OCTOBER 30, 1998 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE 13

ON THE AIR ■ OFF THE PRESS

Talk shows across the dial focus on the Shepard murder

by John Graves

The horrendous gay-bashing murder of Matthew Shepard so shocked the entire nation that it initiated an unprecedented number of television dialogues on gayinclusive hate crimes legislation and other lesbigay civil rights issues.

Even though they at first tried to say that the tragedy was being used by the gay community to further a “special rights” agenda, the blatant hate displayed by archhomophobe Fred Phelps and his followers at Shepard's funeral wound up putting Christian conservatives on the defensive.

Even Keith Reilly, the right-leaning, selfdescribed "moderate" host of the Reilly Report on the Fox News Network, challenged Pat Robertson when he took the position that pending federal hate-crimes legislation would result in “special rights" for lesbians and gays and would stifle freedom of religion.

All of the cable and broadcast news and news-magazine shows took time off from the Lewinski affair to cover the story, but discussions on Court TV and BET News stand out in this writer's mind. Johnny Cochran hosted a week-long series of panel discussions on the issues on his Court TV show while Travis Smiley hosted a remarkable dialogue on BET News.

What made the BET News dialogue remarkable was the fact that Keith Boykin and a panel of other African-American lesbians and gays discussed the issues from a uniquely African-American point of view.

At the end of the show, Boykin talked about the importance of the black church in the African-American community and said how important it was to be out in our churches and to speak out against ignorant and homophobic statements made from the pulpit. Film at 1 am

Hope you got a chance to see Out of the Past, filmmaker Jeff Dupree's 1998 documentary about the history of the lesbian and gay civil rights movement when it aired on PBS a couple of weeks ago-many stations aired it in the wee hours of the morning.

Included in this documentary are profiles of Utah's Kelli Peterson, a courageous lesbian teenager who fought to establish a gay-straight alliance in her high school, and civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, who was outed twice, once by rival civil rights leader Rep. Adam Clayton Powell and later by homophobe and segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Readings from lesbigay pioneers by actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Edward Norton reveal that one of founders of the first gay rights organizations in nation was my namesake: the Rev. John T. Graves. PBS has an Out of the Past website with an interactive time line at www.pbs.org/outofthepast.

Bono vs. GLAAD

Gay activist Chastity Bono talked about her relationship with her parents, Sonny and Cher, her upcoming biography and coming-out guidebook Family Outing, and the controversy over remarks about the Ellen show that led to her resignation as media director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in the October 13 issue of the Advocate.

In the Advocate interview, Bono says her words were taken out of context and the subsequent interview was slanted negatively about the Ellen show. Bono and her book were also the subject of another article in the October 12 issue of People magazine. Bono told People that she is involved in a new relationship but declined to identify the woman for the magazine. Bono and her mother were also interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America and on Oprah.

Hollywood's latest gay theme

Gay Men and Straight Women: Why Hollywood Just Loves Them, the feature article in the October 23 edition of Entertainment Weekly, examines the popularity of that theme in the film My Best Friend's Wedding, and in Will & Grace, which has been called one of the best sitcoms of the new TV season.

Whodunit with her wig?

On the new season of Nash Bridges, Nash and Joe (Don Johnson and Cheech Marin) have opened a private detective agency catering to the lesbigay community to earn a little extra cash. In one of the first episodes, the moonlighting P.I.s went to the Castro posing as gay private detectives to search for a Cher impersonator's stolen wig.

Of the many police shows and movies set in San Francisco over the years, this is the first one to include the city's gay community as an ordinary part of the local background.

Well, they're different, all right

Now playing on cable: Actress Dana Plato, co-star of the old TV sitcom Different Strokes, gets caught up in a ménage à trois with a photographer and his girlfriend in a direct-to-video film called, of all things, Different Strokes: The Story of Jack & Jill... and Jill.

Pee Wee may get new show

TV Guide's J. Max Robbins reports Paul Reuben, better known as TV's Pee Wee Herman, is planning an ambitious comeback. Reuben lost of his innovative Pee Wee's Playhouse TV show after his 1991 George Michael-like arrest for lewd conduct.

In the as-yet unnamed new show, Reuben

plays Dewey Muckle, the host of a wacky public-access TV variety show. Because production costs are expected to be high— the pilot reportedly could cost more than $3 million-Reuben will need a big influx of cash to get the networks to go forward with his proposal.

The show's characters include, his wife, Monica Muckel; a flamboyant choreographer called Elephant Man; a character who thinks he's Tarzan; real-life drag performer Lypsinka; the 'masculine handywoman' Frankie, a piano-playing ex-convict; a grandma; a nudist and a fuzzy, 14-inch creature named "Milky Pilky."

