JANUARY 13, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 23
ON THE AIROFF THE PRESS
Lesbian and gay characters weren't banned for the holidays
by John Graves
'Twas the season to be jolly, and for the first ime since I started writing this column several ears ago, lesbians, gays and bisexuals were ot banished from the magic screen during the oliday season in favor of more traditional family oriented" programming. Besides the umerous gay-themed program offerings, a umber of shows have lesbian or gay characers in continuing roles or have openly gay ctors in the casts.
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Gay men and lesbians from across the coundiscuss what it's like to grow up as gay eople in the outstanding special, Why Am I lay? Stories Of Coming Out In America, hich has been airing on HBO lately. I found specially moving the segment where memers of a gay youth group from Texas, with heir parents present, told their personal comng out stories. One young woman said that at ge 10 she went up to her mother and said, Mother, I'm gay-deal with it!" The late gay omposer, singer and AIDS activist Michael allen is profiled in another segment of the rogram. Callen, one of the longest survivors f AIDS, died of complications of the disease ortly after performing at the 1992 March on Vashington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Ricki Vasquez, the gay teenager on the ABC drama series My So-Called Life, was icked out of the house by his family in the how's Christmas episode. According to a eport in TV Guide, the episode was based the eal life experience of Wilson Cruz, the openly ay 20-year-old actor who plays Ricki, when e came out to his father last Christmas Eve. aid Cruz of the incident: "He was having a ard time dealing with it, and he asked me to cave-so I did. The show's producers helped e through it."
When asked why he came out, Cruz said: In order for my character to have any effect on eople, I can't live a hypocritical life." Cruz
went on to say that Ricki will find romance "when he's ready." Cruz has since reconciled with his father and said, "we have a much better relationship, because now we can really talk.
The January 5 episode of the criticallyacclaimed but endangered show explored a dilemma familiar to many gay teachers: Ricki's English teacher is aware of his situation and wants to help, but is afraid for his job if the school finds out that he too is gay.
My So-Called Life, which airs on ABC at 8 pm Thursdays, is scheduled to go "on hiatus" as of January 26. Become part of the grassroots efforts to save the show and write to ABC asking them to keep the show and let Ricki's character develop. This show would be a perfect venue for exploring the coming out process and the issues faced by gay teenagers. To help save My So-Called Life, write to: ABC Television Network Group, c/o "Don't Cancel My So-Called Life," 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, California 90067. You may also lobby to save the show by computer online at savemscl@aol.com.
On the NBC drama series Sisters on Saturdays at 10 pm, Alex's TV show producer Norma, a lesbian played by Saturday Night Live alumna Nora Dunn, is pregnant from sperm donated by Alex's husband, Big Al. Dunn commented in the January 7 TV Guide: "What our show is trying to say is that families are about love-not who you love, but how you love."
The AIDS awareness and fund raising album Red Hot & Country will be broadcast as a three-hour concert at 8 pm Saturday, March 1 on cable's TNN, The Nashville Network. The free Red Hot & Country concert will be rebroadcast at later dates.
At long last the NBC film biography, Serving In Silence: The Gerthe Cammermeyer Story, is set to air February 6 during the important February sweeps. Serving In Silence, star-
ring Glenn Close, is the true story of Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer who fled Nazi Germany with her parents as a child and who later joined the Army and was highly decorated for her service in Vietnam. Cammermeyer later rose to become chief of nursing services for the 164th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and one of the top psychiatric nurses in the Veteran's Administration Hospitals. Cammermeyer became one of the highest ranking officers to be discharged from the service when she came out of the closet as a lesbian a few years ago.
Just before Christmas, the Family Defense Council, an anti-gay pressure group, asked NBC to cut a scene in which Close kisses her costar Judy Davis, who plays Cammermeyer's lover. NBC has said it will issue a statement in response to the group's demand in the next few weeks when network executives return from vacation. Please try and contact NBC and tell them not to yield to this hate group and censor the movie.
When filming the kiss scene Close said that she "had a revelation of what it's like to be gay... I thought, 'It's kind of nice to kiss a
woman.
The Celluloid Closet, a feature-length documentary on gays and lesbians in the movies based on the book by the late Vito Russo, is set for release late in 1995. Proceeds from the nonprofit film project will go to benefit Hollywood Supports, the entertainment industry's HIV/AIDS awareness organization.
Margaret Cho and B.D. Wong, stars of ABC's All-American Girl sitcom about an Asian-American family, do not expect a character to come out of the closet this year. Wong, who played Ian McKellen's boyfriend in the AIDS epic And The Band Played On, said that they were having a hard enough time convincing the networks that Asian-Americans are normal families. Wong went on, however, to say that, "It's only a matter of time before
shows like ours deal with all sorts of prejudices."
Openly gay actor Rupert Everett, profiled in the December 23 edition of Entertainment Weekly, plays the randy son of a fashion designer in Robert Altman's film Ready To Wear, better known as Prêt-à-Porter. Everett, who played a gay spy in the film Another Country, is also a novelist with a new book, The Hairdressers of St. Tropez, due out in March.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to a new publication, Response: The Cultural Voice of Cleveland's African-American Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals. Response is available by subscription from Cleveland's African-American Caucus c/o the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101. For more information contact the center at 216-522-1999.
Gaywaves correspondents Jim McGrattan and Dave Haskell have been combing the stacks at the library and found the following back issue articles to look up:
The November 4 edition of the National Catholic Reporter featured a cover article by Tom Roberts; "He's Not Disordered, He's My Brother;" about Bishop Thomas Gumbelton, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, whose brother is gay and who is quite outspoken in his support of gays in the Church. A follow-up article in November 11 edition by Dawn Gibeau reported on the bishop's gay-supportive remarks at a conference on the Church and sexual minorities.
You might want to check out a book entitled Sister and Brother: Lesbian and Gay Men Write About Their Lives Together, an anthology celebrating the loving, sometimes troubling relationship between lesbians and gay men edited by Joan Nestle and John Preston. Featured authors include: Paul Monette, Katherine V. Forrest, Cherrie Moraga, and Jewel Gomez.
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