10 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE FEBRUARY 9, 1996

IN BOX

Instead of fear, Magic's return is met with applause

by Doreen Cudnik

Whether or not you're an NBA fan, the return of Earvin "Magic" Johnson to the Los Angeles Lakers is significant news. Johnson, who retired from professional basketball in late 1991 after announcing that he is HIV positive, returned to standing ovations from the home crowd at the Forum on Tuesday, January 30, and went on to finish with 19 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes of play. The Lakers went on to beat the Golden State Warriors, 128-118.

"His coming back shows you can still be a world class professional even if you're HIV-positive," said Daniel Wolfe, spokesperson for New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis. “This message is a positive one, that you don't have to retire because you're HIVpositive. Life is not over."

Johnson abandoned a previous comeback bid three years ago when some players expressed fears about going up against him. This time around, due to continued AIDS education in the NBA, he has been heartily welcomed by his fellow players.

"The chances of getting HIV on a basketball court are pretty damn minimum," said

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Mark Senak, deputy director for policy and planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles. “If we paid as much attention to our sex lives as to the basketball court issue, there wouldn't be an epidemic."

Johnson's comeback gives us all a reason to hope and offers proof to mainstream America that HIV is not synonymous with a death sentence.

Unsportsmanlike conduct

Editor

In other sports news (if you can call pro wrestling that), Monday Night Raw-the highest-rated weekly series on cable television, attracting nearly five million people in the United States alone-has literally made a sport out of gay bashing. According to GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, for several months one of the World Wrestling Federation's featured wrestlers, "Goldust," has essentially played the role of a "gay menace," lusting after other presumably straight wrestlers and provoking melodramatic disgust. During the January 15 broadcast of Monday Night Raw, Goldust was violently "attacked" for revealing his crush on another WWF wrestler, Razor Ramon. The scene was rebroadcast during the January 20 episode of WWF's Action Zone.

While standing before the cameras, Goldust proceeded to publicly lisp his romantic intentions regarding Ramon. Meanwhile, Ramon, a classic "he-man" and WWF hero, is seen in the background, his anger steadily rising. Homosexual panic hit full tilt when Goldust revealed a heart-shaped tattoo

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on his chest, inscribed with the name "Razor Ramon."

In a seething rage, Ramon, with cameras following, tracked down Goldust and cornered him in a hallway. To assuage his insulted manhood and entertain the fans, Ramon proceeded to savagely beat Goldust. In a fight without resistance, Ramon repeatedly punched and kicked Goldust, hit him with various objects, and attempted to crush his skull against the floor and walls. Even as Goldust crawled out of the building and into the street, Ramon continued the assault.

IN

As one critical viewer observed, the whole sequence "was decidedly not funny... the implicit message was "If a gay man comes on to you, it is okay to assault him."

The WWF also publishes the World Wrestling Federation Magazine, which is marketed primarily to children and young adults and stamped with the “Presidential Seal of Approval," certifying that WWF programs provide "Wholesome Family Sports Entertainment." The online forums and Internet newsgroups inhabited by fans of professional wrestling have reflected the homophobia promoted on Monday Night Raw. A few samples:

"Fagdust, Gaydust, Homodust: I think all fags should be taken to an island and have a couple atomic bombs dropped on them." (Man6ft8in@aol.com).

"Hey Ya Fucin Faggot: You're a bitch and so is your dad. Razor is gonna kick your queer ass like he did on "Raw." How did that utility box feel, you damn fag. Burn in hell. Bbbiiitttccchhh" (Wak69@aol.com)

"Goldust getting battered was the funniest thing I've seen on “Raw” in a long time... Ha ha ha, it's good to see that Monday Night Raw is showing the "new generation" how

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faggots should be treated anyway." (baron@pharm5.deomn.co.uk).

Given the recent hate crimes in Oregon and Texas where two lesbians and a gay man were brutally murdered, and the continuing violence against our community, it is certainly chilling that shows like Monday Night Raw could provide lessons in "how faggots should be treated." Write or call WWF headquarters and the USA Network and tell them that this type of televised hate is offensive, and potentially dangerous to an entire population. Direct letters to: Linda E. McMahon, President, World Wrestling Federation/Titan Sports, Inc., Titan Tower, 1241 East Main Street, Stamford, CT 06902-3521, tel. 203-352-8600; and USA Network, Audience Services, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, tel. 212-4089100.

New bisexual guide

The Bisexual Resource Center, a nonprofit organization in Cambridge Massachusetts, recently unveiled their new publication, the Bisexual Resource Guide. The guide is a valuable and unique resource to the burgeoning bisexual movement in the United States and beyond. Editor Robyn Ochs said that the book contains listings of more than 1,400 bisexual as well as gay, lesbian, and bisexual groups in 22 countries; an annotated bibliography of recommended books which deal with bisexuality, including information on forthcoming publications; a guide to recommended films, safer sex information, news on upcoming conferences and calls for papers.

"This book was an attempt to help bisexual people break the isolation, find out what is out there, and build communities with bisexual groups in other cities," Ochs said. "Plus, it is a good reminder to bi people who are doing the work that we're really not crazy-people are talking and there is a community out there," she added.

The Bisexual Resource Guide is available for $8. To order a copy, send a check along with your address to BRC, Box 639, Cambridge MA 02140.

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