GLAAD

on the

_____________September 22, 2000 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

off the pros

Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher call it quits

by falin Glayer

A few short weeks after Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres announced their separation, the 12-year relationship of rocker Melissa Etheridge and her partner Julie

9

yidaw

Vanessa Redgrave also won for her standout role as a lesbian widow in the HBO production If These Walls Could Talk II.

Will & Grace's supporting cast, who of, ten upstage the main characters, both won awards. Sean Hayes, who plays Will's flamboyant friend Jack, was named Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, while Megan Mullally won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Grace's wealthy, sharptongued receptionist Karen.

aad

Eric McCormack, the straight actor who plays Will, surprised the audience when he planted a big kiss on Hayes' lips during the ceremony. Hayes refuses to divulge his sexual orientation.

After accepting the award for Best Comedy Series, the show's openly gay co-executive producer Max Mutchnick looked at the statuette and exclaimed, "Oh my God, she's so beautiful. As a gay man, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I finally met a girl I want to sleep with."

Julie Cypher and Melissa Etheridge

Cypher released a statement calling it quits. The September 18 statement, which came

from Etheridge's management company, Lousy show, lousy ratings

consisted solely of one paragraph, followed by the women's names.

"With the utmost love and respect for one another, we have decided to separate. As committed parents, our top priority continues to be what is in the best interest of our children. Though elements of our lives will change, our family will always remain intact."

دو

The couple have two children, a daughter, Bailey, who is three, and 21-month-old son Beckett. Rock står David Crosby is the biological father of both children.

Jack and Karen win Emmys

Although Ellen, TV's only gay character played by an openly gay person, is no longer on the air, lesbian and gay themed programs

Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes

won big at this year's Emmy Awards.

NBC's Will & Grace, a sitcom about the close friendship between a gay man and straight woman, walked away with four of the coveted awards including Best Comedy Series.

Free Initial Consultation

After months of protest by activists offended by her derogatory comments about lesbians and gays, coupled with outspoken support by conservatives, radio host Laura Schlessinger's new Dr. Laura TV show debuted last week. The controversial show has been almost universally panned by critics.

Early Nielson returns from the first shows, which did not get into sexual orientation issues, seem to indicate that the viewing audience feels the same way. Only 2% of the viewers in 46 major cities, whose populations represent over half of the U.S. population, bothered to tune in.

According to the Los Angeles Times, that 2% rating is "below the average for programs leading into the show in those markets as well as what the same stations aver-

aged in the time slot a year ago."

The show ranked sixth among eight Los Angeles stations measured by Nielsen, viewed in 85,000 households, or 1.6% of homes in that city, which is Schlessinger's home base. Oprah Winfrey attracted almost 360,000 homes (6.7%) and Rosie O'Donnell reached 145,000 (2.7%) during the same hour.

In his review, USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco said, "Dr. Laura had better hope gay groups keep monitoring her new TV talk show. After her first five episodes, I can't imagine why anyone else would bother to watch . . . Dr. Laura is as dry, humorless and skeletal as its host. Cold and rigid, she has a tendency to send her voice soaring into an upper-register squeak, particularly when she's trying to be cute, and the faster she talks, the higher it goes.. Though the show mimics balance by including dissenting views, the debates are structured not to explore the issues, but to illustrate her views."

"Should her ratings collapse," Bianco added, "I wouldn't put it past Dr. Laura to start gay-bashing, just to stir up some interest.

Media analyst Marc Berman predicted the show's demise.

"It's a goner," he told the New York Times, saying Dr. Laura's lackluster ratings had disappointed advertisers.

Maria L. Shinn

Wills and Trusts Powers of Attorney Wrongful Death

Attorney ALLaw

Probate Administration Personal Injury Workers' Compensation

Domestic Partnership Agreements

216-228-4791

1

Cust members cominue Pedro's work

Pedro Zamora, the Cuban-born openly gay AIDS activist on the 1994 season of MTV's Real World, had a special impact on the lives of two of his former cast members, his roommate Judd Winnick and their friend Pam Ling.

