AUGUST 29, 1997 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
25
EVENINGS OUT
'Life' special shows 5 years of lesbian-gay history
by Doreen Cudnik
Like the relative that brings a video camera to every family event, for five years a TV show has observed and recorded the gay and lesbian community.
Since the pilot program in June 1992, the lesbian and gay TV newsmagazine In the Life has been keeping track of our movement's growth, covering major events like the historic 1993 March on Washington, and showcasing the people that inspire and entertain us. In a special episode that will air on Sun-
Katherine Linton
gays and lesbians than ever on television." And she was right.
For the third episode, In the Life traveled to Hollywood to do a special segment on gays and lesbians in the entertainment industry. That episode, and the fifth, which was titled "School's Out" and devoted exclusively to issues surrounding gay and lesbian youth, was hosted by then California resident and now Cleveland resident Karen Williams.
The anniversary show gives us a glimpse at some of the "leather couch interviews,"
IN THE LIFE
day, September 7 (in the Cleveland/Akron market area), In the Life celebrates its first five years on the air. The hour-long segment follows the show's evolution from what Bob Dole referred to as a “gay Ed Sullivan show" to a newsmagazine format with field correspondents and a variety of anchor people.
It was the senator from Kansas who brought national attention to In the Life when he denounced the show during the PBS funding wars of the early '90s. His comments from the Senate floor that shows like In the Life are "hiding behind the facade of Big Bird and Mister Rogers and Masterpiece Theater" made national headlines, and won the show a whole new following.
Ironically, said the show's narrator Katherine Linton, "We have Bob Dole to thank for letting people know we were out there."
The anniversary segment features highlight clips of all the early episodes, including the pilot episode when host Kate Clinton told audiences, "You have already seen more
which Linton says were interviews done on "the best piece of studio furniture we had." Melissa Etheridge, Paul Rudnik, Tony Kushner and Me'Shell Ndegeocello were among the luminaries that graced the well-worn sofa, and gave insight into their lives and work.
Like all good chroniclers of history, In the Life was present to record some of the greatest events in gay and lesbian civil rights history. The clips from the 1993 March on Washington, Gay Games IV, and the largest gathering in the history of our movement, Stonewall 25, will bring back wonderful memories for those who were lucky enough to be there, and give those who were not a little taste of what it was like. Check your pulse if you are not moved by Liza Minelli, singing at the close of Stonewall 25, "And I promise you, we will win .. if not tomorrow, then the day after that."
Minelli is the daughter of Judy Garland, whose funeral took place on the day preceding the 1969 riots that erupted at the Stonewall Inn-the event which was commemorated by Stonewall 25.
In the Life went international in 1995 when they covered the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, from a lesbian perspective, of course. They went "undercover" when they attended the 1996 Republican Convention in San Diego and a pro-life rally hosted by perennial presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. The rally featured anti-gay ex-Rep. Bob Dornan waltzing with Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly while the crowd sang along to "God Bless America."
Like any struggle for equality, the gay and lesbian movement has endured pain and hard-
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ship, and in the last five years, In the Life has told these stories with intelligence and compassion. In 1995, the show visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. for a segment that explored the neglected history of Nazi persecution of homosexuals.
The museum is the first in the world to include gay and lesbian people's stories, study gay and lesbian history, and set up scholarships for gay and lesbian studies. The segment includes a poignant interview with "Stefan K.," a man imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II because he was gay, and David Mixner, who speaks of the outrage he felt when he talked with a Holocaust survivor who told him that after the Allies liberated the camps, he was re-arrested because he was gay.
One of the most heart-rending segments from the past five years features the story of Ciprian Cucu, a young Romanian man who, along with his lover Miriam Mutascu, endured years of persecution in his home country. Cucu and Mutascu were ridiculed, imprisoned, and tried in the press. Mutascu eventually committed suicide due to the pressure. He was 24.
IN THE LIFE
Phyllis Schlafly at the 1996 National Republican Convention.
As In the Life moves into the next five years, they will continue to profile the artists, entertainers and politicians who help shape and define gay and lesbian culture. Until there is a cure, they will also continue to pay tribute to the many people who have been lost to AIDS. Like that relative with the video camera rolling, they'll continue to record our history.
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In the Life will air in Akron and Youngstown on WNEO/WEAO channels 45 and 49 Sunday, September 7 at midnight. Many Cleveland area cable systems carry this station.
If you are out of that viewing area, call John Catania at 212-255-6012 to find out what station may carry the show.
If your local PBS station does not carry In the Life, call or write the station manager and ask them to add it to their lineup.
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