of the Waco Tribune Herald featured an editorial
by Senior Editor Rowland Nethaway in which he notes that "The fact that up
to 80 percent of Americans oppose gay marriages is not the point. The
majority rules insofar as it does not infringe upon the rights and freedoms
granted to all Americans who must be afforded equal treatment under the
law."
=85 On December 10, columnist Ron Marr of the Rapid City (Montana) Journal
wrote in "On Gay Marriage, Some Healthy Intolerance, Please," that Judge
Chang had demonstrated "sunstroke brain spasms" in ruling for same-sex
marriage. Of gay people he says, "It's not enough for this mewling crowd to
make their own choices and shut up about it; they want a standing ovation.
Our tolerance ends when we are told what to think or believe, when we are
told to disregard our values and conscience in order to satisfy the odd and
narcissistic wishes of a vocal subculture."
=85 Conservative Washington Post columnist Jonathan Yardley, who has in the
past not supported gay issues, wrote a December 9 column in favor of
same-sex marriage, saying that, "If two people want to cohabit in a
peaceful way under a formal arrangement that causes no threat to others,
what right do the rest of us have to prevent them from doing so?"
=85 The December 7 edition of the Los Angeles Times had a "Community Essay"
from Kirby Tepper, who noted, "By the time Showboat was written [the late
1920's], the law [on inter-racial marriage] was changing, even though
public opinion had not. Isn't it interesting that countless people flock to
see Showboat and take it for granted that the bad guys are the ones who try
to stop the marriage between the black woman and the white man? Gay people
deserve the same application of the law."
=85 The Chicago Tribune's December 8 editorial pleads for "separate but
equal," saying "There is an obvious way to accommodate the interests of
gays without insulting traditional conceptions of matrimony: Provide a
legal framework for homosexuals who want more or less permanent
partnerships and give it some other name that marriage."
=85 On December 9, USA Today had an editorial in favor of same-sex marriage,
while printing an opposing view by homophobic religious radical Lou
Sheldon.

The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation.
GLAAD is the 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 all forms of
discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.

Copies of articles referred to in the GLAADAlert are available to our
members by contacting GLAAD.
Contact us by e-mail at glaad@glaad.org or by phone at 213.658.6775 (Los
Angeles), 212.807.1700 (New York), 413.586.8928 (Northampton),
503.224.5285,(Washington, DC) or 415.861.2244(San Francisco).
Report defamation in the media by calling GLAAD's Toll-Free AlertLine!
1-800-GAY-MEDIA (1-800-429-6334)
Visit GLAAD's Web Site at http://www.glaad.org
"GLAADAlert," "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are
trademarks of
the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.