Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:02:38 -0400 From: glaad@glaad.org (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Subject: GLAADAlert 10.17.97 GLAADALERT--October 17, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Youngest Winans "Sing a Song of Deep Hate" On their new album, Bold, Angie and Debbie Winans, the youngest sisters in the Winans family gospel dynasty, sing a song of prejudice against lesbians and gay men, all in the name of religion. In the new single from their album, entitled "It's Not Natural," the sisters sing: "I was chilling on the couch one night/ Looking at my screen TV/ There were people celebrating and / congratulating The new addition to the Gay Community [Ellen]/ I was vexed in the spirit / And began to write this song/ It may be cold, but let the truth be told It's not natural/ No, that's not the way it goes/ It's not natural/ Just because it's popular, doesn't mean it's cool/ It's not natural/ No, that's not the way God planned/ It's time for the world to understand" While Angie and Debbie maintain that they "aren't bashing gays, they're bashing homosexuality," they fail to understand that songs like these are used to justify not only discrimination, but hatred and violence. By working with two so-called "ex-gay" churches that claim to "change" lesbians and gay men into heterosexual, "It's Not Natural" becomes an insidious piece in a larger movement supported by the sisters, a movement which uses religion as a platform for bigotry, devaluing lesbians and gay men and attacking tolerant people everywhere. When GLAAD first discovered the song, it made contact with the Winans' sisters representative, and a meeting was set up between Angie and Debbie and representatives from the Unity Fellowship Church, the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum, GLAAD, and Equal Partners In Faith. GLAAD and other fair-minded organizations envisioned the meeting as an opportunity to foster dialogue with the sisters, hopefully educating them about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Unfortunately, the Winans backed out at the last minute. A meeting in the South during their tour has been discussed, but phone calls to their representatives have gone unreturned since the cancellation of the meeting. Please write to the Winans' record company, and tell them that what you think of "It's Not Natural." Also, write to Angie and Debbie Winans' representatives, and urge them to keep their word and meet with progressive people of faith including organizations from the lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender community. Contact: Angie & Debbie Winans, and Bill Carpenter and Vincent Young, Capital Entertainment, 1201 N. Street N.W., Suite A, Washington D.C., 20005, fax 202.986.7992. Primetime Live Explores Gender On October 15, Primetime Live introduced America to Alex Myers, a 19-year-old transgender Harvard student. Alex, formally Alice, discussed his life as a transgender person, and Primetime examined his childhood, high school years, why he terms himself "transgendered" and what it is like to live in the boys dorm at the Ivy League university. Asked how he handled bigots, Myers told Primetime that people are going to hate him because he is Jewish, or because he goes to a famous, prestigious school. Myers said that his self-discovery was "the most natural thing in the world to do if it's who you are." Primetime Live's story did not include a transphobic "medical expert" as many such stories do. Instead, the show explores issues of gender by speaking one-on-one with a person living as an openly transgender person. The story was informative, interesting and personal. Please thank Primetime Live for exploring transgender issues by focusing on how it affects an individual, and not falling into the trap that many stories of this nature do. Contact: Primetime Live , ABC Television Network, 77 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023-6201, fax: 212.456.2381, e-mail: abcaudr@abc.com. Is Aaron Hill Gay? While many fans of the comic strip Luann have been speculating about teen heartthrob Aaron Hill's sexual orientation ever since he began playing coy with Luann during the prom last spring, creator Greg Evans has made that dialogue explicit beginning October 10. After much pressure from Luann to invite her to the homecoming dance, Aaron told her on October 10 that "there's someone else I care about." On October 15, one of Luann's friends suggests, "Wait a minute, what if...what if Aaron Hill is gay? Not that there's anything wrong with that." Another friend affirms, "Right." Luann mutters, "He sure doesn't kiss like a gay guy...." Like For Better or For Worse, Luann appears in over 300 daily newspapers around the country, and is a comic strip with an emphasis on family. As distributor United Feature Syndicate says, "In all storylines, Evans has held Luann up as a fine example of the positive power cartoons can have." Evans himself, a father of two, has said, "What I'm trying to do with this strip is to enlighten and inform a little about what life in a family should be without being preachy." Evans is doing just that by reflecting the reality that teenagers and families across America include discussions about sexual orientation and identity in everyday life. Please let Evans and United Feature Syndicate