May 21, 1999 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 13

on the airoff the press

Stone, Heche and DeGeneres join in three HBO dramas

by John Graves

Sharon Stone, who played a bisexual murder suspect in Basic Instinct, has joined Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche in the production of If These Walls Could Talk 2, a trio of

dramas with a lesbian theme that will air on HBO.

Stone and DeGeneres will star as a lesbian couple trying to conceive a child in "Miss Conception," the first of the three dramas to be filmed, sometime next year.

Heche is writing and directing on the project. Stone told reporters that she was "thrilled to work with the stunning team of Anne and Ellen," and that she hopes to "glean a little something extra about comedy from these two experts.”

One of the other stories in the series, "Women Only," revolves around the emerging women's movement and is written by sisters Sylvia and Alex Sichel who wrote and directed the lesbian drama All Over Me.

Jane Anderson will write and direct the third story, "The Widow." It tells the tale of an older woman in the early 1960s who has lost her lifelong partner only to learn their relationship is not recognized by her family or society.

Yes, what about the children?

Daria MonDesire, an African-American free-lance writer from Vermont, wrote a column for USA Today in support of gay parents. In the column, MonDesire told of three lesbigay couples (her neighbor, a new teacher in town and her cousin-in-law) who are doing an admirable job of raising their children with love.

MonDesire concludes, "Opponents of adoptions by homosexuals-fine, upstanding people one and all--invariably ask, 'What about the children?' Good for them for asking. Now, maybe we can talk. If this country valued its children, really valued its children, decisions about who is to parent them would be based on what is in their best interest, not

HONESTLY ETHEL by John

I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND SOME MEN PAYING SO MUCH MONEY FOR DANGEROUS AND UNNATURAL PRODUCTS SIMPLY TO LOOK MORE MASCULINE.

prejudice. To deny a child a nurturing home simply because a prospective adoptive parent happens to be homosexual is nothing short of abuse."

Beautiful music

Ken Garfield, whose column "On Faith" appears weekly in the "Faith & Values" section of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, told his readers of the wonderful experience he had when he attended a church concert given by the lesbigay One Voice Chorus recently.

At the end of his column Garfield reiterated a question that popped into the mind of choir member Linda Lawyer when she first heard them sing.

"As I left the choir room and stepped into the drizzly night, Lawyer's question returned like a song you can't get out of your head: 'How can you hate these people when there's such beautiful music coming out of them?'

Etheridge to host series on fate

Out lesbian rocker and mom Melissa Etheridge has been chosen to host How Could It Happen, a true-life series about women who have gone through life-altering twists of fate, set to air on Lifetime next season.

I'll tell if you tell

TV Guide gave a “Jeer" to Diane Sawyer for backing out of a promise she made to basketball star Dennis Rodman when she interviewed him on 20/20.

It seems Sawyer, trying to get a scoop, kept urging Rodman to tell her "one secret nobody knows." After getting a promise from Sawyer to reveal a secret herself, Rodman revealed that when he was a teenager he "wanted to be more of a girl than a guy” but Sawyer ducked out of her end of the deal.

"Hey Diane," TV Guide said, "Next time you make an on-air promise in order to get a juicy interview, maybe you should consider keeping your end of the bargain."

D. Anderson

NOW, ME, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SATISFIED WITH MYSELF JUST THE WAY I AM. OF COURSE, I WAS BORN JUST CURSED WITH AN OVERWHELMING

HYPER-MASCULINITY.

Fierstein in new Diana Ross film

Look for Harvey Fierstein as singer Olivia King's agent in Diana Ross' new film Double Platinum.

Long may it wave

Finally, a few weeks ago you may have seen a story in the May 7 Chronicle about a Myrtle Beach, S.C. woman's fight against a city order to remove the rainbow flag from the front of her Rainbow House Bistro. A sign ordinance prohibits commercial flags, with exceptions for national, state, city or church flags.

Well, I was there on my last night of my recent vacation and took a little part in the struggle. The bistro is in a real house located just across the street from the Pavilion, an amusement park owned by Burroughs and Chapin. The owners of much of Myrtle Beach, Burroughs and Chapin last year tried to stop the South Carolina Pride Celebration from

taking place there. Amusement parks are exempt from the flag ordinance hmmm and the Pavilion has many of them.

That night, local TV Channel 15 anchored their entire 11 o'clock news from the sidewalk in front of the Rainbow House as we sat in the front yard patio wearing and waving all our gay colors under the rainbow-painted gable.

I saw real gay pride there in a business that has become the de facto community center for the local lesbigay community As owner Linda Robertson told the Myrtle Beach Sun News in an excellent story by reporter Chandra McLean: "There might be things on this earth that I can't have, but my rights I will have"

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

Rufus Wainwright concert to benefit six groups

Columbus--Openly gay phenomenon and award-winning pop singer Rufus Wainwright will perform “A Concert for Columbus” on Monday, May 24, at 8 pm at the Southern Theatre.

The concert, sponsored by Seagram Americas, will benefit six local charities: Stonewall Columbus, Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), the Berwick Halloween Ball, the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus, Living Proof, and P-FLAG Columbus, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Wainwright is the son of two acclaimed musical artists, Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, of the McGarrigle Sisters.

His debut album Rufus Wainwright was released on the DreamWorks label last year. He was named Best New Artist of the Year by Rolling Stone and was honored for Top Album of the Year by Spin Magazine, New Yorker, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, and the San Francisco Ex

Most recently Wainwright was Gay and Lesbian Music Awards and the Alliance Against for his debut album $25, $20 and $15. To purchase tickets, call 614Southern Theatre cated at 21 East Mam Street in Columbu

ALISON DYER

Rufus Wainwright

WHICH DOESN'T MEAN THAT I'M NOT IN TOUCH WITH MY MORE FEMININE SIDE. IT'S JUST DIFFICULT TO SEE, BURIED AS IT IS UNDER MOUNDS OF HUSKY, GRADE-A, MASCULINE FLESH...

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