26 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MAY 5, 1995

ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

Priest is well received, even in Jesse Helms land

by John Graves

Conservative Catholic groups have raised a howl of protest over Antonia Bird's new movie Priest. The film follows a handsome and conservative young priest assigned to a parish with a liberal pastor. The young priest is outraged to discover that the pastor is an earthy, boozing libertine who is having an affair with his housekeeper. Shortly after moving in, the new priest dons a leather motorcycle jacket and goes to the local gay bar where he meets a man who becomes his lover. The film, which opened in England on St. Patrick's Day, was originally scheduled to be released in the U.S. on Good Friday but

the outcry from the conservative Catholics persuaded Miramax to move the release date to April 19. Despite the outcry, Priest has generally received favorable reviews, of course prompting further protests.

While on vacation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., I looked over a few local daily papers. The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported that the New Theater Wing of Playwrights Horizons in New York City will stage Neal Bell's play, Somewhere in the Pacific, about homosexuality and homophobia aboard a World War II battleship. Somewhere in the Pacific will run May 17 through 28. The Sun News also gave a good review to the Coastal Carolina University production of Alan Ball's play Five

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Women Wearing the Same Dress, about a group of bridesmaids: a cynic, a fundamentalist Christian, a frustrated wife, a socialite lesbian, and the bride's sister preparing for the "white Republican" wedding. The paper described the character of Mindy, the socialite lesbian, as the most well-adjusted of the group.

Mainstream Carolina newspapers, including the Sun News, the Charlotte Observer, and the Winston-Salem Post and Courier also ran favorable reviews of Priest and The Cure, a new film about a young boy living with AIDS with the help of his friend. One irate, homophobic reader accused the Observer of printing positive things about gays on an almost daily basis. The Observer also runs cartoons lampooning Jesse Helms. One, announcing the discovery of a "homophobia gene," showed a DNA molecule with an unflattering similarity to the North Carolina

senator.

USA Today's openly gay TV columnist Matt Roush reports that John Irvin, a temporary office worker for the police on NYPD Blue who is gay, will continue on the series and will get a subplot on the show for the May sweeps. Irvin is portrayed by actor Bill Brochtrup. There's also a continuing gay character on the new NBC sitcom, Hope & Gloria, Thursdays at 8:30 pm.

Catch gay magicians Sigmund and Ray in the sex comedy series Hardcore TV on HBO.

Take a visit to the New York Aquarium with the lesbian folk duo, the Indigo Girls, on Naked Cafe airing on VH-1. USA Today reports that, as a follow up to Earth Day, the Indigo Girls will kick off an "Honor The Earth" tour to benefit Native American environmental groups starting May 8 in Madison, Wisconsin. The "Honor The Earth" tour is being sponsored by the Indigenous Women's Network, a coalition of Native American women activists, and the seventh Generation Fund which funds Native American cultural and social justice programs.

Olympic gold medal skater Katarina Witt and gymnastic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci were profiled in the first program of Passion to Play, a four-part ABC sports miniseries focusing on women athletes.

Armisted Maupin's Tales of the City, which aired last year on PBS, was among the 31 winners of the recent 1994 Peabody Awards. Despite the show's popularity and critical acclaim, PBS decided not to help fund production of a sequel. The miniseries was based on the first of Maupin's six books that follow the adventures of a group of gay and straight San Franciscans in the 1970s and 80s.

A number of stars have been working on gay of AIDS-themed projects. Comedian Margaret Cho has just completed her work on the upcoming film, It's My Party, about a gay designer who plans his own farewell party when he learns that he is living with AIDS.

Julie Andrews will re-create her movie role in the classic gay film Victor/Victoria in a play opening October 18 on Broadway.

Cybill co-star Christine Baranski will spend the sitcom's summer hiatus filming Birds of a Feather, a new film adaptation of La Cage Aux Folles starring Robin Williams. Baranski will also play a society ma-

tron in the upcoming film adaptation of Jeffrey, Paul Rudnick's hit Broadway comedy about gay life in the age of AIDS.

RuPaul will appear in A Mother's Prayer, an upcoming USA film about AIDS co-starring Linda Hamilton and Bruce Dern.

Who's the Boss co-star Alyssa Milano portrays a lesbian in John Langley's upcoming film, Deadly Sins, set to be released this fall.

Ellen DeGeneres presented an award to her friend Melissa Etheridge at L.A. Shanti's fund raiser honoring late director and choreographer Joe Layton who died of AIDS complications last May.

Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is featured in the cover story interview in the May issue of Out magazine. Hawkins, best known for her provocative, Grammy-nominated song and video, "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover," says she dislikes being labeled lesbian, bisexual or straight and calls herself "omnisexual." Hawkins' current lover is a woman, a longtime West Village politico, artist and professional masseuse.

Out also reports that Talia Winters, a telepathic woman on Babylon 5, will become the first bisexual human on a sci-fi TV series. Winters, played by actress Andrea Thompson, is expected to have an affair with another woman on the series later this spring.

The upcoming ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, features Melissa Etheridge and her lover Julie Cypher posing in the nude. The ad is seen for the first time in Out in an article about the popular lesbian rock star. Etheridge and Cypher will be the first couple to pose for the PETA ads which feature nude photos of well-known models and celebrities and exhort people not to wear furs by saying, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."

Dan Butler, the openly gay actor who portrays womanizing sportscaster Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the NBC sitcom, Frasier is profiled in the April 24 edition of People Weekly magazine.

According to various reports, several Oregon parents have asked that Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple be removed from the Junction City High School English program because they consider the book to be "crude." The parents especially objected to the dialogue between the book's lesbian characters.

Actress Shirley MacLaine has recently published her autobiography, My Lucky Stars. In the book MacLaine says that, while she was filming a love scene with Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment, she was startled when co-star Debra Winger began licking her leg. Winger, who had hidden herself under the covers, began licking at her ankle and began moving up her leg. When MacLaine pushed her away, Winger threw back the covers and proclaimed, “You shouldn't knock it if you haven't tried it."

Finally, USA Today reports that conservative talk show hosts let out howls of protest when President Clinton called for an end to hate messages on the airwaves after the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing now linked to American far-right militias. Funny, there was no such protest from liberal and moderate talk show hosts. Maybe the President's remarks found the "right" target. ♡

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