MAY 16, 1997 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

SPEAK OUT

Why can't Ellen's new honey simply be bisexual?

by Robyn Ochs

Like most of my lavender buddies, I have been following the stories of both Ellen Morand Ellen DeGeneres with great interest. gan It's all been quite exciting, and I've been right there on the sidelines, cheering and writing my letters of support to corporate sponsors, and disappointment to nonsponsors. Overall, I have been pleased by the way the media has covered both stories. But I've been somewhat less pleased by the coverage given to Anne Heche and her sudden conversion to Ellen-ism.

It seems that people are more disturbed by Heche's sudden "conversion" than they are by Ellen's born-that-way lesbianism. Apparently, Oprah and her followers were so unsettled by Heche's disclosure of her sudden, unprecedented and unexpected attraction to Ellen, given her history of heterosexuality (including two years with Steve Martin), that Oprah decided to dedicate her May 5 show to the subject, focusing on the old nature/nurture question, and whether it is possible for someone to suddenly "turn gay."

Oprah brought in a roster of heavy hitters: Michael Bailey, Dean Hamer, Charles LoPresto, Jonathan Ned Katz, John DiCecco, and Chandler Burr on the guy side, and therapist Jackie Blatt (whose life story loosely mirrors that of Heche), Joann Loulan (a longtime poster lesbian now in love with a man), and Judy Weider (editor of the Advocate) for the gals.

There was no consensus of opinion here, but what did come up is that studies are pointing toward a partial correlation between biological and genetic factors and sexual orientation for men, but not for women. As Chandler Burr stated: women are much more biologically complex. The words fluid and continuum came up more than once to describe women's sexuality. Surprisingly, given the nature of the discussion, the word bisexual was mentioned only once, when Oprah asked Loulan if she was one, and Loulan more or less said she wasn't, just a lesbian in love with a man.

But back to Anne Heche. All sorts of conclusions are being drawn about her identity, and why she went public with her love for Ellen DeGeneres. As Richard Goldstein opined recently in the Village Voice, “Only in an age of Pentecostal urges could it seem credible for a woman who has never felt a twinge of queer desire to be sexually born again. Yet, that's what Heche professes. She's in love with DeGeneres, but there's been no awakening; it just fell out of the blue, like being touched by an angel or in this case, perhaps, an agent. Her handlers had to come up with the ultimate Hollywood spin, and they did: She's out, but not gay; she tells, but not all . . .”

What is it that he is accusing Heche of not telling us? Goldstein continues, "Heche is betting that, if she dangles the promise of availability by insisting she never had a lesbian encounter before Ellen, and implying that

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her next lover could be a man, she will embody enough of the triad fantasy to lure us into the brave new world. So what ifthis scenario plays to the most benighted ideas about gay recruiting. So what if it reinvents the closet in the guise of candor. Speaking truth to power is one thing, but why bite the beast that feeds you?"

Goldstein is attributing all sorts of lessthan-honorable motivations to Heche. Is she lying about never having been attracted to a woman? Is she really a straight actress seeking publicity by pretending to be in love with Ellen? Is she really a lesbian who is playing ambigious because its safer? Did she invent the whole scenario to promote her own career?

Why is it so hard for Goldstein to believe that she might actually be telling us her truth?

Another interesting theme in the print media is the question of whether Heche can remain a credible actor now that it is known that she is in love with a woman. One would almost think that at the moment of coming out, one negates one's entire history. Everything that happened before today no longer counts. But while the reality for some of us is that our histories prior to coming out feel like false, scripted roles, for others the past does count, is meaningful, and does inform our current identities.

The reality is that there are more choices than just gay or straight. Some of us may fall somewhere nearer the middle of the Kinsey scale and still choose to be out and to publicly declare our queer identities. I'm one of those: a public, out, proud, loud and queer bisexual.

So here's something else that really upsets me: In all of these discussions, what in the world happened to the word bisexual? Why has that word been so consistently avoided? Heche is being read by most people as a bornagain lesbian. And she may be. But then again she may not. She may be bisexual, or she may choose not to label at all. She hasn't told us. What she did say on Oprah was, "I didn't all of a sudden feel that I'm gay . . . I didn't feel all of a sudden an epiphany...the only epiphany I had is that I'm in love with Ellen."

Anne Heche is not in love with all women. She's in love with Ellen DeGeneres. After all, it's individual, real people we fall in love with, not entire sexes. Let's celebrate this love that she and Ellen have found, and let's all respect Heche's right to define her own identity, in her own sweet time. After all, it has only been a couple of months since she met Ellen. I think she's very brave. And if she's going to survive in Hollywood while at the same time keeping her new relationship intact, she'll need to be.

Robyn Ochs teaches bisexual identity and queer culture courses at Tufts University. She is the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide ($11.95 from P.O. Box 639, Cambridge MA 02140) and travels around the country doing workshops and talks on college campuses.

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