20 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JULY 21, 1995

ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

Actors are slowly starting to come out of the closet

by John Graves

Openly gay actor Dan Butler, who plays womanizing sportscaster "Bulldog" Briscoe on the TV sitcom Frasier, is profiled in a feature article in the July 1 edition of TV Guide. Butler also stars in his one-man play, The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me...about Butler's own coming-out experience.

Other actors are slowly starting to come out of the closet.

Actress Drew Barrymore, who starred as a child in the 1982 film E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and was excited about the passionate lesbian kiss scene she did in the film Poison Ivy, has come out as bisexual, according to an interview in GQ magazine quoted widely in the tabloids.

Responding to a question, Barrymore said, "Do I like women? Yeah, I like women. Do I like them sexually? Yeah, I do. When I was younger I was with a lot of women. I love a woman's body, and I think a woman and a woman together are beautiful.”

Barrymore, who is living with Eric Erlandson, a male rock guitarist from Courtney Love's band Hole, went on to say that homosexuality is nothing new, that sexual preference should be left to the individual and that people should go with their preference rather than depriving themselves.

According to an interview in the Globe tabloid, actor J.M. J. Bullock, who played Ted Knight's neighbor on the TV sitcom Too Close For Comfort, has been caring for his long time partner, John D. Casey, who is living with AIDS. Bullock is now the co-host of former televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker's new talk show.

Bakker, who says that her prayers are with both of the men, said, "It's terrible about John (Bullock's lover), he's such a wonder-

ful person, quiet and even-tempered. And J.M. is a wonderful person, too, the way he's stayed by John's side. And while working J.M. never lets it interfere with his job." Not many people know that before their legal problems and divorce, Tammy Faye and her ex-husband Jim began to preach tolerance, respect and love of gay people.

Several lesbian and gay stand-up comics have been performing on VH-1's Stand Up Spotlight, including Judy Gold, Marga Gomez, Mario Cantone and Larry

Amorose.

Last month, New York City's AIDS organizations were profiled on the special Good Presents: Think Positive airing on both

MTV and VH-1.

Viewers were able to take part in the "7th on

Sale-the Return to

Openly lesbian comic Suzanne Westenhoefer stars in her own HBO comedy special, The Comedy Half-Hour.

Don't forget The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love, Wigstock: The Movie, and Love and Human Remains, in theaters now, and watch for An Awfully Big Adventure, Postcards From America and the films Roy Cohn/Jack Smith and Jeffrey, which are due to be released in August.

Not many people know that before their legal problems and divorce, Tammy Faye and her ex-husband Jim began to preach tolerance, respect and love of gay people.

New York" AIDS benefit through on-air callins.

The third and final season of the hit British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, which has become tremendously popular in the lesbian and gay community, is now airing on cable's Comedy Central.

I can't tell you the gay story line without giving away the mystery, but check out the 1994 suspense film Double Exposure, which has been airing on HBO lately.

An elderly Jewish woman who accepts and takes care of her gay nephew who is living with AIDS and a weary nightclub chanteuse and her gay male accompanist are among the characters in the comedy skits of Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney in their HBO comedy special, The Kathy and Mo Show: The Dark Side.

Thanks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for running a three-part series of excerpts from Leroy Aarons' new book, Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms With the Suicide of Her Gay Son, over the Fourth of July weekend. The final installment of Prayers for Bobby, which ran in the “Family” and “Teen” sections, was accompanied by a letter from a local teen asking for advice on how to deal with his sexual orientation while still in school.

Look in the July issue of Us magazine for "Gaywatch," ,"a feature article on the rise in of recurring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered characters on network TV programs. According to the article, more than 15 lesbian and gay characters have been featured in the 1994-1995 season. The article goes on to report that in the upcoming season, Columbia-TriStar Television says at least five of the 25 programs they have under development will have recurring gay roles.

For lesbian, gay and bisexual entrepreneurs, or those of you involved in your

firm's marketing division, there's a new journal, Next News: A Gay, Lesbian and Generation X Business and Marketing Resource. Next News reports that Freestyles, a new video magazine show for lesbian and gay audiences, is set to debut on VH-1 later this month. Hosted by Amanda Bearse, the openly lesbian costar of the TV sitcom Married With Children, Freestyles will consist of approximately ten editorial segments covering such topics as lesbian and gay news, investments, health, entertainment, sports and fashion.

Listeners may have been disappointed this summer to tune into my radio show, Gaywaves, this summer only to find that sometimes in the last few weeks we were not on the air. Sorry for the disappointment, but Gaywaves co-staffers Scott Bibbs and Maggie Middleton have recently gotten new jobs and we are still trying to adjust to their new work schedules.

Please have patience while we work things out. We are still on the air on WRUW 91.1 FM in Cleveland every Friday from 7 to 7:30 pm, although sometimes we must tape the shows at three in the morning, when Bibbs, our engineer, gets off work.

Finally, I hope you saw the half-page ad for Dancin' in the Streets in the July issue of Out magazine. It was good to see the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland fund-raiser advertised in a national magazine. Unfortunately, for the last several years Dancin' has been on the same day as the Cleveland Free Clinic's Rock and Reggae benefit. Organizers of the two events should arrange for different times, as many people involved with one organization also work with the other, and would like to attend both events.

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