According to a feature story by Marco R. della Cava in USA Today, Winnick, a cartoonist in real life, is educating people about AIDS and HIV through his illustrated memoir of 、

Pedro and

JUDD WINICK

THE

REAL WORLD

Friendship. Loss, and What I Learned

the days he

spent with Zamora on the show, Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I Learned (Henry Holt, $15).

Ling helped Winnick care for Zamora in

his last days before he succumbed to AIDS complications just after the show ended. She has completed medical school and is now involved in HIV research.

Now Ling and Winnick, who are engaged, have created the National Pedro Zamora Project to help finance AIDS education programs.

"This book is a good-faith effort to keep what Pedro started going," Winnick told USA Today. "Of all these reality shows, from Survivor to Big Brother, so far he is the only person to sign up not for personal gain, but to try to make a difference. And that certainly includes me. Pedro used to be the messenger, now he's the message."

Winnick will lecture at high schools during his book tour, and he intends to give part of the book's earnings to the foundation, and part to Zamora's family. Supporting mom's Scout decision

Over the last few months, the only thing I have had to report about the Cleveland suburban Sun newspaper chain has been the homophobic comments of columnist Powell Caesar.

Now, I am happy to say, I have something positive to say about the Sun weeklies. Advice columnist Myrna Lamb wrote one of the most gay-supportive and gay-affirming columns I have read. She was responding to a mother who asked how to tell her ten-year-old Cub Scout son why she was opposed to his joining the Boy Scouts like his friends, because of the Scouts anti-gay policies.

In her August 31 column, Lamb told the woman, whose gay brother had suffered several anti-gay attacks, "I don't believe membership in the Scouts will result your son learning prejudice. However, allowing him to join is tacit approval of their policy and a repudiation of your brother . . .

"Your son is old enough to understand that homosexuals prefer partners of their own sex, unlike Daddy and Mommy who are two different sexes. He can understand the Boy Scouts don't want members or leaders who are homosexuals.

"He'll ask you 'Why not?' You can tell him, briefly, most people are straight. Many straight people are uncomfortable with gay people. That's enough for a start. You can explain that his uncle is gay and a very good person. You can say that the Boy Scouts wouldn't let his uncle in just because he's gay. You can explain that's why you don't want him in a group that punishes people like his uncle for living their lives the way they do."

Two weeks later, Lamb defended her position to several readers who took her to task. To one

complaining reader Lamb responded, "You ask why gays would go where they aren't wanted. I remind you that once African-Americans weren't wanted in hotels, were refused service in restaurants, were forced to ride in the rear of the bus. There was a time when the Irish weren't wanted in Boston. When women weren't wanted in colleges or in Congress. There was a time when Jews weren't wanted in restricted neighborhoods. People go where they aren't wanted until unfair barriers fall."

Pedophilia in Boy Scout column

The publisher of another weekly paper, however, trotted out the red herring of pedophilia to defend the Boy Scouts' position.

Brian Tucker, publisher and editorial director of Crain's Cleveland Business, penned a September 11 column titled "Boy oh boy, how ridiculous can we get?" He decried the movement among some corporations to stop funding the Boy Scouts, or to ask United Way not to direct any of their donations there.

The companies, including Merrill Lynch, Textron, Chase Manhattan and Knight Ridder, say they can't support a group that violates their company equality policies.

"I'd suggest they honestly ask themselves if they'd want their son in a troop with a gay scoutmaster," Tucker wrote. "This is not to say that I or anyone else should hold themselves out as a judge of every gay man and whether he would be able to teach young boys to tie a square knot or identify plants and trees. Nor do I consider a man predatory simply because he's gay. I just believe the Scouts have the right to demand that their leaders have the same values as the organization itself."

"It's just another case of political correctness running amok," he concluded.

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.

KICK BACK & RELAX IN WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS -----CATERING TO GAY MEN ----Hiking • Secluded Mountaintop • Clothing Optional

Hot Tub/Pool •

ROSELAND GUEST HOUSE & CAMPGROUND

RD 1, Box 185B, Proctor WV 26055 (304) 455-3838

e-mail: roselanda revideo.com Web Site: www.rcvideo.com/roseland Cleveland 3.5 hours bis 2.5 hours

5th Anniversary Season

Charleston 2.5 hrs.