GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE APRIL 3, 1998

EVENINGS OUT

Show visits places of gay progress, and repression

by John Catania

New York-The hour-long April-May 1998 special edition of In the Life, shot in six countries on four continents, takes a look at gay and lesbian life from around the world. From China to the Netherlands, from Britain to Brazil, from the Philippines to France, this episode visits places where progress on gay civil rights out-paces advances in the U.S., and places where awareness and understanding of gay issues is decades behind, often dangerously so for gay and lesbian people living there. The personal stories told during the segment illuminate the struggles behind the politics, the progress, and often, the persecution.

In the Life is a not-for-profit, membersupported bimonthly TV newsmagazine series that chronicles the history and contemporary experience of the lesbian and gay community.

The show airs on over 100 public television stations nationwide, including WPTD channel 16 in Dayton, Saturday, April 4 at 11 pm; WNEO-WEAO channels 45 and 49 in Akron and Youngstown, Sunday, April 12 at midnight; WQLN channel 54 in Erie, Pa., Friday, April 3 at 10 pm, and WFYI channel 20 in Indianapolis (check local listings for airtime). Channels 45-49 can also be seen on many Cleveland-area cable systems.

A complete list of airdates can be found on the internet at http://www.inthelifetv.org.

Hong Kong and China: The segment's lead story tells a tale of Communism and culture. In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China after a century of British rule. This historic event coincided with the gathering momentum of a new Hong Kong gay and lesbian movement, evident in the formation of numerous gay and lesbian organizations and handfuls of new gay clubs.

This segment starts in Beijing for a look at the situation for gays and lesbians in Communist China today. The story then shifts to Hong Kong to gauge the future of its new movement, both in terms of the progress gay and lesbian people expect in light of the growing influence of mainland China, and the unique pressures and expectations of Chinese culture.

Of the situation in China, Jenny Lee of the U.S.-based Chinese Society for the Study of Sexual Minorities says, "People who have

IN THE LIFE

Filipino activists Vangie Castronuevo, left, and Beth Lim are joined by In the Life producer Desireena Almoradie, right, who returned to her native Philippines for a story on lesbian activism there.

authority, they can blackmail you, they can arrest you. They can do whatever they feel like.'

Great Britain: Hong Kong was, of course, just one of Britain's many possessions. Today, many of Britain's former colonies are storming back to England in the form of cultural influence.

This story looks at how the image of Anglo-Saxon England as a “stiff-upper-lip monarchy" is slowly giving way to a different reality--that of a multi-cultural society with diverse racial and sexual identities.

"Transforming the Crown," a vast multimedia exhibit at the Caribbean Cultural Center, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Bronx Museum in New York, highlights the way black, Asian, Caribbean, as well as gay and lesbian artists from England are challenging the notion of what it means to be British.

Philippines: For this story, In the Life traveled to the Philippines where lesbian activism has been on a steady rise for the past five years. Through interviews with women representing every social class, this segment examines how lesbian visibility, in a country that is 85% Catholic, is possible. Women from the upper, middle, and lower class talk about the different issues they face as lesbi-

ans of different social strata.

They also discuss what unites them—a struggle against attitudes formed by religion, the intense culture of the family, and Philippine law where homosexuals are not protected. Because being homosexual is technically seen as a human “aberration" in Philippine law, being gay or lesbian can be used as a basis for denying certain rights. But whatever the struggles, it is clear that lesbians of all backgrounds are helping to put the Philippines on the map as an emerging leader in lesbian activism in that part of the globe.

Brazil: Behind its international reputation for welcoming sexual diversity, Brazil, the land of Carnival-and carnal knowledge is full of contradictions.

On one hand, there is gay activity centered around the night life that makes Brazil famous. On the other hand, activists are frustrated for the lack of a national gay political movement, and while certain issues have received public discussion like gays in the military and a domestic partnership bill, discrimination toward sexual minorities can be seen in many aspects of Brazilian life.

Plus, there is one alarming fact: A gay person is murdered in Brazil every three days. Joao Trevisan, a Brazilian author and activist, sums it up this way:

"We can't have a gay movement, we can just have gay moves: to the gay ghetto, to one

sauna,

to a nightclub, to another bar, and this is the gay movement we have here."

In the Life explores these contradictions about Brazil, and life for sexual minorities in what some would argue is South America's most liberal country.

In pursuit of world human rights: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission works on local and global levels to heighten awareness of human rights abuses against gay men, lesbians and transgendered people around the world. Director Julie Dorf takes a look at the world from the commission's perspective, and discusses how her organization works within a country's customs and constraints to accomplish its goals.

France: In 1997 during the annual "EuroPride" celebration in Paris, 300,000 gay men and lesbians marched under a banner that read "Rights for Gay Men and Lesbians in all of Europe." That same year in France, a powerful and progressive domestic partnership proposition, "Le Contrat d'Union Sociale et Civile," made its way to the highest ranks of government.

This story examines the history, the development, and the future of this proposition, and looks at why its passage is so important to French gay men and lesbians.

Amsterdam Gay Games 1998: The final story ends far from where this episode began. From Beijing to Amsterdam, perhaps no two countries better demonstrate the range of challenges and victories for gay men and lesbians today.

This segment previews Gay Games 1998 to be held in Amsterdam this August. The Games will attract hundreds of thousands of spectators and participants, and it will perhaps be the event to sum up where gay men and lesbians around the world would all like to be at the end of the approaching millenium.

With gays and lesbians now registering as couples in civil marriage in the Netherlands, and with adoption rights secured, it seems fitting that Amsterdam will be the sight of this largest ever gay and lesbian event. Three athletes will be profiled as they prepare for the games to discover why they work so hard at being proudly "out" competitors.

John Catania is communications director and a contributing producer for In the Life.

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