Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 17:56:19 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert 03.21.97 GLAADALERT March 21, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Contents: 1. Reviewers Say It's Time to Break Through the No-Kiss Barrier (Boston Globe (newspaper), USA Today (newspaper), San Francisco Chronicle (newspaper), USA Networks International (cable network), Breaking the Surface (made-for-tv movie)) 2. Houston Chronicle Investigates Gay Murder Epidemic in Texas (Houston Chronicle (newspaper)) 3. Windy City Papers Sound Off As City Council Passes Domestic Partnership (Chicago Tribune (newspaper), Chicago Sun-Times (newspaper)) 4. Tired and Inspired Wires (Associated Press (newswire), United Press International (newswire)) 5. Gender Findings Grasped by the Gray Lady and Perverted by the Post (New York Post (newspaper), New York Times (newspaper)) 6. Relativity Reincarnated in Monday Move (Relativity (television drama), ABC (television network)) 7. Watch the GLAAD Media Awards Cybercast! 1. Reviewers Say It's Time to Break Through the No-Kiss Barrier Just prior to the March 19 airing of the Greg Louganis biographical made-for-TV movie Breaking the Surface on USA Network, a host of reviewers lamented the omission of any real male same-sex intimacy, announcing its time had come. In the March 19 Boston Globe, reviewer Renee Graham says, "The same old tired rules apply when it comes to portraying a same-sex relationship-you won't see Greg and Tom exchange a kiss. But the network doesn't hesitate to show the violent aspects of their relationship. It's as if there's an unwritten 'You can kill him, but you can't kiss him,' policy when it comes to homosexual relationships. When is television going to finally grow up?" USA Today's March 19 review notes that networks are as "squeamish as any commercial entity about same-sex physical contact that goes beyond a hug. When Greg pulls a knife on one boyfriend and is viciously assaulted by another, that of course is fair game to exploit." The San Francisco Chronicle review from the same day echoes the same sentiment. "If you're looking for a little voyeuristic thrill in the gay romances of a famous athlete," TV critic John Carman says, "Breaking the Surface delivers nothing stronger than comradely hugs." As mentioned in the =46ebruary 28 GLAADAlert, GLAAD met with USA Networks representatives over a month ago, who were eager for input about Breaking the Surface. The meeting yielded assurances from USA that in the future, representations of gay and lesbian relationships would be more realistic. As USA representative Ian Valentine confirmed, saying "After our meeting I came away feeling that would could have been more adventurous [about same-sex intimacy] and next time, we will be." He also pledged to work with GLAAD in the future. The widespread critical recognition of the obvious lack of same-sex intimacy in Breaking the Surface is both encouraging and hopefully part of a broader trend towards a more accurate portrayal of our lives on television-a gay male same-sex kiss is something yet unseen on network entertainment television. Along with GLAAD's efforts to work within the entertainment industry to educate media professionals on the importance of accurate portrayals, these television critics make a significant contribution through echoing GLAAD's view that the Breaking the Surface omission harms the authenticity of the program. Please commend the Boston Globe, USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle for their astute critical commentary, and affirm USA Networks commitment to more accurate representation in the future. Contact: Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107, fax: 617.929.2098, e-mail: letter@globe.com; USA Today, 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22229, fax: 703.247.3108, e-mail: editor@usatoday.com; William German, Editor, San Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission Street, San =46rancisco, CA 94103-2988, fax: 415.543.7708, e-mail: chronletters@sfgate.com; Ian Valentine, USA Networks International, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. 2. Austin Chronicle Investigates Gay Murder Epidemic in Texas The March 14 Austin Chronicle featured two important articles about a recent spate of killings of gay men in Texas. The first article, by Amy Smith, begins with the murder of Ernest Salda=EFa, a mentally disabled gay man whose killers targeted his home and repeatedly shouted anti-gay epithets during the attack. "The homophobic nature of the murder was never addressed during the trials, but his family decided to speak out in defense of their gay son and brother," Smith says. Working with the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas (LGRL), the Salda=EFas have sought out the inclusion o= f sexual orientation in hate crime legislation. "Since the bill failed to win the needed votes two years ago, seven other gay men have been murdered across Texas," Smith notes. "All told, 22 gay men have been murdered across the state since 1988. What makes the murders of gay men difficult to generate sympathy and outrage in the heterosexual world is an age-old, blame-the-victim mentality. Many of the men were killed by strangers they met at a bar, an adult video store or while cruising parks or other areas where gay men converge," Smith says. "Then again, Ernest Salda=EFa never got to make that choice. His killers picked him." A second article by the same author profiles Bruce Becker, a 36-year-old government employee. Becker had picked up his assailant in a cruising area. Smith explains, "Living in fear of one's sexual orientation being discovered can be a scary thing