AUGUST 7, 1998 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE 15

ON THE AIR■ OFF THE PRESS

Paper trades phobic columnist for supportive one

by John Graves

A few weeks ago, conservative columnist Powell Caesar took the occasion of his final "Perspectives" column in the African-American weekly Call and Post to attack same-sex marriage and gay civil rights in general.

Fortunately, in the weeks since the departure of Caesar's column, the paper, published in Cleveland and Columbus, has printed two very gay supportive columns.

Caesar's column has been replaced by "Civil Rights Journal," written by the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson. Her column called for support for the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1998, which would add hate crimes based on sexual orientation to present federal hate crime laws.

In the same issue, the Call and Post ran a page-width guest column by Andrea Lewis, associate editor with Pacific News Service and senior editor of the California magazine Third Force, protesting the Winans sisters' anti-gay song "Not Natural.” Instead of trying to counter the Biblical case against homosexuality, point by point, blow by blow, verse by verse, Lewis instead offered "some respect for respect."

After "acknowledging the deep religious traditions" of our community, Lewis said, “I expect black folks to understand the hateful experience of being judged inferior and unholy. I expect black folks to sympathize with their gay brothers and sisters who face discrimination on the job and housing market. I expect black folks to rally behind their gay brothers and sisters when they are the victims of hate crimes. Invisibility is the operative word for most gay people of color. It's hard enough to find our colored faces in the gay press, but we definitely know better than to try to find ourselves represented in any positive way in the ethnic press—if at all.”

Lewis closed by seeing an upside to the Winans controversy, quoting National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum field director Mandy Carter, "Perhaps if there's a silver lining in all of this, it's that now there's a recognition that there actually are black homosexuals."

All I can say is: Amen to that, Sister Lewis and Sister Carter!

Ellen to play a detective

Although ABC aired the last episode of Ellen in July, Ellen DeGeneres will portray a police detective in Goodbye Lover, a new Warner Brothers comedy-thriller scheduled to begin filming in August. No release date has been set.

Linc's daughter comes out

Check out Linc's, a new African-American comedy series on Showtime, set in Linc's Bar and Grill in Washington D.C. In the opener, Russell "Linc" Lincoln's Army officer daughter, played by Tisha Campbell, comes home and comes out as lesbian. New episodes of Linc's will air on Showtime Saturdays at 10 pm repeating Sundays at 11:45 pm and Thursdays at 10 pm. Athletes in the Advocate

Muffin Spencer-Devlin, former Washington Redskins running back Dave Kopay, mountain bike racer Missy Giove, baseball umpire Dave Pallone, skating champion Rudy Galindo, diving champions Greg Louganis and David Pichler and tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Billy Jean King are interviewed in the special, August 18 "Gay Games" edition of the Advocate.

In the feature interview, Billy Jean King told the magazine that she considered herself

out of the closet ever since Marilyn Barnett sued her for palimony in 1981.

There was some misunderstanding in the lesbigay community at the time of Barnett's unsuccessful suit when King said the relationship was a "mistake." King says the "mistake" was not about being a lesbian, but about her failure to be monogamous to her husband. King says that when she got involved with Barnett she asked her husband for a divorce, but he refused.

King, divorced for some time now, is currently involved with a woman and is about to become more of an activist.

Revisions are a step back

Three full-page articles in the July 17 edition of the National Catholic Reporter detail the recent revisions intended to “clarify" the gay supportive "Always Our Children" letter from the National Council of Bishops to parents of lesbigay children, and Pope John Paul II's recent letter severely limiting doctrinal dissent in the church. The original "Always Our Children" reflected the discussion of homosexuality in the first English version of the Catechism.

The revisions to “Always Our Children" mirror the revisions to the most recent translations of the new Catechism which I reported earlier this past year. It seems that the Council of Bishops was only required to have a two-thirds majority to adopt the original text of "Always Our Children." After it was published, conservative bishops who had not voted to approve publication of “Always Our Children" objected to portions of the text.

Pope John Paul II's letter on doctrine now requires a unanimous vote of the bishops to publish such a "teaching." Some have minimalized the impact of the revisions to

"Always Our Children" which had been widely regarded as an important first step in the Catholic church toward recognizing its lesbigay children.

Instead of moving forward, these revisions move us back. It's like a slave being given the "honor" of working in the "Big House," being treated like one of the slaveowner's family—and then being whipped to remind him or her that they are still a slave. Given the extreme conservative bent of some of the American bishops and cardinals, the pope's letter will make it very difficult for something as gay-supportive as “Always Our Children" to be published in the near future. However, we still owe a debt of gratitude to Cleveland's Bishop Anthony Pilla and the other bishops who took that courageous first step in publishing "Always Our Children." Allure, and two gay roles

Sexual attraction, both gay and straight, is examined on The Unexplained, a documentary airing on the Arts & Entertainment cable channel.

Judge "Maximum Bob" Gibbs' estranged wife is kidnapped by the gay lover of a felon in the debut episode of Maximum Bob, a limited-run series that will air on ABC Tuesdays at 10 pm.

Openly bisexual actor Andy Dick, who plays Matthew on the NBC sitcom News Radio, will play the gay best friend of a woman in the upcoming independent film Advice from a Caterpillar.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian-gay public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.

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