Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 12:49:46 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation GLAAD ALERT May 23, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Open Sesame Street The May 19 re-run episode of Sesame Street featured a guest spot by Ellen DeGeneres, who had made other appearances on the children's show throughout the past season. In upcoming months, Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the show's producers, plans to re-run five more of the episodes in which she is featured. When the repeat broadcast was aired on the 19th, following DeGeneres' highly publicized coming out, a number of people contacted CTW, criticizing them for including an openly lesbian celebrity as a role model in a children's show. CTW responded in a statement, saying that "although we respect the rights of parents who differ with us, Children's Television Workshop believes that all the celebrities we have on Sesame Street are appropriate role models. Their function is to both educate and give children a positive self-image. For 29 years, Children's Television Workshop has believed in the inclusion of all different people on our show. We continue to believe in and support that." By continuing to air DeGeneres' skits and publicly support her as a role model for youngsters everywhere, Children's Television Workshop is telling parents and children that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are part of the fabric of our diverse society and that we are as deserving of respect and admiration as our heterosexual counterparts. Please thank Children's Television Workshop and PBS for their support of Ellen DeGeneres and of our community, and for their continued inclusion of a diverse array of people in their programming. Contact: Kathy Quattrone, Programming Vice President, PBS, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698, fax: 703.739.5295, WWW: www.pbs.org; David Britt, President, Children's Television Workshop, 1 Lincoln Plaza, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10023, fax: 212.875.6104, e-mail: ctw-comments@ctw.org. The Ins and Outs of the National Enquirer The May 27 edition of the National Enquirer features the sensationalistic headline: "The Truth About Those Rumors...Who's Gay, Who's Not." The story's biased language devalues both the process of coming out and the pride that comes with being openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. According to the tabloid, the story "pierces the veil of secrecy to reveal which stars are gay, those who deny it-and those who've been branded gay by false whispers." One star is said to be "plagued by lesbian rumors," while another actor "fumed" about speculation regarding his sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the story says that lesbian singer k.d. lang "admitted she was a lesbian in The Advocate," that performer Elton John "admitted he's strictly gay," and that Greg Louganis "admits he's battling AIDS." Even actress Amanda Bearse, the article states, has "proclaimed herself as lesbian" and "admitted [to] having a two-year live-in relationship with Sandra Bernhard." Regardless of the accuracy of the tabloid's supposed "insider's look" on the gay Who's Who of Hollywood, the underlying assumption of the article is that being openly gay, lesbian or bisexual is a shameful thing. None of the heterosexuals featured in the story have "admitted" or "proclaimed" that they are straight, and the Enquirer's further use of terms like "plagued" and "branded" when describing speculation surrounding the sexual orientation of these celebrities clearly enforces the notion that being gay is harmful, destructive to one's reputation, and potentially humiliating. Let the Enquirer know that they need to get their terms straight. Contact: Mike Nevard, editor, The National Enquirer, Lantana, FL 33464. Lights! Camera! Reactions! The film version of Terrence McNally's enormously successful play, Love! Valour! Compassion! opened in theaters across the country this week, with mostly positive reactions from critics and audience. The Hollywood production of this Tony-award-winning play marked another instance in which members of the entertainment industry, this time Fine Line Features, have begun to recognize the compelling stories which our community has to offer for major-market films. Love! Valour! Compassion! joins forerunners like Philadelphia, Jeffrey, Bound, Set it Off and The Birdcage and continues to break down barriers in Hollywood which have historically prevented artists from making lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-based films. Please thank Fine Line Features, the film's distributors, for their positive portrayal of gay imagery and for being a leader in telling gay-themed stories. Contact: Michael DeLuca, President, New Line Cinema, 888 7th Ave., New York, NY 10019, 212.649.4900, WWW: www.flf.com. LA Times Shows Poppy Knows Worst In the May 13 edition of the Los Angeles Times, columnist Robert Scheer wrote about the difficulties that Brian O'Leary Bennett, former aide to the virulently anti-gay ex-Congressman Bob Dornan, faced when he decided to come out, emphasizing Bennett's strength and integrity. The article, entitled "Coming Out to 'Poppy': Heart, Soul, Reality," imagines the moment when Bennett told Dornan: "Dornan, the nation's premier gay-basher, was about to have his belief system shattered by the simple truth that the gay enemy was an intimate associate who called him Poppy like his own kids did. The congressman who had made a career by deriding homosexuality as the perverse choice of those marked by a decadent culture was suddenly to discover that he himself had been the role model for a gay man." Scheer says, "What Dornan cannot accept is that homosexuality is neither an indulgence nor the product of perverse and subversive cultural influences led by that army of 'lesbian spear-chuckers' whom he once derided. As the example of Brian Bennett illustrates, being homosexual is as American as apple pie." Scheer writes that the former aide struggled for years with his sexual orientation, and quotes Bennett, who says that now that he has come out, he "hopes that Dornan will end his vicious stereotyping of gays." Scheer says he doubts that this will happen because "unfortunately, hate has a purpose and life of its own. I respect Bennett's courage in coming out and his loyalty to an old friend and mentor. But the pink triangle is only one reminder that hate is a killer not easily contained. Poppy, I'm gay. Adolf, I'm Jewish." Scheer captures both the personal pain and the political reality of the struggle that Bennett went through in attempting to accept that the man he knew as a role model and friend was also among the most vicious of anti-gay bigots. Without passing judgment on Bennett himself, Scheer identifies the fact Dornan embodies hatred; that he employs it as his main political weapon--his bread and butter. Unfortunately, as Scheer articulates so clearly, people like Dornan, whose hatred runs so deep, may not be able to let their hatred go--even if they want to. That is part of the tragedy of bigotry. Please thank the Los Angeles Times for such a frank and insightful article. Contact: Shelby Coffey, Editor-in-Chief, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, fax: 213. 237.4712, e-mail: letters@latimes.com. Sundance Channel Holds Gay Film Festival on Cable In honor of Pride month, the Sundance Channel will air a different lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related piece each day in June. Among the films being shown are: Ballot Measure 9 (Heather MacDonald), Carrington (Christopher Hampton), Coming Out Under Fire (Arthur Dong), The Hours and Times (Christopher Munch), Silverlake Life: The View From Here (Tom Joslin and Mark Massi) and Totally F***ed Up (Gregg Araki). To support the "Day of Compassion" on June 20, an event being jointly sponsored by GLAAD and Hollywood Supports in order to encourage compassion for people living with the HIV virus, Sundance will also hold the television premiere of Jean Stewart's Nervous Energy, starring Alfred Molina and Cal Macaninch and will show Marlon Riggs' final film, Black Is...Black Ain't. Please commend the Sundance Channel for recognizing June as a very special month for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Contact: Susan Levovsky, Executive Producer, Sundance Channel, 1633 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10019, e-mail: talkback@sundancechannel.com, WWW: www.sundancechannel.com. 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.