Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 16:49:34 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert 08.05.97 GLAADALERT September 5, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation The Ins and Outs of In & Out Paramount's much-anticipated comedy In & Out begins showing September 19 in movie houses across the country. For those who have yet to see the trailer, featuring Kevin Kline dancing to the Village People's "Macho Man," the film is based on the premise that a famous actor (Matt Dillon) wins an Oscar and inadvertently outs his small-town high school drama teacher (Kevin Kline). It comes as a great surprise to the townspeople, most of all Kline and his fiancee (Joan Cusack). The story creates a media storm, which brings a closeted gay tabloid reporter (Tom Selleck) to town to find out the real story. Along the way, Kline struggles with his own self-identity, and the townspeople enact and confront their own assumptions, myths and stereotypes about gender and sexual orientation. Finally, the film refuses to shy away from same-sex intimacy, and features a prolonged, full-on lip-locking kiss between Kline and Selleck. While the film does employ gay stereotypes, it does it in such a way as to simultaneously challenge them. In & Out's writer, Paul Rudnick, also wrote the hit play and movie Jeffrey and Addams Family Values, which explore the same theme. Kline has to examine the ways in which he does embody certain stereotypes about being gay, including being a sharp dresser, having fluid hand gestures and loving Barbra Streisand. In the end, though, the character discovers he must transcend worrying about what people think he is and just be true to himself. Kline also deals with issues of being a high school teacher who is thought to be gay and the very real possibility of losing his livelihood because of a lack of protections against job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Lastly, the town has to get over its homophobia in order to see the humanity in everyone. Please take a look at In & Out, and let Paramount know how you feel about this engaging and entertaining film. Contact: Tom Sherek, President, 20th Century Fox Studios, 10201 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035, e-mail: 5555@paramount.com. Media Honors Diana's Connection to Gay Community In the wake of her tragic demise, a number of media outlets, including notably the Associated Press (AP) and a local television station in Portland, Oregon, have run illuminating stories about the connection between Princess Diana and the gay community due to her AIDS advocacy work. A September 2 AP story begins, "In the largely gay Castro district, many San Francisco residents spent part of their Labor Day honoring the princess who championed AIDS causes." It quotes several of the people who viewed an impromptu memorial to Princess Diana. "Many in the city's gay community praised Diana for caring for those with AIDS when many feared the disease," it says. "One Castro resident, who said her full name was Oshara, left some lilies and a copy of the Oakland Tribune. She said the princess' view of AIDS was refreshing. Oshara also said that she appreciated the love Diana showed for the gay community. She said she had heard that Diana had gay friends who often helped her escape from the paparazzi." During the morning news on September 2, KOIN-TV in Portland portrayed reactions from a wide array of Oregonians, including contestants at the La Femme Magnifique pageant, where judges chose "the most beautiful female impersonator in the world." The drag queens shared their thoughts about the loss of Diana and the reporter and anchorpeople treated them as any other "man on the street." Please commend the Associated Press and KOIN-TV in Portland for their inclusion of the distinct ways that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community loved and have lost Princess Diana. Contact: Darrell L. Christian, Managing Editor, Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th floor, New York, NY 10020-1666, fax: 212.621.7520, e-mail: rgersh@ap.org, Greg R. Veon, General Manager, KOIN-TV, 222 SW Columbia Street, Portland, OR 97201, fax: 503.464.6806, WWW: www.koin.com. Gay Dogs Need Love, Too On the September 3 episode of Comedy Central's irreverent animated series South Park, the children learned a valuable lesson about the acceptance of lesbians and gay men. The show, set in the mythical town of South Park, Colorado, is a cold, snowy place where the elementary school has a losing football team and the teacher talks to his third grade students with a hand puppet. It's a surreal winter wonderland where Stan and his dog Sparky (played by guest bark of George Clooney) live. It is not particularly tolerant when they learn that Sparky is gay. Stan's friends tease him, saying "Hey, where's your homo dog? Buying leather pants?" The townspeople make so much fun of Sparky that Stan wants him to change, saying. "Sit. Shake. OK, Don't be gay!" Stan's football coach supports Sparky, saying "You can't teach a gay dog straight tricks," much to the consternation of Stan's homophobic (perhaps closeted) teacher. Meanwhile, Sparky runs away, and finds Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Retreat, where he's welcomed with open arms