November 23, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

on the airoff the press

Marriage ban bill labeled 'as wise as washroom graffiti'

by John Graves

Former Cleveland Plain Dealer legislative reporter Thomas Suddes returned to the paper to fire a cannon blast at supporters of the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act," passed by the Ohio House on Halloween.

Suddes lambasted the 59 Republicans and 11 Democrats who voted to pass Cincinnati Republican Rep. Bill Seitz's anti-gay marriage bill. Calling it a "sop to bigotry," Suddes said that "no matter how respectfully argued, [it] is one of the cheapest shots lobbed out of Capitol Square this session."

"It's no coincidence," Suddes wrote in a November 14 guest column in the PD's oped section, "that not one black House member voted for the bill... Black Ohioans know a few things about how majorities can treat minorities."

Noting that it was "both unnecessary and mean" because Ohio law defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, Suddes said the Seitz bill was "as wise, useful and eloquent as washroom graffiti."

At least some Republicans agree. "Yeah, we piled it on," one unidentified GOP leader admitted.

Suddes wrote that State Rep. Amy Salerno of Columbus, whom he calls a "decent Republican," has the most to answer for her yes vote on the bill because she won her seat "in part by wooing gay voters."

Salerno, in order to appease what Suddes describes as a "rightist-kook GOP machine,” is "dumping the people who brought her to

the dance. There's a word for that, and it's not 'gratitude"."

Suddes reserved his final wrath for Democrats who supported the measure.

"Among the 11 Democrats allied with Seitz (besides five bumpkins and Cincinnati's two white Democrats), were three WarrenYoungstown embarrassments (seat-warmers Anthony Latell and Daniel Sferra, and apprentice seat-warmer John Boccieri) and the Corn Belt's one-term wonder, Derrick Seaver, a mistake voters will rectify in 2002.”

He ended the piece by comparing this bill to another Ohio House measure bullying Jews and Catholics, passed with Ku Klux Klan backing in 1925.

heaven by one of Willow's spells. The magic goes haywire and wipes out everyone's memories of just about everything. When the heroes regain their memories, Tara looks sadly at Willow and walks away.

As usual, Buffy creator Joss Whedon handled a serious subject, in this case an allegory to chemical dependency in gay relationships, in a mature way while looking at it through the lens of the pseudo-comedy horror genre that has made the show a success.

Look for further developments in coming weeks--but this could explain why Amber Benson, who plays Tara, never got into the opening credits.

That bill, requiring Bible readings in pub'Angels' set to fly on HBO

lic schools, was ultimately vetoed because "Republicans with a future and Democrats with principles worked together to protect Ohio's minorities-not to kick them around for cheap, shameful, sordid Election Day advantage."

Tara says goodbye

On the Nov. 13 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, lesbian couple Willow and Tara called it quits.

Tara was concerned about Willow's growing reliance on magic for solving problems (both are witches), and Willow promised to give up magic for a week to show that she could stop at any time.

Of course, the minute Tara and the rest of the gang left the house, Willow cast a spell to erase memories of wrongdoing from both Tara and Buffy, who had been yanked out of

Williams combines youth's innocence with maturity

Out There Live

Dar Williams

Razor & Tie

Reviewed by Harriet L.

Harriet L. Schwartz

More than anything else, singer and songwriter Dar Williams captures life's contradic tions; she has a keen ability to be at one with opposite forces. Williams' tremendous capacity to interpret the complexity of life is captured vividly in Out There Live, her first live album.

Vocally, Williams exudes both strength and vulnerability, and does so with the rare grace and honesty first perfected by rock icon Stevie Nicks. Though she is a very different kind of singer than Nicks beneath the notes, like Nicks, Williams can capture the innocence of youth and the wisdom of maturity all within the same song and some times even the same musical phrase "lowa" and "When I

Was A Boy" in particular, reveal Williams emotional depth.

Williams' songs offer plenty of messages for the receptive listener, however she stays off the soapbox, instead opting for humor and clever storytelling as a means to her end. Songs like "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono," "The Babysitter's Here" and "The Christians and the Pagans" beautifully cause one to smile and then to stop and think. Finally, Williams songs find their power in honesty. Williams tells the truth. Her characters live difficult lives and yet, Williams infuses a glimmer of hope her characters are doing the best they can and ultimately the world is a good place, seems to be her message in songs like "After All" and "We Learned the Sea.

Out There Live is a powerful and spirited collection of some of Williams' best songs to date. The album was recorded on her 2000 tour in support of "The Green World. Backing Williams on the live album are guitarist Steuart Smith (Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash), bassist Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie), drummer Steve Holley (Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker), and keyboard player Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny).

For more information on Dar Williams, visit www.razorandtie.com.

HBO is in the final rounds of casting for the cable version of Angels in America, Tony Kushner's critically-acclaimed 1993 epic play.

