COMMENTARY CBS Report on Gays a Sham

By Linda Jane

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It has been quite a while since I've expected any great degree of fairness in TV network reporting. But there is always the potential for surprise, so it was with some optimism that I recently watched "CBS Reports: Gay Power, Gay Politics."

Aired April 26th, this one-hour special had a promising start. Citing the Kinsey estimate that one in every ten Americans is homosexual, Harry Reasoner suggested that with the recent attempts to organize, the homosexual population represents a viable force in U.S. politics. Not surprisingly, the report focused on the most visible example, San Francisco, with its very large and vocal gay male population.

The example opened with a brief account of the Harvey Milk/George Moscone slayings. Milk, an openly homosexual San Francisco City Supervisor, and Mayor Moscone, a strong ally of the gay community, were shot several times by Dan White, supposedly because White had been refused reappointment as a supervisor. Footage of demonstrations and the eventual riot when White received only an 8-year prison sentence effectively conveyed the outrage and frustration of the gay community.

Beginning with the riot, however, the tone of the program subtly shifted to one of moral outrage. "CBS Reports" became "CBS Editorializes: Gay Threat." It showed San Francisco gays leading Mayor Diane Feinstein by the nose. Feinstein, herself

a gay sympathizer, committed a faux pas during her campaign by commenting that the gay community should conform more to social mores. Through an impressive display of political muscle, gay leaders forced her into a public apology (and we all know how uncomfortable the public feels about political apologies).

Interwoven with these political maneuvers, CBS provided a graphic look at the mores to which Feinstein objected. It visited the gay bar scene and drag shows on Castro Street, as well as the famous masquerade ball, to watch gay men kiss each other and dress up as women. The camera peered behind trees in notorious Buena Vista Park where gay men were engaged in public sex. It visited the S&M shops and torture chambers to peruse the various devices used for sado-masochistic sex.

What these vivid scenes couldn't achieve in eliciting the viewer's disgust was supplied by the skillful editing of interviews. An interview with a young boy who had walked through Buena Vista Park on his way home and seen "nude men doing strange things" was followed by a gay community leader advocating legislation aimed at teaching homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle in the public schools. The tour of a torture chamber was followed by an interview with the county coroner, who attributed a significant percentage of the accidental deaths in the San Francisco area to S&M. The program left us with the message that homosexuals are everywhere-so watch out!

What I found most disturbing about the CBS

report was its irresponsible pandering to an already homophobic public. Under the guise of objective reporting and aided by the smooth delivery of Harry Reasoner, the program presented a more severe indictment of the gay community than the movie Cruising ever could.

The program's coverage of gay politics and gay power was little more than a pretext for satisfying its prurient interest in gays' sex lives. The politicking that surrounded Feinstein's campaign and her efforts to win the gay vote served more as an excuse to approach the subject of sex than an actual analysis of an emerging political group.

On the other hand, the program did hit some very real sore spots. Every subculture has a seamy side just waiting to be exposed by an avid media. In this particular case, S&M and anonymous sex are easy targets, but they are by no means unique to or typical of the gay population. The way CBS handled the subject would be analogous to a report on black power that focused primarily on mate-beating among black families.

It must also be pointed out that Castro Street in San Francisco is somewhat unique in its position as a haven for male homosexuals to act out their fantasies and aggressions, just as Times Square is a haven for male heterosexuals to act out theirs. One very important distinction, however, is crucial: the American public is much more willing accept the "sins" of the straight world and much more eager to exaggerate those of the gay world.

Why Feminists Must Fight the Ku Klux Klan

Editors' Note: The Guardian (April 30, 1980) reported that two recent shootings by Ku Klux Klan members represent a new wave of white supremacist activities in the U.S. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, three local Klan members fired on four black women as they left a neighborhood tavern. The incident was thought to be in retaliation for the arrest of a local Klan leader by a black police officer. In Wrightsville, Georgia, where blacks have held several demonstrations recently as part of their efforts to build political power and end job discrimination in local businesses, two whites fired into a mobile home, seriously wounding a 9-year-old black child.

These incidents closely followed a celebration of Hitler's 91st birthday in Benson, North Carolina, sponsored by the American Nazi Party and the KKK. The event was one of the first public rallies since the formation of a KKK and Nazi alliance in Louisburg, N.C. It marks the first time that both groups have publicly acknowledged their close ties. It is with this thought in mind that we reprint the following article which appeared in the April, 1980 issue of Womenews.

By Sara Bennett and Joan Gibbs Although never "dead," the last two years have seen a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan throughout the 'U.S., in the North and in the South. There have been reports of Klan attacks in New Jersey, Chicago, Alabama, New England, Mississippi and countless other places. Klan leaders regularly appear on radio and TV talk shows while Klan members actively recruit at public schools, on college campuses and in the military, and openly patrol the U.S./Mexican border. Although the main objective of the Klan since its inception in 1868 has been the promotion of white supremacy, the current growing size and boldness of the Klan is a direct outgrowth of a more

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widespread and visible rise in racism and other reactionary stances as evidenced by the attacks on the limited gains of Third World people, women and lesbians and gay men.

Feminists, lesbians and gay men can't afford not

to join the fight to defeat the Klan. The Klan has always reserved a "special place" for "queers," and is now placing greater emphasis on recruiting women and youth. In recent years and particularly since the defeat of the Dade County lesbian and gay rights bill, the Klan has deliberately sought to link up with antilesbian and gay forces and is now more vocal about its hatred of us. The Klan has openly endorsed the killing of lesbians and gay men and in late December a gay white man and active member of an AFSCME local at Jersey City, New Jersey hospital was found murdered in his apartment after being repeatedly harassed by a known Klan member. The Klan has also sought to link up with "right-to-life" forces.

As important as our recognizing that the Klan is our enemy too, however, is our realizing that we can't liberate ourselves in a vacuum. A central fact of

U.S. history has been and still is the continued existence and constant utilization by the U.S. government of the colonial system of exploitation and oppression of Black people, in particular, and all Third World people, in general. The colonial subjection of Black people, originally based on the institution of slavery, is still everywhere evident. A much larger number of Black people, for example, are unemployed, underemployed, behind bars and shot down by police. And despite the fact that all women, lesbians and gay men are oppressed, all white people derive material benefits from white supremacy. This is evidenced by the fact that it is white feminists, white lesbians and white gay men who have the money to publish newspapers and magazines and open bookstores, restaurants, resorts and bars.

There is definitely still a great need for feminists, lesbians and gay men to continue to build strong autonomous movements-movements which take up the struggles of all issues which affect women, lesbians and gay men, whether or not they affect only women, lesbians and gay men. This means not only fighting sexism and heterosexism but also racism and classism-all the systems that are imperative to the maintenance, of capitalism, imperialism and the patriarchy. In the short run, waging single-issue or narrowly focused campaigns may be a successful strategy for winning some gains. But, in the long run, these gains can only be defended and expanded by developing a movement based on perspectives that target the system which denied them in the first place. For example: by fighting primarily for the right to an abortion and not placing as great an emphasis on free abortions, sterilization abuse and day care (important concerns of Third World and poor women), the early 1970's abortion rights movement culminated with the freedom to choose being a right

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