to join other animals who have been rejected. Big Gay Al is an effeminate man with a heart of gold, who has opened his home to these rejected beasts, both domestic and wild. When Stan finds Sparky is missing, he refuses to quarterback for the team, and instead sets out to find his beloved dog. He finds Big Gay Al, and learns about how there have been gay people throughout history on "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boatride." Stan takes Sparky back to South Park, takes over the game, and while not winning, beats the point spread. When the announcer asks him to make a speech, he says "Gay is OK!" stunning the audience. He takes them all to Big Gay Al's, where many find pets they thought they had lost forever. Big Gay Al leaves, knowing that his work is done. South Park plays fast and loose with many themes, but the over-the-top portrayals of both Big Gay Al and the homo-ignorant townspeople not only makes the audience laugh out loud at their absurdity, but also, in a subversive way, makes them examine their prejudices in the light of humor. Please thank Comedy Central for airing this show, and for taking the risk of making a show that truly stretches the boundaries of both comedy...and taste. Contact: Doug Herzog, President and CEO, Comedy Central, 1775 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, fax 212.767.8592, e-mail dherzog@comcentral.com. Homophobia for the Defense On September 21, the Museum of Television & Radio Showcase on Nick at Nite's TV Land will feature an episode of Judd for the Defense entitled "Weep the Hunter Home," which deals with the then-taboo subject of sexual orientation. The crime drama, which ran on ABC from 1967 to 1969, featured Carl Betz as a superstar defense attorney, Clinton Judd. The plots of the show were known for reflecting the issues of the turbulent late 1960's. "Weep" specifically deals with the accusations made by a concerned father against his son (Richard Dreyfuss) and close friend of being "queer," a topic hardly spoken of in pre-Stonewall America. The episode presents sexual orientation as a negative outlet of the father's misunderstandings and concerns over his son's direction in life. The episode will include an introduction by the Museum of Television & Radio that will address the boldness of the topic and homophobia. David Bushman, the Director of Programming for TV Land, told GLAAD that "this episode certainly reflects how far television and the lesbian and gay community have come in the past 30 years." Please tune into this episode of Judd for the Defense and then thank TV Land for reminding us how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. Contact: Richard Cronon, President, c/o Gennifer Birnbach, Nick at Nite, 1515 Broadway, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10036, fax: 212.258.7666, e-mail: mailtvl@nickatnitestvland.com. Accuracy in Media Misses the Mark on AIDS In a blatantly misleading opinion piece, Reed Irvine and Joe Goulden of the anti-gay (and misnamed) media watchdog group "Accuracy In Media," attempt to parallel the dangers of smoking cigarettes with the AIDS epidemic. Bending, and sometimes breaking, the truth to fit their anti-gay agenda, Irvine and Goulden make a number of statements like "Homosexual sex is the largest single cause of AIDS among American men." Of course, as far as science is concerned, the only cause of AIDS is the virus itself. In another amazing statement, Irvine and Goulden liken smoking to AIDS because, "Like smoking, AIDS is almost entirely the result of a lifestyle choice." As if people with HIV and AIDS choose to contract this disease. The only choice we have is whether we will keep our eyes and our minds closed to the facts, like Irvine and Goulden, or if we support the further education of the public on how to prevent the further spread of the HIV virus. By serving as a megaphone for bigoted and misleading commentaries like this, the Washington Times misinforms its readers and fosters continued prejudice against gay men and people with AIDS. Contact: Wesley Pruden, Editor in Chief, Washington Times, 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington DC 20002-1996, fax: 202.269.3419, e-mail: wtletter@mcimail.com. George Highlights Hollywood's Lesbian Leading Lady In the September issue of George magazine, a feature called "Women Who Rule--the 20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics from the Glorious to the Notorious" features actor and Ellen DeGeneres' girlfriend Anne Heche. "So this is the Anne Heche who has Hollywood all worked up about whether straight men will still find her sexy in movies just because she's sleeping with a woman?" the profile opens. "It makes you wonder who Hollywood know less about, lesbians or straight men." It continues by noting that Heche "is going where no woman has gone before: an actress on the upside of her career, cast in extremely hetero roles... announcing that she's a lesbian." Discussing Heche's father's closeted gay existence and death from AIDS-related causes, the article highlights her own insistence on openness and honesty. "When her agents cringed at her intention to go public with Ellen at the Volcano premiere, she fired them and signed with DeGeneres'," it says. "But for Heche, the stakes are higher than they were for DeGeneres. 