know that the dialogue about Aaron Hill's sexual orientation is both noteworthy and commendable. Contact: Greg Evans and United Features Syndicate, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10017, fax: 212.293.8760, e-mail: GELuann@aol.com. ABC Removes Warning...For Now This past Wednesday, Ellen did not receive the highly controversial "parental warning" that ABC placed on the sitcom the previous week-but there have been no promises made by the network that the "warning" will not return. Following criticisms by Ellen DeGeneres, GLAAD and others, ABC received numerous complaints that the warning constituted a double standard for lesbian and gay content on television. ABC has made no indications that the warning will not return. Future episodes are said to include a kiss between Ellen Morgan and her first girlfriend, and a walk into the bedroom together. Please write ABC and its parent company Disney and let them know that the standards to which Ellen receives a "warning" should be the very same ones that they apply to other sitcoms. Remind them of the important role they have played creating historic television, and encourage them to not hold the lesbian and gay community up to a different standard. Contact: … Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angles, CA 90037, fax: 310.557.7679, e-mail: abcaudr@abc.com; … Michael Eisner, Chairman & Dean Valentine, President of Network TV and Television Animation, The Walt Disney Company, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, fax 818.560.1930, feedback form: http://www.disney.com/Mail. In the Life Out of Orlando In the Life, the gay and lesbian newsmagazine series airing on over 100 public television stations across America, is being blocked out of Orlando, Florida's WMFE because of his own apparent bias against lesbians and gay men. In a recent Orlando Sentinel story, WMFE President Stephen McKenny Steck said he stands by his statement that In the Life has "an advocacy or promotional role which proselytizes a lifestyle not generally accepted by the Central Florida community," and that for four years he has continued to refuse airing of the program on those grounds. As John Catania, Director of Communications for In the Life notes, "Lesbian and gay citizens of Central Florida, many of whom no doubt contribute to public station WMFE, might find offensive President Stecks comments that their lives are not accepted in Central Florida." In addition, Stecks seems to be judging the program solely on the sexual orientation of themes rather than the actual quality of content on the show. In Dayton, Ohio, WPDT Manager of Program Services Jim Wiener recently decided to air In the Life in spite of some resistance due to the high quality of this critically acclaimed program. Please let WMFE know that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Floridians and their families and friends deserve to see themselves and their issues reflected on the public television in a community that they are a vital part of. In addition, commend WPDT for their affirmation of diverse programming for a diverse community. Contact: … Stephen McKinney Steck, President, WMFE, 11510 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32817-4699, fax: 407.273.3613; … Jim Wiener, Manager of Program Services, WPDT, 110 South Jefferson, Dayton, OH 45402, fax: 937.220.1642. Free Speech Expert Questions Supreme Court According to Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism at New York University writing in the October 14 Newsday, the U.S. Supreme Court made a bad decision recently by letting stand a Washington State ruling denying a lesbian journalist the right to advocate for gay civil rights in her off hours. In 1990, Sandra Nelson, an education reporter for the Tacoma, Washington News Tribune was demoted to copy editor by management after she campaigned for civil rights for lesbians and gay men off hours. After continued difficulty, she filed suit against the newspaper under state anti-discrimination law. In early 1997, the state high court ruled, "in a very peculiar decision," according to Gitlin, "that the state's employment practices act did not apply to her-because, the majority argued, guaranteeing her the right to the political activity she chooses would infringe upon the newspaper's right to conduct itself free of government regulation. In other words, the freedom of the press belongs to those who own one....To give management the right to influence what readers, or advertisers, or politicians or lobbies think of them by limiting reporters' political rights turns the paper into something other than a conveyor of truth-it turns it into a plaything of those deemed capable of exercising credibility vetoes....The Supreme Court has rubber-stamped a badly reasoned decision that political rights may be overruled by public relations." Please commend Gitlin and Newsday for a clear-headed examination of First Amendment rights, and articulating the need for the rights all of representatives of the media to free expression-regardless of sexual orientation. Contact: Todd Gitlin, Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville, New York 11747, fax: 516.843.2953. The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD is 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), 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.