October 18, 2002 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
on the airoff the press
'Abstinence only' textbook calls gay sex 'unnatural'
by John Graves
A textbook used in "abstinence-only" sex education programs promoted by the federal government calls gay sex "unnatural behavior."
The student workbook is used in public schools nationwide as part of Sex Respect, one of the most popular "abstinence-only" programs in the nation, says Jonathan Givner, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
"Homosexual activity involves an especially high risk for AIDS infection [because] body openings are used in ways for which they are not designed," reads a passage from the textbook. "During such unnatural behaviors, additional damage is done to blood vessels and other body parts."
"This fall, hundreds of schools across the country will be teaching this dangerous and reactionary brand of sex education to teenage students," Givner says. "Rather than teaching comprehensive, fact-based, inclusive sex education that provides youth with the information they need to make informed decisions and protect themselves from STDs, schools in 49 states will be preaching one simple message: Sex is only acceptable if you are straight and married."
What is most distressing to Givner is that the federal government is pushing this kind of homophobic drivel. He says that, “Despite the fact that 'abstinence only' programs are unproven, wrongheaded, and intrinsically homophobic, they are growing in popularity across the country. In 1988, only two percent of secondary school teachers reported that their schools taught 'abstinence only' in sex education classes. By 1999, that number had increased to 23 percent. And, although the federal government has devoted over half a billion dollars to programs that preach abstinence over the past six years, President Bush is zealously pushing for a $33 million increase in funding this year."
Givner is co-author of Lambda's new publication, Tell Me the (Whole) Truth: School Supplies to Get Real Sex Education. Merchandising 'Queer as Folk'
Cable's Showtime network has begun offering items based on its hit gay show Queer as Folk. The items, available through the show's web site, queer.sho.com, include Queer as Folk Christmas cards, calendars and magnets, irreverently captioned T-shirts and frosted tumblers prominently featuring the word queer.
Applebee's says Bravo goofed
Applebee's has come under fire from the homophobic Focus on the Family organization for an ad for the restaurant chain that aired during the Bravo channel's groundbreaking documentary miniseries, Gay Weddings.
Laurie Ellison, a spokeswoman for Applebee's International, said Bravo had erred in airing the spot and that they had specifically asked that the ad not be run during the special saying, "As an advertiser, we-like most companies prefer to stay with non-controversial shows."
Ellison said Bravo had acknowledged its mistake, and said that no Applebee's ads ran during subsequent episodes. Bravo spokeswoman Caroline Bock confirmed that the cable channel erred in airing the ads.
Cathy Renna, representing the national Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defama-
Jeffrey Mostade, PCC, NCC
tion, said she was disappointed with Applebee's reluctance to advertise on the show. "This is a lost opportunity for Applebee's, not to support a show that promotes understanding," Renna noted. MTV will have AIDS Day shows
MTV is planning to hold concerts in Cape Town and Seattle to help commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1.
Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys, who will perform in the South Africa concert on November 23, told the Reuters news service, "I hope the global broadcast of the concert encourages young people to understand that HIV and AIDS is preventable."
The Seattle concert, to be held on November 7, will feature Dave Matthews and the innovative hip-hop artist Missy Elliott as the headline acts. Footage from both concerts will be blended and aired commercial-free on World AIDS Day. The World AIDS Day concert spécial is being sponsored by the Bill Gates Foundation, fellow Microsoft founder Paul Allen and Levi Strauss jeans.
"We can't change the past but we can change the future as long as we start now," Gates said, noting that up to 100 million people worldwide could be infected with HIV by 2005. Gates said southern Africa was a crucial area to concentrate on as it is one of those hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, noting, "Half of all 15 year-olds in South Africa and Zimbabwe will lose their lives to AIDS."
A spokesman for MTV, which is owned by media giant Viacom Inc, told Reuters, "It is estimated the concert will be seen by a potential global audience of more than two billion people."
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, cochairman of the International AIDS Trust, joined an informal taping of an MTV documentary at the Barcelona AIDS summit this past July. He told a youth forum that the AIDS epidemic is the world's single biggest problem barring nuclear war.
"For the first time in history, the world has to take responsibility for a global health crisis," Clinton said.
Thorson's 15 minutes of fame
The boyfriend of piano showman Liberace will be profiled on Fame for 15, a television series on the cable network TNN.
Scott Thorson moved in with Liberace when he was 17 and soon became his partner. According to Thorson, the entertainer made him have plastic surgery so that he more resembled Liberace.
Thorson had his 15 minutes of fame when he sued the flamboyantly closeted pianist for "palimony" in 1982, eventually settling for $95,000. The story is told in his 1988 book Behind the Candelabra.
Fame for 15's profile of Thorson will debut on Sunday, October 20 at 10 pm. New radio show airs
Life Outside, a new radio newsmagazine for the LGBT community, has been picked. up by two Ohio stations, one in Cleveland and one in Columbus.
The show, which originates in Chicago, airs Sundays at 11:30 pm on WNWV in Cleveland, 107.3 FM. In Columbus, it runs at 7:30 pm on Saturdays on WBCO, 1540 AM.
"Just being a gay radio program today isn't special," host Christ DeChant noted. "Life Outside is written, produced and delivered by an all-gay staff. It's up-to-date news,
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Two shows based on Wuornos case
Actress Charlize Theron has been picked to play Aileen Wuornos, the lesbian prostitute who was convicted and executed for killing several of her male clients largely based on testimony from her former lover. The movie, Monster, is being produced by MDP Worldwide.
Playing on the notoriety of the Wuornos case, described as America's worst female serial killer, NBC's Law and Order: Criminal Intent on October 13 aired a story about a young Australian lesbian involved with her American professor. Police suspected she was the killer of a number of men in her native country as payback for the sexual abuse she had suffered from her father. Rosie vs. the rumors
Former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell has been in the news a lot lately because of her rancorous split with Gruner and Jahr, the publishers of her magazine, Rosie.
O'Donnell has been sued by the publisher for breaking her contract by quitting the magazine. Their action resulted in a countersuit by O'Donnell claiming, among other things, the publishers broke their joint venture agreement. She also claims the publishers are the source of numerous tabloid stories claiming her weight had gotten out of control and that she and her partner Kelli Carpenter are on the verge of breaking up. On October 8, the National Enquirer, which had published several of the negative stories, featured an interview by Reginald Fitz in which O'Donnell angrily responded
to the tabloid reports. "My relationship with Kelli is rock-solid," O'Donnell told Fitz. "We've been together through thick and thin for five years and we'll be together for 55 more!"
She continued, "I would never announce to America I'm with the person I intend to spend my life with and then break up a month later. Don't you know anything about what I stand for and what I believe in?"
"I don't care if people say I'm 300 pounds--because I am fat," O'Donnell went on. "I don't care if they say I'm gay. I don't care if they hate my haircut. I don't care if they say I'm insane. I don't even care if they say I'm the biggest bitch that ever walked the face of the earth. But the people who say Kelli and I are breaking up are just plain full of shit and I won't put up with it! We have three children and another one on the way. This is a family, not some fly-by-night Hollywood fling. Any rumors that I'm unhappy are just not true. I left my show willingly to spend more time with my family, which is Kelli and these children, and I am ecstatically happy about it.“
"And, by the way." O'Donnell concluded. "I now weigh 212."
O'Donnell will discuss her talk show and her return to the short hairstyle she wore before she had the show, with gay fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi on cable's Oxygen channel Monday, October 21 at 10:30 pm.
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 www.wruw.org. See what's coming on TV in the Couch Potato Report, under "Entertainment" at www.lgcsc.org. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.
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