in a society that does little to accept homosexuals. While pick-up encounters exist in both straight and gay worlds, the covertness of sex with strangers can figure more prominently into a gay man's inability to fully accept his sexual orientation." By humanizing the issue of hate crimes and the real cost to society when such legislation is not passed, Smith's articles illuminate the central role that homophobia plays in both these murders and the lack of punishments to fit the hate-motivated crimes. Please thank the Austin Chronicle for Smith's provocative and thoughtful stories on the extreme side of anti-gay violence. Contact: Louis Black, Editor, Austin Chronicle, 4000 North I-H35, Austin, TX 78751, e-mail: mail@auschron.com. 3. Windy City Papers Sound Off As City Council Passes Domestic Partnership Both the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times featured opinions about domestic partnership leading up to the March 19 passage of a city ordinance extending health benefits to gay and lesbian partners. Mary Schmich's March 13 Chicago Tribune commentary discusses her "oldest and dearest friends," including two gay men in a twelve-year relationship, a lesbian mother and a lesbian pastor, and how they make the issue so personal for her. "Many perceive an assault on their religion, though the ordinance would deny them nothing, including freedom of religion," she says. "Simply put, married people receive certain city benefits. Gay people can't get married. Therefore, gay people who live as if they're married-committed to a long-term partner-are as entitled as their straight peers to the benefits that come with the job." In the March 19 Chicago Sun-Times, Dennis Byrne, a member of the paper's editorial board, asked "Why Gay Entitlements?" The opinion piece drips with self-victimizing statements like, "What Chicagoans are presented with here is yet another litmus test of their allegedly pervasive homophobia. If they oppose the ordinance [which Byrne did], they're guilty of hatred. If they support the ordinance, they are cleansed of their sin and endorsed for passage though the Gates of Compassion and Caring." Byrne sees no reason for the ordinance beyond that "it helps ensure the stability of gay relationships. And that's where the argument stops, because it is assumed that stable, gay relationships are something of great, pressing value to the larger community." With this theory, Byrne concludes, "In truth, this is just one more demand by one more special interest for one more middle-class entitlement." Byrne writes about the issue as if it were unrelated to real people with real families (middle-class, working-class and otherwise), seemingly believing that domestic partnership is no more than some kind of P.C. exercise. Schmich knew the people, and the issue, well enough to know that it has nothing to do with "ensuring stability" in gay relationships, many of which were long-term decades before the concept of domestic partnership. Without recognizing issues such as equal treatment under the law and the fact that gay people pay taxes to support the spousal benefits of married heterosexuals without representation, Byrne not only misses the reasoning of issue, but the humanity. The City Council, by a vote of 32-18, saw otherwise. Please thank the Tribune for publishing such a sensitive and rational commentary, and let the Sun-Times know that if Byrne represents the analytical talents of its editorial board, it might want to consider recasting its net. Contact: Howard Tyner, Editor, Chicago Tribune; P.O. Box 4041, Chicago, IL 60611-4041, fax: 312.222.3143, e-mail: tribletter@aol.com; Chicago Sun Times, 401 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, fax 312.321.2120, e-mail: letters@suntimes.com. 4. Tired and Inspired Wires Rev. Lou Sheldon of the anti-gay radical religious group Traditional Values Coalition has attacked a number of bills designed to protect lesbian and gay youth, and while United Press International (UPI) wire did little more than rehash Sheldon's press release, the Associated Press's (AP's) wire actually examines the substance of Sheldon's claims. On March 17, UPI's item restates Sheldon's belief that the California Assembly is considering bills that "might force the hiring of homosexuals by religious nonprofit groups and the advocacy of their lifestyle in public schools. He [Sheldon] said [Assembly Pro Tem Sheila] Kuehl's legislation would allow a teacher, student or administrator to sue for civil damages if they believe they are adversely affected by their sexual orientation." Meanwhile, the March 18 AP story on the same press conference notes Sheldon's claims that the bills, quoting Sheldon directly, "'promote homosexuality.'" Then the AP reporter includes a response from Kuehl. "Sheldon was particularly critical of Assembly Bill 101, which he said would bar teachers from publicly criticizing homosexuality or advocating 'sexual reorientation' therapies," the AP item continues, "'AB101 is a bill which basically criminalizes First Amendment rights,' Sheldon said." The AP then gives a counter from Kuehl. It notes, "Asked, however, whether he thought it was right to bar teachers from speaking positively about homosexuality, Sheldon believed that was proper. 'You do not want to take an 8-, 9-, 10- or 11-year-old child and teach them to self-identify with homosexuality,' he said. Sheldon said he did not see any contradiction with his earlier defense of First Amendment rights." While the UPI item created bias through a failure to go beyond hate-monger Sheldon's own hype, the AP story sought balance by following up each absurd statement made by Sheldon with a clarification from Kuehl, and following up Sheldon's own statements with his response to a challenging question from a reporter. Please thank AP for a balanced and fair article, and encourage UPI to do a little more legwork to make items more objective. Contact: Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10020-1666, fax: 212.621. 