May 24, 2002 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

on the airoff the press

Reality TV's latest: Gay men make over straight men

by John Graves

Cable's Bravo channel may air a new reality-genre show called The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as early as next fall. In the show, according to the producers' casting notice, "five fabulously trendy gay men" make over a "crude and uncultured" straight man into "a hip and happening Renaissance man."

The New York Times quotes the casting notice, "All must have a great sense of personal style with an organic sense of humor that is quick, clever and witty. Queer yes, camp not necessarily. Professionals first, gay second. Not looking to fill stereotypes . .

Nevertheless, GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is concerned about the possibility the show may reinforce stereotypes about gay men.

"It's obvious to say that this would cause concern about stereotypical representation,” said GLAAD's Cathy Renna.

Bravo's Frances Berwick countered, "l guess there's an undercurrent of stereotyping because the essential premise is that we'll take five gay men who have style and one straight man who doesn't, but I think that's where the stereotyping ends."

Ed Peselman, creative director of Queer Eye's Scout Productions, opined, "It isn't going to be anything that a GLAAD would protest against; it's informative. As a straight man myself, I can tell you there are a lot of comedic elements in making fun of straight guys. It's not long before we'll become the butt of all jokes, and rightfully so." Exit closet, pick up awards

Outgoing talk-show host and newly-out lesbian Rosie O'Donnell, who hosted the Survivor 4 reunion show on CBS May 19,

Rosie O'Donnell

won her sixth-straight Daytime Emmy for best talk show host. Her show, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, garnered a fifth Emmy for best talk show at the 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in New York's Madison Square Garden May 17.

Meanwhile, O'Donnell has been selected to receive the 2002 Montblanc Arts Patronage Award for her support of Broadway and live theater. In announcing the award, Lord Charles Douro, chairman of the Montblanc Cultural Foundation which gives awards to 10 patrons of the arts in 10 different countries each year, said, "Ms. O'Donnell's nationwide call to experience the theater has given new life to a corner of American culture that badly need help.”

Look for O'Donnell to participate in My Family is Different, a 30-minute special about families with same-sex parents that Linda Ellerbee is producing for Nickelodeon's Nick News for kids. At press time, no airdate has been set for the 30-minute special.

Ellen gets canceled, again

CBS has finally pulled the plug on The Ellen Show, Ellen DeGeneres' struggling sitcom, leaving the openly lesbian comic free for the syndicated talk and variety show she signed up for with Warner Bros. Domestic Television a few weeks ago.

"I am watching Jerry Springer a lot, and I think I am going more in that vein,” DeGeneres told People magazine's Ericka Souter about her preparations for her new show, still tentatively scheduled to debut in fall 2003.

"But," DeGeneres added, "the biggest decision right now is between a desk (like David Letterman's) or no desk (like Ricki Lake)."

Souter asked DeGeneres how she planned to handle the demands of superstars Cher, Celine Dion and Mary J. Blige on her upcoming stint as the guest host of the VH-1 Divas Las Vegas concert, which aired May 23.

"Actually, I am trying to become one so I can understand them more,' DeGeneres quipped. "I am pretty easygoing, but that night I'm asking for ice-a lot of ice--a wide-tooth comb and three bottles of conditioner. There is no specific reason, but I better get it or I'm not coming out of my dressing room.”

The early days

In another report, gay British actor Rupert

thing or define anything. They just sort of go along with the status quo. It's the Elmers of the world who need to be accepted and cherished, because they are the thinkers, the dreamers, the artists that make the world a better place."

Fierstein said he decided to turn his rather gay retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson classic The Ugly Duckling into a children's book after meeting kids living at New York City's Gramercy Residence for youths who were kicked out of their homes after their parents found out they were gay.

"People say to me: Why are you always harping on prejudice and bigotry? It's not that big a part of the world." But, Fierstein added, we "need a home for children thrown out by their parents because they were gayand you're going to tell me prejudice isn't a problem?"