'Ellen's coming out was a surprise to nobody,' said Larry Gross, author of Contested Closets. 'Anybody who didn't read her as a lesbian just can't read.' But no one had read Heche as a lesbian, including, apparently, Heche. 'If she still has a successful career,' Gross says, 'then she really will have broken a barrier.'" In summary, George says, "The powers that be in Hollywood are in angst over whether she can. The problem with all the Hollywood hand-wringing is that the audience has never been given this choice before. And as Heche learned from DeGeneres, who knows until you've tried?" By highlighting Heche, George recognizes cultural change as a central influence in "politics." The article also reveals the tip of Hollywood's homophobic iceberg by noting how much of the resistance to openly lesbian and gay actors comes from industry big-wigs afraid to take a risk on something unknown rather than any wisdom grounded in fact. Please let George know that Heche's inclusion as a "Fascinating Woman in Politics" is a smart one. Contact: John F. Kennedy, Jr., Editor-in-Chief, George, 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019-6708, fax: 212.767.5622, e-mail: edit@georgemag.com. Cape Cod Times Covers Media Bias on P-Town Policy After a recent misleading anti-gay attack on the local Anti-Bias School Community Project by the right-wing Washington Times, an August 29 Cape Cod Times editorial criticizes the Washington paper for its propagandizing sensationalism. The editorial says, "By doing right, Provincetown had a recent, far-reaching brush with institutional ignorance." The Washington Times article, headlined, "Provincetown preschoolers to learn ABCs of being gay," focused almost solely on the gay aspects of a program to confront discrimination based on a wide range of identities, including race, gender and sexual orientation. The editorial says, "The germ of the story was picked up by conservative outlets, including radio talk shows, [who] pounced on the story like a morsel from a banquet. Given the Washington Times' conscious selectivity, many of these outlets initially got the Provincetown project entirely wrong. The suggestion was that the school system is promoting homosexuality, an utterly ridiculous--if self-serving--interpretation.... But objectivity and discussions in depth do tend to dull the cutting edge of interest." The editorial says the program is designed to teach teachers and children an appreciation of many forms of prejudice, how they affect people and how to confront them. "Critics who seized on the program's bias-against-gays aspect (a favorite target of the ultra-conservative wing) perhaps intentionally ignored the fact that intolerance is pervasive and can be dealt with.... Dealing with intolerance is a lesson well worth teaching," the editorial adds. "This latest nudge-ink attach on Provincetown by some who reasonably could be described as intolerant is certainly misdirected. Provincetown's society is a lesson in communal acceptance and living harmoniously--both hallmarks of democracy and Christianity, no matter where you sit on the political spectrum." Please let the Cape Cod Times know that by identifying anti-gay bias and sensationalizing in the media as the root of the problem in their local community's attempt to fight hate, it illuminates the much larger issue of media responsibility in fairly and accurately representing issues affecting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Contact: Cape Cod Times, 315 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA 02657, fax: 508.487.6402. GLAADAlert Update: For Better or For Worse Moves A week after the family-oriented comic strip For Better or For Worse featured a gay character discussing his boyfriend's move to Paris, the strip switched syndicators. According to all sides, however, the gay inclusion was not a factor in what was a lucrative business deal for the strip's creator, Lynn Johnson. "The For Better or For Worse bidding war shows that both United Features and Universal Press Syndicate place high value in a strip that embraces inclusive representations of all Americans," said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. "Just as Universal Press Syndicate did, GLAAD hopes that United Features Syndicate will fully support Lynn Johnson in her commitment to fair, accurate and inclusive representations on the basis of sexual orientation." Please thank Universal Press Syndicate for many years of commitment to For Better of For Worse, and let United Features Syndicate know that you look forward to their support of this newly acquired celebration of diversity. Contact: Universal Press Syndicate, 4900 Main Street, 9th floor, Kansas City, MO 64112-2644; Doug Loevy, Editor, United Features Syndicate, 200 Madison Avenue, 4th floor, New York, NY 10017, fax: 212.293.8760. The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive media representation as a means of challenging homophobia and 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), 415.861.2244 (San Francisco), 202.986.1360 (Washington, DC), 404.607.1204 (Atlanta) and 816.374.5927 (Kansas City) 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 "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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