July 14, 2000 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

on the airoff the press

Sharon Stone to reprise her role in ‘Basic Instinct'

by John Graves

Actress Sharon Stone has agreed to replay her bisexual character in the sequel to her 1992 hit film Basic Instinct. According to Variety, the original film's male lead Michael Douglas, director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas will not be involved in the production of Basic Instinct 2, which is expected to be released in late 2001 or early 2002.

I dream of Steve, and Liv

Remember when I told you about Rebecca Romijn-Stamos talking about her roommate licking whipped cream off her body one night when she lived in the harem of the Sultan of Brunei on E!'s True Hollywood Story?

Well, more recently, the actress and former model revealed a little more of her bisexual nature in an interview in the July issue of the (straight) men's magazine Maxim.

Asked if she ever had a dream about another celebrity, Romijn-Stamos replied, "My first sex dream was about Steve Martin. It was right after I saw Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid and I was really smitten with him. And I just had one the other night about [actress] Liv Tyler. It wasn't a sex dream, but we were, like, really in love living together in San Francisco. Then one morning she was gone and I was devastated. And I've never even met Liv Tyler."

A small item yes, but the Globe supermarket tabloid blew it up into a big story of how Romijn-Stamos' husband, actor John Stamos, was freaking out about the disclosure under the headline "Full House hunk's LESBIAN nightmare."

Sinead only loved one woman

Pop star Sinead O'Connor continues to put spin control on her declaration to Curve that she is, and always has been, a lesbian.

According to a report by Elysa Gardner in USA Today, O'Connor said she wanted to "set the record straight-no pun intended" when the Irish newspaper The Sunday Independent asked her to clarify her sexual orientation.

O'Connor's letter to the Independent's editors said: "That I have explored my sexuality is accurate and I have no shame about that and would, if I fell in love with a woman, have as few qualms about expressing it as if I were a man. I have only ever been in love with one woman.

"One other, years ago when I was 20, I simply slept with selfishly for exploratory purposes. Though of course I loved her, I was not, as they say, 'in love' with her. The one I was in love with was a brief relationship conducted more recently with a lovely American woman who was an angel to me, and saved my life in many ways and to whom I owe a very great debt of love and gratitude. And whom I still adore.

"Although we are no longer a couple, I love her deeply. These are the only homosexual experiences I have had so far. Of perhaps thirty people I have been with since eleven years of age, two have been women, the rest men. I am rarely attracted to women but loved making love with the women I loved...I believe it was overcompensating of me to declare myself a lesbian. It was not a publicity stunt. I was trying to make someone else feel better. And have subsequently caused pain for myself. I am not in a box of any description."

Girly action for Britney Spears?

Meanwhile, the Advocate reports that when a reporter asked Britney Spears if she was bisexual at a May 17 press conference in Montreal, the pop star's publicist grabbed the microphone and declared, "It's hard enough to be 18!”

Spears sings the words, "I can't get no girly action" in the old Rolling Stones hit "Satisfaction," one of the songs on her CD Oops! I Did It Again. Ask your local radio DJ to play the song. Maybe we have the making

of another hit like “I Kissed a Girl" by bisexual rocker Jill Sobule.

Gay 'Survivor' sues police

Openly gay father and Survivor contestant Richard Hatch is suing the state of Rhode Island and the Middletown police for violating his civil rights by releasing details of his April arrest on child abuse charges to the National Enquirer.

The allegations have continued to appear in stories about the hit show in the Enquirer and other tabloids. According to USA Today, Hatch, who was arrested two days after he returned from Survivor for allegedly forcing his son to run six miles, is also accusing the state of emotionally abusing his adopted son by removing the child from his home.

The judge in the case found that no crime had been committed and returned Hatch's son to his custody.

It's not a phase, it's a craze

Speaking of the infamous National Enquirer, the tabloid ran a four-page "Special Report" under the banner GAY CRAZE SWEEPING HOLLYWOOD: Who's gay, who's not and who's undecided" in its July 4 issue.

The report goes on to say "Hollywood is flooding America with movies and TV shows reflecting their real-life gay craze."

What follows is, for a tabloid, a surprisingly mild report on real-life coming out stories, upcoming lesbigay films and, of course, celebrities caught smooching. The article concludes with the question, “Will gay chic sweep the country like other Hollywood fads or will it just be kissed off? ‘Is it just Hollywood?' asks Cher's daughter [Chastity Bono]. "The answer is yet to come?."

Steve Spurgeon of GLAAD, the gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation weighs in, along with an "ex-gay,” and a poll asks readers to say "yes" or "no" to the "gay craze." Give it a try. The Enquirer says it will publish the results of the poll in a future issue. I wonder what would happen if, for once, they got a huge pro-gay response. Write to Hollywood Poll, National Enquirer, Lantana, Fla. 33464-0002 or reply on their web site at www.poll@nationalenquirer.com. Fox won't apologize to worker

California Labor Commissioner Arthur Lujan is suing 20th Century Fox for allegedly ignoring an order to post a public apology letter to an ex-employee for discriminating against him because he is gay.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Lujan

contends Fox did not post the apology and has not stopped discriminating against gay employees.

A labor board investigation found that Fox executives discriminated against Randy Stone, an openly gay former senior vice president for the studio's Talent and Casting Network Television division.

Lujan said that Stone filed a complaint in 1998 that claimed that, beginning in 1997, Fox President Sandy Grushow humiliated him and made remarks about his homosexuality.

Lujan's suit says that the Department of Industrial Relations substantiated Stone's claims and ordered Fox to stop all discriminatory remarks and actions toward employees because of their sexual orientation and issue an apology letter to be posted for 30 consecutive days.

What a something-something!

The notoriously homophobic American Family Association wants CBS news anchor Bryant Gumbel to apologize for making a profane comment about the head of another anti-gay group.

Gumbel had a tense interview June 29 with Robert Knight of the Family Research Council, who supported a Supreme Court decision the day before to allowing the Boy Scouts of America to exclude gays.

After he ended the interview and a weather report began, the camera inadvertently switched back to Gumbel getting up from his chair.

Gumbel said, "What a -" and the audio went off, but he could be seen saying two more words before the camera went back to the weather report.

Reading Gumbel's lips, Knight believes the other two words were "fucking idiot." A videotape seems to support this.

The AFA wanted Gumbel fired, but Knight said he'd just like an apology.

CBS didn't apologize. "He was making a casual remark of some sort, but it is unclear what the comment was and, in any case, it bears no relevance to the content of the Early Show," the network said in a statement.

A conservative web site pointed out that the comment may have been meant for weathercaster Mark McEwen, who at the time was bragging about correctly guessing the next person to leave the CBS show Survivor.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, an LGBT public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.

Do you feel like you are treading water through life's emotions?

There's help.

▼ Access Behavioral Care ▼

Individual & Couple Therapy Psychiatric Medication Management Preferred Providers for Most Health Plans

West

3 Locations to Serve You

(440) 777-7574 25221 Country Club Blvd. #201 North Olmsted

They don't want you to

"Be prepared." We insist on it.

4-wheel anti-lock brakes Dual front air bags

Head and chest side air bags* Saab Active Head Restraint system Safety cage construction Exceptional road feel

Active and passive safety features

* front seats only

10299 Shaker Blvd.

East

(216) 295-9295 20600 Chagrin Blvd. #950 Shaker Heights

Lake County

(440) 974-9974

7200 Center St #100

SHAKER

SAAB

The 2000 Saab 95 Aero Sedan

(216) 231-SAAB