With rehearsals expected to get underway in January, Angels in America will be filmed this coming spring under the direction of Mike Nichols. Actors already signed include Al Pacino as Roy Cohn, Meryl Streep as Hannah Pitt, Emma Thompson as Angel and Jeffrey Wright reprising his Tony Awardwinning role as Belize in the original play. If he can work around his schedule as Curly in the upcoming Broadway version of Oklahoma, Patrick Wilson is likely to get the role of Joe Pitt, the sexually confused Mormon at the center of the story.

Actors wanted

Although it is Showtime's most popular original series, the cable network is having problems casting several new roles in the second season of Queer as Folk.

"We keep getting 'Not interested, not interested, not interested'," the show's executive producer Daniel Lipman said. “It's surprising, given the success of the series. I would assume, based on the great exposure and visibility and how our cast gets mobbed at events, that any young actor would want the same thing."

Lipman, with his partner of 25 years Ron Cowan, was interviewed by Philadelphia Inquirer TV columnist Gail Shister in the November 12 issue.

Although the new season of Queer as Folk has been in production for the past three months, Robert Gant was not signed to play the recurring role of Michael's (Hal Sparks) new boyfriend until a few weeks ago, Shister reported. Gant's character, a professor of gay studies at the University of Pittsburgh, will replace Chris Potter, who had only a oneyear contract to play Michael's previous flame Dave.

Lipman acknowledges that many actors balk at the show's nudity and explicit gay sexuality, but he told Shister that he has no intentions of softening the show's content.

"We don't show sex just to be naughty," Lipman said. "We try to use it to reflect the characters' emotional lives. The audience understands that."

"We get criticized for having too much sex and for not having enough frontal nudity," Lipman went on. "Go figure."

Commenting on the gay-bashing in last

star David Hedison, are dating, according to USA Today correspondent Kelly Carter (November 8) who interviewed the lesbian comic shortly after she hosted 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards show on November 4.

DeGeneres, who is moving into a new house, refused to talk about her ex, Anne Heche.

"I just want to get on with my life and be me and not half of something that used to be me," she told Carter.

DeGeneres and Hedison began dating tentatively shortly after both women broke up with their partners. They went to the celebrity-filled, post-Emmy Unity Dinner together.

DeGeneres admitted to Carter that hosting the Emmy show, postponed twice in the aftermath of the September 11 tragedy, was exhausting. However, she went on because. "I feel it was important for me to re-establish myself in the industry. I think there were probably some people on the fence [who weren't sure they] liked me any more. The last time people saw me I think they thought 'She's controversial and in our face, and this and that."

“I'm coming back and trying to do a different show." DeGeneres said, talking about her new, and so far low-rated. The Ellen Show.

"I feel like we have all the ingredients. We have this amazing restaurant. It's just not convenient," DeGeneres said, talking about the show's time slot at 8:30 pm on Fridays. "People have to really want to watch the show and make an effort to tape it or be home on Friday night, and a lot of my audience is not home on Friday night."

DeGeneres' show did pick up in the ratings after the Emmy broadcast, according to a report by Michael Schneider in Variety. It averaged 6.9 million viewers and a 2.5 rating among adults 18-49, the sitcom's best showing in its regular time period, for the first episode that aired after the Emmy show.

Just this past week, CBS announced it has picked up six more shows, thus guaranteeing The Ellen Show will be on the air for the remainder of this season.

Bridesmaid revisited

Judith Martin, who writes the syndicated "Miss Manners" etiquette column, gave a sensitive response to a woman who wanted her transgender sister to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. The reader wrote that she was running into some opposition from her mother and her fiancé.

Martin responded in her November 15 column, "For decades now, Miss Manners has been dealing with brides whose motto is, 'It's my day and I can do whatever I want,' and trying to get it through their thick veils that others' wishes and feelings must be taken into consideration."

"This may be the first time ever that Miss Manners has had to admonish a bride that she is seeking too many opinions from her relatives and wedding guests. That you want your sister to be your bridesmaid and that she wants to do this should settle the matter. How she got to be your sister is irrelevant, as is any speculation about how people will react."

season's finale that left openly gay teen JusMagazine to take activist role

tin in a hospital fighting for his life, Cowan told Shister that such violence "is a sad fact of gay life. There are people who hate you and sometimes brutalize you. This is a true reflection of certain gay people who are vulnerable to attack, such as a young man brave enough to be out and vocal." Where the music is good

"I don't mind people thinking I'm gay or calling me gay," Janet Jackson was quoted in the November 12 Us Weekly, "People are going to believe whatever they want. Yes, I hang out at gay clubs, but other clubs too. I go where the music is good."

The Emmys gave Ellen a boost

Ellen DeGeneres and Alexandra Hedison, daughter of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Ms. magazine will adopt an activist tone when it begins publishing under new ownership next year.

AP reporter Gary Gentile says that the current owners, Liberty Media for Women LLC, have agreed to transfer ownership of the 30-year-old magazine to the Feminist Majority Foundation in Los Angeles. The group is headed by Eleanor Smeal, former president of NOW, the National Organization for Women.

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, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.