GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE OCTOBER 29, 1993

Out of The Closet

and Onto The Phone

OVERLOOKED OPINIONS

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ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

MTV is gay positive, and Justin has two mommies

by John Duane Graves

The Comedy Central channel's all lesbian and gay comedy special, Out There, was taped on National Coming Out Day. The show, hosted by lesbian comic Lea DeLaria, will include performances by HIV humorist Steven Moore and Obie award-winning actor David Drake, and will air December 3 at 10 pm.

CNN reports that NBC has been negotiating for the rights to air Randy Shilts' AIDS epic And the Band Played On which has been showing on HBO. The networks chickened out when offered the chance to produce the original film, but HBO did not and the premiere of And the Band Played On beat the network shows in the ratings. It will be available in video stores in December.

Racial, sexual and religious intolerance in America are discussed on the MTV channel's Free Your Mind forum which has been airing this month. Homophobia in America and gays in the military are the subjects of a major portion of the show.

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the 1991 film adaptation of the critically acclaimed one-woman Broadway show by lesbian actor and comic Lily Tomlin and her lover Jane Wagner, has been playing on the Showtime channel. Tomlin's latest role is Ms. Jane Hathaway in the new feature film version of the 60's sitcom Beverly Hillbillies. Her other recent films include And the Band Played On and Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Tomlin's voice will be heard in two upcoming ABC animated specials about her inimitable "Edith Ann” character.

A high school freshman who encounters prejudice in his school because his parents are a lesbian couple was the subject of Other Mothers, the season premiere of CBS' Schoolbreak Special series.

Peter Johnson, in his "Inside TV" column in USA Today, reported that producer Joseph Stern was inspired to produce Other Mothers by a story Barbara. Walters did about a lesbian family on 20/20 in 1989. Stern, formerly the executive producer of NBC's Law & Order, said that "I'm not a preachy guy...but there is something within me that makes me respond to things. I have an affinity for victims of injustice." After seeing the 20/20 story Stern said “I watched that and said, 'This family is great— so nurturing and supportive.'

Stern spent four years trying to get a drama about a lesbian or gay couple with children on the air. CBS accepted Stern's proposal but required him to show them evidence that children raised by lesbians and gays weren't any more likely to grow up gay than straight. Stern reported that when the show went into production actors were calling him for parts in the drama. Other Mothers starred Justin Whalin as the high school freshman, and Joanna Cassidy and Meredith Baxter as his mothers.

Married With Children co-star Amanda Bearse came out once again this year on National Coming Out Day. About her decision to come out, Bearse quipped, "There I was, staring at my wardrobe, totally uninspired. Then I said to myself, ‘Amanda, come out of the closet.'

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Follow the continuing adventures of Beth Anthony, the lesbian housemate on MTV's Real World, in a new episode airing each week through November. In an interview in the latest issue of the national gay magazine Out, Real World's producer reports that MTV is a very gay-friendly network. Also in this issue of Out is a story on the real lesbians who play most of the cowgirls in Gus Van Sant's soon to be released lesbian

film, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Martina Navratilova and Cris Williamson are interviewed in the October 5 edition of the Advocate.

The brouhaha over the anti-gay "Black Church" coalition in Cleveland, and its coverage in Cleveland's African-American newspaper, the Call and Post, was reported in both the Advocate and Out magazine this month.

Entertainment Weekly reports that the Pet Shop Boys' new album, Very, has a gay theme and includes a remake of the Village People song "Go West."

Our correspondents Jim and Dave report that the American Library Association Task Force on Gay Liberation's Social Responsibilities Round Table has published a gay bibliography, a compilation of materials that support a positive view of homosexuals and homosexuality. The bibliography includes books, articles, pamphlets, periodicals, audio-visuals and directories.

The round table was founded in 1970 and was the first openly gay subgroup within a professional association. It works to promote the creation, publication and dissemination of more and better materials on gay people and the gay liberation movement, and to raise and help resolve within the profession issues of discrimination against gay people both as librarians and as library

users.

The round table also presents a gay book award at annual meetings of the American Library Association. Last year's award went to two books, The Gay Mystique by Peter Fisher and Lesbian/Woman by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. For more information contact: Barbara Gittings, Coordinator, ALA Task Force on Gay Liberation's Social Responsibilities Round Table, Box 2383, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

Speaking of associations, since 1970, other gay groups have formed in professional associations including the Association of Gay Psychologists, the Gay Nurses Alliance, the Gay Teachers Caucus of the National Education Association and the Association of Lesbian and Gay Broadcast-

ers.

Cherry Aimless lands in San Francisco's Castro district in search of Nancy Clue and a flock of missing nuns, and the earnestly white girl 50s meet the oh-so-queer 90s in The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse, a new Nancy Clue mystery by Mabel Maney just published by Cleis Press. The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse is a hilarious, lesbian send-up of the famous Nancy Drew mystery stories for teenagers as well as a spoof of lesbian romantic fiction. This is the first novel-length satire from San Francisco book artist Mabel Maney, whose handmade limited-edition books and fabric panels reveal the homoerotic content just beneath the surface of such ostensibly straight, popular teenage book series like Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames and the Hardy Boys. Ask for The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse at your local bookstore.

Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, now appearing in the gay-themed Broadway play Jeffrey playing a chorus member from Cats who is living with AIDS, was profiled in a spotlight feature on the arts pages of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The story, by Associated Press writer Michael Kuchwara, reported that the show's producers would not have cast Louganis unless he was right for the part. Louganis read for the part and they found him to be "wonderful." ♡

John DuAne Graves is a coproducer of GayWaves, on WRUW 91.1 FM in Cleveland.

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