Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 15:50:28 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: Special Online GLAADAlert - 05.06.97 MAY 6, 1997 SPECIAL ONLINE GLAADALERT URGENT ACTION NEEDED DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL! KEEP YOUR EYES ON "ELLEN"! Birmingham, Alabama's ABC affiliate, WBMA-TV 33/40, is considering again censoring the representation of lesbians and gay men on primetime television. The station is presently considering whether or not to air the final two episodes of this season's "Ellen," the first to air tomorrow night (Chastity Bono, GLAAD's Entertainment Media Director, will guest star). Last week the station refused to air the groundbreaking episode of "Ellen," and then blacked out a "Prime Time Live" and "Entertainment Tonight," in an attempt to censor criticism of the station's decision. By refusing to air the historic coming out episode of "Ellen," 33/40 denied quality and precedent-setting programming to local viewers---lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or otherwise. Now it seems that 33/40 may do it all over again. And by continually silencing critics, 33/40 is demonstrating how cowardly and un-American its actions around "Ellen" really are. Please tell ABC 33/40 and Allbritton Communications, their parent company, to air the remaining two episodes of "Ellen." Remind them that censoring quality programming and silencing dissent are un-American and attacks our sacred values of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Also, be sure to tune into "Ellen" and then let ABC know that you look forward to another year of quality programming. Contact: … Jerry Heilman, President and General Manager, ABC-33/40-TV, P.O. Box 360039, Birmingham, AL 35236, phone: 205.403.3340--enter 7 and then 1, fax: 205.403.3329, email: jerryh@abc3340.com; … Joseph Allbritton, Chairman and Jerry Fritz, Vice President of Legal Affairs, Allbritton Communications, 800 17th Street N.W., Suite 301, Washington, DC 20006, phone: 202.789.2130, fax: 202.822.6749; … Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067, fax: 310.557.7679, e-mail: abcaudr@ccabc.com; … Michael Eisner, Chairman and Dean Valentine, President of Network TV and Television Animation, The Walt Disney, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, fax: 818.560.1930, e-mail/WWW: http://www.disney.com/Mail. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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.