NOVEMBER 27, 1998 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE

ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

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Mr. Hat is back, and Mr. Garrity must choose his true love

by John Graves

Fans of Comedy Central's outrageous cartoon series South Park are familiar with Mr. Garrity, a teacher who talks to, teaches through and lives with his handpuppet, Mr. Hat.

Last season Mr. Garrity, who vehemently denies he is gay, was extremely upset after Mr. Hat apparently left him to fulfill a romantic fantasy of meeting up with Green Bay quarterback Bret Favre in a steamy locker room.

This season, Mr. Garrity replaced Mr. Hat with Mr. Twig, literally a twig from a tree wearing, of all things, a purple T-shirt with a pink triangle.

Well, in the season-ending "Chef Aid" episode, Mr. Hat is back and Mr. Garrity had to choose his true love. There were lots of gay references and story lines on South Park this season. Catch the shows as they air in repeats on Comedy Central Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 10 pm repeating four hours later at 2 am.

ER gets new gay character

Look for a new, ongoing gay character, a young Asian-American doctor, on new episodes of ER, airing on NBC Thursdays at 10 pm.

Grid Radio was sole survivor

Gaywaves alumnus Jerry Szoka talks about his fight to get the Federal Communications Commission to allow small "microbroadcast" radio stations, which opponents call “pirate” stations because they are unlicensed, in the November 18 issue of the Cleveland alternative weekly Free Times.

Low-power stations, serving specialized and minority audiences, operate without licenses now because the FCC will not issue licenses for stations broadcasting at less than 1,000 watts.

This past year, under pressure from multistation conglomerates represented by organizations such as the National Association of Broadcasters, the FCC raided and shut down eight of the nine microbroadcasters operating in the Cleveland area.

Szoka's Grid Radio was the only survivor because he was off the air when the FCC raided the other stations. It airs dance music and commentary at 96.9 FM every day after 4 pm from the Grid, a downtown gay dance club Szoka owns.

According to the Free Times article, FCC Chairman William Kennard is not entirely unsympathetic to the issue and has promised a formal review of the situation next month. A group called the National Lawyers Guild Committee for Democratic Communications is an advocate for the microbroadcasters, and is drafting a proposal for a "strictly noncommercial system."

Country Dancers featured

Nice to see the Cleveland City Country Dancers, a gay square dance group, featured in Cleveland's Scene entertainment weekly.

Healing with laughter

Karen Williams, Cleveland's well-known African-American lesbian mom and standup comic, talks about her life and work in "The Joke's on Us, Thank God”, a feature article in the November 18th edition of Cleveland Life.

Besides being a nationally-known stand-up comic; the co-host of the all lesbigay public TV show In the Life, a master's degree candidate in adult education at Cleveland State University and a lesbian mom, Williams is also the founder of HaHA, the International Institute of Humor and Healing Arts.

According to the story, Williams founded HaHA after receiving a lot of positive audience feedback when she performed at AIDS benefits in the 1980s.

At HaHA, Williams conducts "laughing circles," healing-through-laughter workshops held Wednesday evenings in the Lakeland Medical Building at 25701 Lakeland Blvd. in Euclid.

HaHA, which can be reached at 216289-7079, also offers a parenting with humor support group, and recovery meetings for Buddhists with substance abuse problems. HaHA's Internet address is www.hahainstitute.qpg.com.

Describing HaHA as “a place for people to laugh, get their immune systems pumped up and release endorphins” Williams says, "Laughter is power, and power is empowerment. I've been a Buddhist for 26 years, and we believe one of god's attributes is a sense of humor. You won't find a dour enlightened person. Giggling is fun.”

Cleveland Life, a new paper serving the city's African-American community, is available for free at newsstands.

Beautiful Thing now on cable

Glen Barry and Scott Neal star in Beautiful Thing, a coming-of-age film about a pair of teenagers who realize they are gay and fall in love amid the violence of the London tenement where they live, now playing on the Movie Channel.

First Chinese gay film

East Palace, West Palace, billed as China's first gay film, will be featured in the "Beijing Underground" series. at Cleveland's Cinematheque theater. The series features independent films made illegally in China, against regulations which prohibit film-making outside of government-controlled studios. The films have to be smuggled out of the country for processing because no Chinese lab will handle them.

East Palace, West Palace director Zhang Yuan is considered the most important director of the Chinese underground film movement.

The film chronicles the shifting power relationship between an arrested gay writer and a sexually repressed policeman during an all-night interrogation. It is in Mandarin with English subtitles. Show times are 9:25 pm December 3 and 7:30 pm December 4. For tickets or more information, call 216421-7450.

NBC execs 'cure' gay character

Andre Braugher is returning to Homicide: Life on the Streets-but Frank Pembleton is not.

Braugher left the NBC cop show after six seasons last spring in order to "diversify his career and not be stereotyped by the Pembleton character," Reuters news service reported.

Braugher said his departure from the show will allow the characters played by Clark Johnson and Kyle Secor to blossom, adding that Secor's Bayliss character seems to have "lost his homosexual tendencies at the behest of NBC executives."

"I think he became straight because NBC said our hero will not be gay," Braugher said.

MTV has Shepard specials

MTV recently aired two excellent specials on the Matthew Shepard murder, hate crime, progress in gay civil rights and issues faced by lesbigay teenagers back to back. Watch for these two programs to air again on MTV. Sylvester and Total profiled

In the December/January issue of Vibe magazine, Larry Flick writes a moving essay

JIM ANDERSON'S

CITY SITES

on the late openly gay singer Sylvester, whose hits defined a generation not only of music, but of the 1970s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Flick talks of Sylvester's music capturing what it was like to be a young African-American gay man, and how it so moved him. Sylvester, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1986, left a legacy for this young writer, and others like him, and seeing him celebrated in this way is both groundbreaking and welcome.

Vibe covers hip-hop culture, and at first glance may seem to be an unlikely publication to carry this piece, because of the macho culture associated with much of the music.

In another article, the female trio Total is given significant coverage, including a lengthy discussion of controversy around their sexual orientation, some of which was generated by statements of the members of the trio.

The reporter states that in this industry, no one is "all the way" out, and for Total to even "toy" with same-sex attraction is risky careerwise. Obviously, it would be ideal if musicians could be out, and have it not be an issue, but Vibe's addressing the topic is a welcome "breaking of the silence" around hip-hop and homosexuality.

A third piece on the controversy surrounding the new film The Siege features an extensive discussion of the history of film protests by groups and organizations concerned with fair portrayals of minorities, including comments from Cathy Renna, director of community relations for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. ♡

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. Dawn Leach, Doreen Cudnik, Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.

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