Everett, currently costarring with Dame Judi 'Nightline' gay series finally airs

Dench in a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, tells Souter, "My first job working in the theater was sweeping and taking the ticket stubs on Judi and Ian McKellan's production of Macbeth.” Recalling that 1977 production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Everett, who was 17 at the time, says, "I used to kneel by the side of the stage, and Judi would come up with these voodoo dolls [used in the Royal Shakespeare production] and she would give me the dolls. I would put them on her dressing-room table and say, 'There you are, Miss Dench.' That was really one of the high points of my career: being able to hold her voodoo dolls."

Is there something we should know?

Mira Sorvino's parents went into a bit of "gay panic" over the Oscar-winning actress close ties with the lesbigay community while she was still in school.

"When I was a teenager." Sorvino told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "I used to be so passionately defensive of my gay friends and of gay rights that one day my father [actor Paul Sorvino] pulled me aside and said, 'Mira. do you have something to tell us?

Dressing Stamos

Talking about the unexpected demands of his new role as the cross-dressing emcee in the Broadway revival of Cabaret, actor John Stamos told People magazine. "The first thing I heard was, 'We have to pluck you, wax you, shave and dye you.' That was my introduction. but this is theater. I said 'I'll do it.' That was before the high heels and the nipple rouge."

When asked how his wife, actress Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, handled his new role, Stamos quipped, "I wear dresses on the weekends at home so that part didn't faze her." Fierstein writes kids' book

Gay actor, writer and activist Harvey Fierstein has turned his Sissy Duckling into a colorful picture book for children age 5 and up. It is the story of a young duckling named Elmer who is perceived as a sissy by his father, is mocked by a bully duck named Drake and is shunned by the other ducks until he rescues his father and becomes a hero. Fierstein originally created Sissy Duckling as an animated feature, which aired on HBO's now defunct childrens' series Happily Ever After.

"It's not the Drakes of the world that make the world a better place," Fierstein told USA Today's Ayesha Court, "They don't invent anything or create anything or change any-

After being postponed twice for the September 11 attacks and this spring's violence in the Middle East, ABC's Nightline started airing its five-part series on gay Middle America on May 20.

The series, "A Matter of Choice?" brought immediate statements from GLAAD and other critics in the gay community for the title, which runs counter to current research on homosexuality.

The shows themselves, however, shed light on less-known gay lives, bringing praise from some of the same people who had earlier criticized the program.

The first night, for example, looked at a Bradenton, Fla. retirement community for gay and lesbian senior citizens. It was followed by shows dealing with gay youth and the opinions of religious leaders in Roanoke, Va., where a man walked into a gay bar and shot seven people in 2000, killing ope.

The series ends on May 24 with a 12 hour town hall meeting on the issue of gay men and lesbians in contemporary America. Robin Williams may play Liberace

Quills director Phillip Kaufman is working with Robin Williams to play Liberace in Kaufman's upcoming biopic of the popular pianist who became famous for his flamboyant costumed performances, and who was revealed to be gay when he died of AIDS complications in 1987.

"Robin's dying to do it," Kaufman told

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Entertainment Weekly. "Liberace was very kitschy, but America couldn't really recognize that the guy could be gay-they wanted him to marry. There's something wildly humorous about [that]."

"He was the father of every performer who started dressing up," Kaufman added, "whether it was Marilyn Manson, Elton John or Elvis Presley."

Time change on the radio dial

Finally, my radio show Gaywaves is moving a half-hour later. It now airs on on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays from 7:30 to 8 pm.

This move is to allow the show right before it, Rich Lowe's Night of the Living Dred, to expand a little bit. Lowe deserves it for all the work he has done for the station over the years, including subbing for my show when the production studio was down at times during the new, 15.000-watt power upgrade.

By the way, this year's WRUW Radiothon will be held Monday, June 10 through Sunday, June 16. Proceeds from the Radiothon will help us upgrade our studio facilities to match our new power level to bring you the very best in diverse radio programming.

Show your support for the station that has had a gay voice on Cleveland's airwaves for over 30 years, by calling the WRUW at 216368-2208 during the telethon. Show your support for Gaywaves especially by calling when it airs at 7:30 pm on June 14.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian-gay public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7:30 pm, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.

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