ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS Jesse's running for Senate again, just as nasty as ever

by John Graves

Arch-homophobe Republican Senator Jesse Helms from North Carolina is at it again. During the last election, Helms ran political ads that claimed that, if his opponent African-American Democrat Harvey Gantt was elected, white people would be forced out of their jobs to make room for more minority workers.

In the upcoming race for his seat, Helms is not only facing Gantt once again, but he is also challenged by Charlie Sanders, a white Democrat. While I was on vacation in North Carolina a few weeks ago, Helms' campaign ads began appearing on TV, this time taking a homophobic as well as a racial slant. Helms' ads accused both Gantt and Sanders of being liberal, liking Bill Clinton, supporting racial quotas, opposing "voluntary school prayer" and wanting to "extend health insurance to homosexual partners."

Hope you caught the final two episodes of CBS's critically acclaimed series Picket Fences, which aired April 24. The first of the final two episodes focused on homophobia and child custody issues. It seems the mayor, played by hearing-impaired actress Marlee Matlin, has just delivered a baby whose father happened to be her brother's gay lover. Controversy erupted when the mayor announced her intention to give the baby to her brother and his lover of 13 years.

When the child's grandmother, who had been estranged from her children for many years, hears of this, she returns to sue for custody because of her homophobia and her opposition to gay parents. The resulting court case and public clamor allowed the episode to examine many issues about homophobia and AIDS-phobia. In the end, Judge Bone ruled that the arguments about homosexuality and its causes of were irrelevant to the case, and awarded custody to the gay couple because they were model citizens, and because they would make excellent parents. Catch this one on reruns this summer. USA Today columnist Michael Heistand

applauded ABC for tackling homophobia in sports in its weekly "Women in the Game" feature on Wide World of Sports. In the feature, lesbian tennis legend Martina Navratilova says that she has asked sports reporters if they've ever asked male athletes about their sexual orientation. Navratilova said, "None of them have, but many have asked women athletes if they are gay. They treat male athletes differently... they protect them." Wide World of Sports airs on ABC Saturdays at 4:30 pm.

Jack Berrill, creator of the long-running comic strip Gil Thorp, passed away on March 14. The main character of the strip was a high school coach who was not afraid to tackle sensitive issues. Clevelanders who go back that far will remember that the now-defunct Cleveland Press dropped the strip because of a storyline in which coach Thorp stood up for one of his players, who had come out as a gay teenager and was being gay-bashed by the other students. Gil Thorp, which runs in 68 newspapers, will be continued by Berrill's assistant Ray Burns, and a writer to be named later.

Mainstream travel and vacation companies, recognizing a largely untapped market, have begun to reach out to gay travelers. Random House has become the first major publishing company to print a gay travel guide, Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA, which should be available in bookstores in May. Meanwhile, Certified Vacations, a major travel industry tour wholesaler, has become the first mainstream company to offer a line of packages exclusively for gay travelers. Certified Vacations follows the lead of Virgin Atlantic Airways, which last year became the first airline to offer gay tours.

Over the past few years, GayWaves correspondents Jim and Dave have found many gay-supportive stories and editorials in the National Catholic Reporter. Lesbians and gays who would like to subscribe to this very gay-friendly paper can do so by calling the National Catholic Reporter toll-free at 800333-7373.

MAY 3, 1996 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

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