Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 16:46:11 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADAlert June 5, 1998 GLAADALERT-June 5, 1998 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Editor's Note: From this date forward, GLAADAlert will be released on Thursday evening, instead of Friday evening. 1) Showtime Tells More Tales 2) ABC News Questions Sodomy Laws 3) Atlanta Journal-Constitution Looks at "Gays & God" 4) Dallas Paper Discusses Cultural Conflicts of Science 5) Buckley's Off-base Marriage Column 1)Showtime Tells More Tales On June 7, Showtime Networks will premier Armistead Maupin's More Tales of the City, which Daily Variety recently called "possibly even more pure fun than the original." Picking up where the series left off more than four years ago, More Tales explores the eclectic lives of a unique cast of characters in San Francisco in the late 1970's. These include transgender matron Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), Beauchamp Day (Dharma & Greg's Thomas Gibson) and the series gay regular Michael Tolliver, a.k.a. Mouse (Paul Hopkins). The new series captures the essence of the free-spirited and sometimes outrageous world of 1970's San Francisco, and closely honors Maupin's original groundbreaking text. Tales of the City, adapted from Maupin's first book in a series, originally ran on PBS to critical and ratings acclaim. However, under political pressure regarding federal funding for the arts, PBS declined to air a sequel. Showtime, which has recently been producing and airing a number of critically acclaimed and socially compelling movies, has picked up where Maupin left off, bringing these colorful and diverse characters to life again for audiences everywhere to enjoy. Please tune in on June 7 for the first three-part installment of More Tales, and then on June 8 for the three-part conclusion. Also contact Showtime Networks and thank them for recognizing that Americans appreciate More Tales, and let them know that the program is a significant part of your decision to choose the network as your premium cable preference. Contact: Jerry Offsay, President of Programming, Showtime Networks, Inc., 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1600, LA, CA 90024, e-mail: talk2@showtimeonline.com 2) ABC News Questions Sodomy Laws The May 26 ABC News special "Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults with John Stossel" focused on differing opinions about whether several behaviors should be decriminalized, including consensual adult sexual activity, prostitution, drug use and selling pornography. The show included a segment with openly lesbian lawyer Robin Shahar, whose job offer was withdrawn by Georgia Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Michael Bowers, who cited the state's sodomy law as justification. Stossel then interviewed Fran Shahar, Robin's domestic partner, as well as two Georgia legislators with differing opinions about same-gender relationships. Stossel provides well-rounded coverage of a complex situation, including questioning the hypocrisy of Bowers' dismissal of Shahar supposedly based on sodomy law while Bowers himself had had an extended extramarital affair with a woman, also in violation of the letter of Georgia law (A full transcript of the program is available online at: http://www.abcnews.com/onair/abcnewsspecials/transcripts/ specials_stossel980526_trans.html ). Please thank ABC News for exploring-on prime time television-the fact that two women Stossel identifies as "married in a religious ceremony" still face job action and dismissal because of archaic sodomy laws. Contact: ABC News, 47 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023, fax: 212.456.7777, e-mail: abcquest@ccabc.com. 3) Atlanta Journal-Constitution Looks at "Gays & God" On May 31, the first part of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution three-part series on "Gays & God" featured two articles on lesbians and gay men of faith struggling to reconcile their beliefs with religious institutions. The first story, by Journal-Constitution staff writer Gayle White, begins, "Across the country, gay and lesbian Christians are searching for a way to worship.... Some hide their sexual orientation and stay in churches that claim to love the sinner while hating the sin. Some go to congregations founded specifically by and for homosexuals. Some stay home. And some find acceptance in the pews of some traditional churches." White looks at various churches and their stances, from acceptance to "don't ask, don't tell," to complete denunciation, and writes, "Churches that have intentionally opened themselves to gays and lesbians have lost some members because of their stand.... [But] open gays and lesbians worship alongside their heterosexual brethren in some Atlanta churches. They serve on committees, lead liturgies [and] volunteer in children's nurseries. Their names are listed in church directories with those of the same-sex partners with whom they sit comfortable in services, sharing hymnals and occasionally holding hands." The second article, by staff writer John Blake, focuses on the unique struggle of black churches regarding the issue of homosexuality. Blake begins by profiling Rev. Antonio Jones, a preacher who used to condemn homosexuality and "unmask gay people from the pulpit," but is now openly gay, leading "a predominantly black congregation open to the gay community." Blake continues, "While predominantly white denominations vigorously debate the inclusion of homosexuals, black churches refuse even to talk about the issue. Not one major black denomination in Atlanta or the nation has formally considered the inclusion of homosexuals." He also interviews a number of African-American religious leaders and openly gay black Christians. "Many in the black church are reluctant to discuss homosexuality because there is a widespread belief that it is a sickness blacks learned from white people," Blake writes. "And many black women scorn homosexuality because they say it diminishes a short supply of