7520, e-mail: rgersh@ap.org; Tobin Beck, Editor-In-Chief, United Press International, 1400 "I" Street, Washington, DC 20005, fax: 202.898.8133. 5. Gender Findings Grasped by the Gray Lady and Perverted by the Post Two recent articles reveal that it isn't the knowledge so much as what you do with it that matters. An editorial in the March 17 New York Post grabs one element of a new scientific study and uses it to attack both gay and transgender people. This new study reversed a famous 1973 report about an infant boy whose penis had accidentally been cut off, and the doctors decided to surgically make him a girl, with female genitalia, hormone therapy and insisting the parents treat him as a girl. In the 1973 report, the child appeared to have happily accepted this new gender identity as she developed. This study was cited by those who argued it was empirical evidence that gender is entirely socialization and not biological, or all nurture and no nature. In the new study the traumatized child renounced his female identity at 14 and has since lived happily as a male. Before this new report corrected the prior finding, the Post says, "practices like homosexuality and transsexuality [were] seen as liberating-sloughing off socially defined roles and realizing one's true self." The editorial then claims that this new study wholly dismisses that gender in any way (including such things as boys wearing blue and playing with guns, girls wearing pink and playing with dolls) is a learned, or socialized behavior. "It's sad that it took so much suffering to demonstrate that...gender is not constructed," it says. Meanwhile, the March 14 New York Times explored the meanings behind the groundbreaking new case study. The Times reported the new study by Dr. Milton Diamond and Dr. H. Keith Sigmundson reversed the previous claim that all gender identity was socialized, because the child's male-identification was so strong even after years of living as a girl. "Yet the debate remains as to how much of sexual identity is instilled by nature and how much by nurture, experts said," according to the Times. "Few agree on what it means to talk about 'maleness' or 'femaleness' to begin with." Cheryl Chase, founder of the Intersex Society for North America, argues that "male" and "female" don't account for those who don't easily fit, even biologically, into one category or the other. Finally, the Times sums up with a comment from Dr. Diamond: "It is the head that holds the primary sexual organ, the source of one's identity, and that organ does not lie." =46or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including intersex people, the clear-headed Times report on this complicated matter recognizes that the new study does not claim biology is everything. Nature, in other words, plays an important role in gender and sexual identity, but social factors also play an important role. Our true sense of gender comes from our brains, not our genitalia. The Post dismisses the whole story and focuses instead on just the part of it which justifies a pre-existing bias against those who don't fit into the two categories of "masculine" male and "feminine" woman. This oversimplified bias implicates effeminate boys, butch girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, not to mention intersex people, to whom "male" and "female" just don't apply. Please thank the Times for telling the whole story about this ground-breaking study. Let the Post know that their hasty gender-baiting does a disservice to everyone who doesn't easily fit into one of two gender roles. Contact: Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, New York Times, 229 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036, fax: 212.556.3622, e-mail: letter@nytimes.com; New York Post, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-8790, fax: 212.930.8540, e-mail: newyorkpost@delphi.com. 6. Relativity Reincarnated in Monday Move In the face of certain cancellation, ABC's critically acclaimed but low-rated Relativity will move to Monday nights at 8 p.m. for three weeks beginning March 31. The show features Lisa Edelstein as Rhonda Roth, one of the most realistic and well-developed lesbian or gay characters on television. Please congratulate ABC for giving this quality program a second chance, and encourage them to extend the program through the end of the season. Contact: Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067, phone: 310.557.7777, fax: 310.557.7679, e-mail: abcaudr@ccabc.com. 7. Watch the GLAAD Media Awards Cybercast! If you missed the star-studded 8th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, which was cybercast live during the March 16 event, you'll have a few more chances to check it out before the presentation of the New York Media Awards. Pride Media and CompuServe are hosting both events on their Web site at http://world.compuserve.com/glaad.html. Replays of the Los Angeles awards will be on March 25, 27 and 28 leading up to the live cybercast of the New York ceremony at 7:30 p.m. EST on March 31. 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. Contact GLAAD by e-mail at glaad@glaad.org or by phone at 213.658.6775 (Los Angeles), 212.807.1700 (New York), 202.986.1360 (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 registered 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. 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