July 9, 1999

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 13

on the airoff the press

As a whole, the LGBT presence on TV is increasing

by John Graves

Although we lost a few characters with network cancellations and cast changes this past season, thanks to cable and public television, lesbigay presence on television once again seems to be increasing dramatically.

For several years I have been talking to the management of Cleveland's PBS station, WVIZ Channel 25, urging them to present programs by and about our community during June's Pride month festivities or National Coming Out month in October.

Well, this June they finally came through with Golden Threads, It's Elementary and After Stonewall, three extraordinary lesbigay documentaries.

But I'm not going to say "Put your money where your mouth is." If you want to thank the station through a pledge or donation, put your mouth where your money is instead, and tell them directly that you are spending your money to support more lesbigay programming. If you don't, you may as well donate your money elsewhere.

We face some very organized, wel-funded and vocal opposition to any positive presentation of our community and its issues, and I'm sure station management will hear from that quarter this year.

Cable is the best "family value"

Although network TV re-aired a number of series episodes with lesbigay scenes, and some talk shows like Roseanne, Ricki Lake, Maury Povich and Jerry Springer focused on lesbigay and transgender guests and topics; dollar for dollar, cable is still our best "family value."

Films on cable with gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender of AIDS content, characters and actors included When the Cat's Away, As Good as It Gets, Trevor, Waiting For Guffman, Making Love, In and Out, Basic Instinct, Object of My Affection, Carrington, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, Kiss Me Guido, High Art, Doing Time on Maple Drive, Rock the Boat, Red Ribbon Blues and Randy Shilts' classic And the Band Played On.

More importantly, original cable TV programming all year long includes ordinary lesbians, gays and transgender people just being themselves--no big exposés, no need to explain what a gay person is, and here are a few notable examples:

Hooter girls vs. dykes on bikes

Comedy Central has a new quiz show, Vs, that pits teams of opposites against each other such as "Cowboys vs. East Indians" and "Soccer Moms vs. Goth Women." On the day before the Cleveland Pride march, Vs matched up "Hooter Girls vs. Dykes on Bikes." Dykes on Bikes won, of course.

A host's Hawaiian surprise

Guest host Art Mann got a lesbian surprise when he asked a group of swimsuit-clad women about their lives as beauty pageant contestantst when E!'s Wild On went to Hawaii last week.

"I understand you two girls live together," Mann asked one pair. He almost choked when one answered, "We sleep together, too!"

Second coming out on Real World

It looks like a second roommate is coming out on MTV's Real World 8 in Hawaii. Last week, Kaia revealed her bisexual nature when she and Ruthie openly kissed in a passionate way. For the first time we don't have to watch a lesbigay roommate living alone in a house full of straights.

The E! of destruction

Join Alexis Arquette as he entertains the

introduced by his drag persona, “Eva Destruction," is the out-of-the-closet brother of actors David and Patricia Arquette. Hate crimes examined

Investigative Reports is airing a special report examining hate crimes targeting the lesbigay community on the Arts and Entertainment cable channel.

Cable TV roundup

In Thru the Out Door, a comedy sketch show featuring all lesbigay comics, Out at Work, a documentary about discrimination faced by lesbians and gays in the work place, gay, HIV-positive comic Steve Moore's Drop Dead Gorgeous (A TragiComedy), The Power of HIV-Positive Thinking and Ellen

DeGeneres Presents Trevor are all making the rounds on cable TV. Plus, there's a gay couple on the new cable series Beggars and Choosers now airing on Showtime.

lesbigay and transgender club kids inside Ministering to "the lifestyle"

Makeup, one of Tinseltown's hottest nightspots, on Hollywood Nights, a special now airing on E!

In case you didn't know it, Arquette; who told the Makeup audience he would rather be

Curbside

Sonally 1999 BY ROBERT KIRBY

REW'S GOT A BIT OF GOOD NEWS.

We are pleased to inform you that your story, “A Spy in the House of Sex," has been selected for inclusion in our upcoming anthology, Hottest Gay Erotica of 2000...

I'M So GREAT!

BABY, IT'S YOUR WORLD, WE JUST LIVE IN IT!

READING IT FOR THE

100th TIME

NOW, NATHAN, I WOULDN'T GO THAT FAR....! BUT I WILL SAY THAT MY SPOOF OF 60s|| SPY MOVIES AND 70'S KUNG FU FLICKS, STARRING STONE CHAN, BOY ASS-KICKER, MAY WELL TURN INTO A WHOLE SERIES OF ACTION-PACKED

EROTIC ADVENTURES !!

SWELLING HEAD FX COURTESY INDUSTRIAL LIGHT

MAGICT

Michael Oatman, a staff writer for the new Cleveland African-American paper City News, was pretty direct in his questions when he recently interviewed the Rev. Floyd Flake,

a former Congressmember turned author, about his views on a number of social and political issues.

When asked "What is your stand on homosexuality?" Rev. Flake, senior pastor of the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City, responded, "Homosexuals are persons who need ministering to like any other human being. I don't embrace the lifestyle."

Oatman then asked, “Are homosexuals welcome in your church?" to which Rev. Flake replied, "Very much so. I have had homosexuals work for me. I have had homosexuals in just about every organization that I have been part of."

Gaywaves on the web

Finally, my "Gaywaves" radio show, and all the fine shows on WRUW 91.1 FM, are now available on the web at http:// radio.cwru.edu.

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

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BY ROBERT KIRBY

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