'Prejudices of all kinds are bad'

"It's Who You Sleep With," an episode of Lifetime's Any Day Now, finds Birmingham attorney Rene Jackson (Lorraine Toussaint) advocating for a lesbian couple who are not allowed to hold their commitment ceremony at a local park.

In the same episode, we learn that Rene's brother Elston is gay, and has yet to be achis cepted by mother. Rene, who is an AfricanAmerican who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during the peak of the civil rights movement, tries to remind her mother that she was the one who taught her children that "prejudices of all kinds are bad."

In the end,

First night, Mom was there?

On the Bravo channel's behind-thescenes look at the taping of the now famous coming-out episode of Ellen for its "Profiles" series, Anne Heche said that on their first night together, she and Ellen DeGeneres "went home, met Mom (Betty DeGeneres) and made love for 17 hours."

Heche's statement prompted Jay Leno to quip. "That's why they call it the Bravo network," in his opening monologue that night.

Correction

Finally, I must apologize for an error in my September 4 column when I wrote about former Ellen cast member Jeremy Piven starring in the upcoming comedy film Just Write.

In my effort to bring you the latest info

LIFETIME

Lorraine Toussaint and Annie Potts have been friends since they were girls (Shari Dyon Perry and Mae Middleton) in Any

Rene's persistence Day Now. pays off, and her

mother begins to show small signs of understanding. The episode airs November 3 at 9 pm on the Lifetime cable channel.

Carter gets a boyfriend

Cleveland Plain Dealer TV columnist Tom Feran recently reported actor Lou Diamond Phillips will soon appear as the love interest of Carter, the openly gay mayor's aide on Spin City.

Phillips, you may remember, was once married to Julie Cypher who left him when she came out as lesbian and became Melissa Etheridge's spouse. Spin City, co-starring African-American actor Michael Boatman as Carter, can be seen on ABC Tuesdays at 9 pm.

about lesbigay actors and characters while hastily completing last-minute preparations for my vacation, I wrote that Piven was openly gay. In that matter I was wrong. I got Piven's name mixed up with gay actor Patrick Bristow, another Ellen cast member who really is out of the closet.

It is not my intent in this column to out anyone. It is my intent to bring your attention to real lesbigay celebrities who are courageous enough to be out in their public life. Piven is a fine actor but, as far as I know, is not gay in real life.

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.

THE BREWMASTER'S HOUSE

LANDMARK BED & BREAKFAST INN WHERE

COLUMBUS' HISTORIC BREWERY DISTRICT MEETS GERMAN VILLAGE.

WALK TO TOP RESTAURANTS, ARCHITECTURE, ANTIQUES AND FOUR GAY BArs. Stroll to Schiller PARK. VIEW SCIOTO RIVER SUNSETS OR BIGYGLE LOCAL PARK trails. Direct ROUTE TO ALL NIGHTLIFE. EASY ACCESS FROM ROUTES 23, 70, AND 71. RoomS SLEEP 2 AND ARE $50 PER NIGHT. A TWO-ROOM SUITE WHICH SLEEPS 4 is $75. A BED IN THE MULTI-BED Adirondacks' CamP BARRACKS IS $25 per night. CabLE TV, VCR, FAx machine. CatERING TO GAY MEN. LARGE RECEPTION ROOMS IN ORIGINAL TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY HOUSE AND EXPANSIVE LAWN AVAILABLE FOR IMPRESSIVE FIRESIDE OR GARDEN PARTIES.

(614)449-8298 • Fax (614)449-8663

RACHEL V. EISENBERG

ATTORNEY AT LAW

23240 Chagrin Blvd., #600

Cleveland, Ohio 44122 (216) 321-0035

THIS IS MY DILEMMA.

I am a woman or man who believes that there IS a God, that Jesus IS the Christ whose life, death and resurrection are the basis for a personal relationship with God and that the Holy Spirit 15 ready to daily help me as a follower of Jesus Christ.

I have acknowledged my homosexual feelings and wondered how they fit in with my Christian beliefs.

I am troubled about the anti-homosexual opinions of Christians whom I respect.

NOW, WHAT DO I DO?

The life of a homosexual with a strong Christian commitment can be confusing at best, self-condemning at worst. But genuine Christian faith and homosexual life can be integrated.

Many other gay men and lesbians are on the same journey living as members of the Body of Christ, worshipping their Lord and Savior, seeking the deeper Christian life, growing in the grace and knowledge of God.

you are interested in meeting with other like-minded Christians to strengthen each other as members of the Body of Christ, call 216-671-4189 for more information.

Dedicated to serving the legal needs of the L/G/B/T community through

Probate, Criminal Law, Domestic Partnerships, and more!

"I may be straight, but I'm not narrow."