desirable black men.... [But] AIDS has forced the black church to confront its hostility toward homosexuality [and] a new generation of pastors is becoming better educated, being taught to take a more critical look at traditional biblical beliefs." Please thank the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for objectively examining a challenging topic, and look for the next two parts of the series, appearing June 5 and June 9. Contact: John Walter, Managing Editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, PO Box 4689, Atlanta, GA 30303-2899, fax: 404.526.5610, e-mail: jwalter@ajc.com 4) Dallas Paper Discusses Cultural Conflicts of Science The May 31 Dallas Morning News featured an interesting article on the ways in which science will not solve the cultural struggle against anti-gay bias and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Reporter Aline McKenzie points to both Simon LeVay's now-famous hypothalamus study and the recent study by University of Texas researcher Dennis McFadden about the possible differences in the inner ear between heterosexual women and lesbians. "Such biological studies are part of one of today's biggest cultural debates: whether being gay is inborn-and, by extension, either a trait worthy of political protection or a defect needful of a cure-or whether it's a choice. The best biologists can say is that sexual orientation seems to be fixed by early childhood, by some unknown combination of genetic, social and hormonal influences," McKenzie writes. "The political questions are no clearer, the researchers say. To them, what underlies sexual orientation and how society should treat gay people are entirely separate questions, and the meaning of their findings has been greatly exaggerated." McKenzie interviews a host of scientists, even including the much-discredited Joseph Nicolosi, who claims he can "cure" gay men. Even Nicolosi, who spends much time claiming being gay is a "pathology," concedes sexual orientation is both biological and environmental. The story outlines much of the biological research currently reported, as well as the ways in which each study has been problematized. "By scientific standards, these findings qualify as a beginning," McKenzie notes. "But by cultural standards," she says, "they were bombshells." She adds that the studies have been used in congressional debates over gays in the military, and within families as a means of coming to terms with a child's sexual orientation. "All of which," McKenzie writes, "overplays the state of the research, the scientists say." The article raises an important point acknowledged by many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people fighting for equal rights and fair treatment in society: While science may explain why people are gay, homophobia, like all forms of bigotry, is irrational. Please thank the Dallas Morning News for a thought-provoking discussion of this controversial subject. Contact: Ralph Langer, Editor, Dallas Morning News, PO Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265-5237, fax: fax: 214.977.8319, e-mail: national@dallasnews.com 5) Buckley's Off-base Marriage Column In his Universal Press Syndicate-distributed column appearing on May 29 in the Charleston [South Carolina] Post and Courier, author William F. Buckley writes in defense of anti-gay New York Cardinal John O'Connor's attack on equal rights and benefits for same-gender couples. "What O'Connor is saying is that institutional arrangements should encourage the one relationship [cogendered marriage], not the other [domestic partnership]," Buckley claims. "What the modernists are saying is that what binds John and Jill is mutual affection, as also what binds Andy to Simon. Why should they not enjoy the same privileges as a married couple? [But] if society wishes to distinguish between living arrangements deemed useful and others deemed less than that, it follows that different accommodations are made. If marriage is thought socially important, appropriate legal attitudes are adopted. Society has traditionally thought of married couples as critically important. For one thing, they perpetuate the race. For another, marriage is taken to be symbolic of certain attitudes judged beneficial...[such as] loyalty, shared sacrifices, enduring relationships. What [O'Connor] is saying is that people who aren't married shouldn't expect to be treated identically to those who are. What's the matter with that?" Buckley completely ignores the reality that same-gender couples cannot marry, and thus, absent domestic partnership policies, are denied the rights and privileges granted to cogendered married couples. He also seems to have marriage confused with pregnancy. Marriage does not, as he claims, "perpetuate the race." A fertilized egg carried successfully to term perpetuates the race. This can happen with or without marriage laws, between two people of the opposite gender regardless of sexual orientation, and through any number of alternative birth planning methods. Lastly, Buckley avoids the reality that many same-gender couples, regardless of being denied civil marriage rights, embody "loyalty, shared sacrifices [and] enduring relationships," while many heterosexual married couples do not. Let the Charleston Post and Courier Universal Press Syndicate know your feelings about Buckley's column. Contact: … Grace Kutkus, Assistant Managing Editor, Charleston Post and Courier, 134 Columbus Street, Charleston, SC 29403-4800, fax: 803.937.5579 … Universal Press Syndicate, 4520 Main St., #700, Kansas City, MO 64111-1816 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation in the media 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), 404.876.1398 (Atlanta) and 816.756.5991 (Kansas City) Feel free to pass GLAADAlert on to friends, family and associates! Report defamation in the media by calling GLAAD's Toll-Free AlertLine! 1-800-GAY-MEDIA (1-800-429-6334) Visit GLAAD Online at http://www.glaad.org "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc. 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