MARCH 5, 1999 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 17

ON THE AIR OFF THE PRESS

Those 25 gay TV characters can be pretty hard to find

by John Graves

Although GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, currently lists 25 regular or recurring lesbian, gay, or bisexual characters appearing on various television shows, they are sometimes awfully hard to find.

Unfortunately, too many times characters are revealed to be gay in one episode, and that may be the last you see of their gay side. Remember Vondie Curtis-Hall's gay doctor on Chicago Hope, lesbian police officer Abby on NYPD Blue or the lesbian couple on Friends? See any of them appearing as a gay character interacting with other gay characters lately?

That's what Ellen DeGeneres tried to do on her show after the famous "puppy episode." Almost immediately, some critics began to complain that Ellen was too gay, giving ABC a chance to wimp out and cancel the show despite the fact that her ratings never got as low as some shows that are still on the air.

We were left with Will and Grace, which is entertaining, but lacking the potential to let America see what goes on in the life of gay characters away from the straight characters on a show. Well, things are starting to change.

Two weeks ago Dawson's Creek regular Jack McFee, haunted by rumors he was gay and hounded by his estranged father to stay in the closet if he was, came all the way out as a gay teen on a particularly powerful and sensitive episode of the show.

The coming-out story line covered two weeks in which Jack at first denied he was gay and ignored the homophobic reaction of some of his classmates. By the end of the next show, Jack confronted his father's denial and formed a new bond with his sister in a particularly powerful coming out scene.

Along the way, we got to see the impact of Jack's coming out on his community and find out that Jack has some very strong straight friends who will stand up to homophobia.

Both GLAAD and GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, gave high praise to Kevin Williamson, the show's openly gay creator and executive director, its writers, and the WB network.

"Dawson's Creek stayed away from stereotypes on this one," said GLAAD entertainment media director Scott Seomin. "Jack is a strong character, written with intelligence, depth and integrity. Kevin Williamson's work will educate viewers gay and straight."

GLSEN communications director Jim Anderson said, "Dawson's Creek painted a very accurate picture of the harassment gay and lesbian youth suffer in schools... But just as tens of thousands of gay youth saw for the first time a representation of a young person struggling to come out [actually, the first time in prime time was Wilson Cruz's

character Ricky on My So-Called Life a few years ago], tens of thousands of non-gay youth learned that it's all right to stand up for gay friends and to support them as they move through that complicated process. Let's hope that, unlike other shows where the gay character comes out and disappears, actor Kerr Smith's realization of Jack McFee continues to develop on Dawson's Creek. GLAAD maintains a complete list of television's regular and recurring lesbigay and transgendered characters on the "TV Scorecard" at their web site, http:// www.glaad.org/glaad/scorecard/

index.html.

Brochtrup is back on NYPD Blue

Gay police clerk John Irvin has returned to the squad room as a main character on the critically-acclaimed ABC police series NYPD Blue. Irvin is played by actor Bill Brochtrup, who came out of the closet himself not too long ago.

Like all of the show's regular characters, Brochtrup's new contract has a clause that he may require him to do scenes with nudity, to which Brochtrup quipped, “I don't know if they'll ever exercise it, but they have the option. Whether television is ready for that, I don't know. I like to push the envelope, but I don't know if I want to push it that far. NYPD Blue airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 pm.

Gay angle on green-card marriage

Ryan Crane came out to his brother Noel on a recent episode of Felicity. In the same show, Felicity attempted a marriage of convenience to a gay immigrant, so that he could remain in the country with his lover.

Glad Monicagate didn't include this

The murder of a lesbian opened up some deep closets in the nation's capitol on a twopart "crossover" between NBC's police dramas Law & Order and Homicide, Life on the Street.

An inquisitorial, Ken Starr-like independent counsel finds out the slain woman's former lover is a high ranking White House official, and forces the New York Law & Order prosecutors to testify before his grand jury, thus jeopardizing their promise of anonymity to the lover.

The prosecutors and the Baltimore Homicide police try to handle the murder investigation in a way sensitive to the privacy of the lesbians they interview, but the independent counsel, out to smear the president at any cost, thwarts all efforts to bring the murderer to justice. He outs several other closeted women in the process, and turns an investigation of White House corruption into a smear campaign about a supposed lesbian sex scandal in federal government.

D.L. Dunkle & Associates

A LESBIAN & GAY PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE

Julia meets an older woman

Neve Campbell's Julia Salinger will end her relationship with her abusive boyfriend and begin a lesbian relationship with an older writer on three episodes of Party of Five set to air this May.

Your inner child should see this

I'm sure everyone has heard by now that homophobic televangelist Jerry Falwell got virtually everyone upset when his newspaper ran a story cautioning parents about letting their children watch Teletubbies because Tinky Winky is a "gay icon."

In case you haven't seen this delightful show, get in touch with your inner gay child and check it out sometime. Teletubbies airs weekdays on most PBS stations. Cleveland area viewers can see the show on Channel 25 weekday mornings at 8:30 and 11:30 am.

Ellen in mag, Anne at Oscars

Ellen DeGeneres interviews her Ed TV co-star Elizabeth Hurley in this week's edition of Harper's magazine. Ed TV, in which DeGeneres plays a cop, is scheduled to open in theaters March 26. DeGeneres' wife, Anne Heche, will be a presenter at this year's Academy Awards.

Lucy's lesbian following online.

Lucy Lawless talks about her experiences with her huge lesbian online following in a feature article about the many Xena: Warrior Princess web sites in the March 2 "Cyber" edition of the Advocate.

India won't censor Fire

The government of India announced recently that they will not censor Fire, Deepa Mehta's lush, many-layered film about the lesbian love that develops between two married women who happen to be each other's sister-in-law.

The film was pulled from Indian movie theaters last year after violent protests by Hindu conservatives and, after counter protests by lesbian and women's rights organizations, was sent to government censors for review.

Last week, Pramoud Mahajan, India's information and broadcasting minister, told the Press Trust of India, "The censor board has said no cuts are needed and we have accepted that decision."

Radio show will be back

Finally, Cleveland listeners may have noticed that Gaywaves, the radio show I produce, has been off the air a few times recently. Have no fear, the show still exists. A flu bug knocked me out of the studio one week, the WRUW transmitter developed problems the next week, and the station has been installing new equipment in the studio used to produce the show since then.

Gaywaves should be back on the air soon-stay tuned. And watch this column for news of a major power upgrade for WRUW.

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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