December 20, 2002 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

on the airoff the press

Go west, young man, go west

by John Graves

Marvel Comics' Rawhide Kid character is about to come out as a ay gunslinger in Rawhide Kid: Slap Leathe, a new series due out in February. Marvel's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada described the new series as "Go West meets the Old West," telling the New York Post, "This is going to be the first gay Western."

The Rawhide Kid was created in 1957 in an attempt to capitalize off of the TV show Rawhide. Quesada says the Kid "was always shown as a shy-around-girls kind of guy."

"Now you know why," Quesada said. Although he says the Rawhide Kid won't make any pronouncements about his sexual orientation, he says readers will "know it from the moment you see him" such as when the Kid says about the Lone Ranger, "I just want to meet him. I think that mask and powder-blue outfit are fantastic. I can certainly see why that Indian follows him around."

Later on, the Kid comments about Wild Bill Hickock, saying, "Very nice man. Bigahem I mean bigger than life."

The Rawhide Kid dresses in black leat er, white gloves and a white cowboy hat made of imported Canadian beaver, which he tells one of the bad guys, "probably costs more than your horse." Although rumors about the Rawhide Kid's coming out have been a hot topic on several comedy-oriented Web sites and some longtime fans are upset that the hero they always assumed to be straight was turning out to be gay, Quesada claims the revelation is just a way of pumping new life into the character.

"The old Rawhide Kid comics portrayed him as a very immature young man who never really had a meaningful relationship," Quesada noted.

"It's a classic Western, like Shane, but with a gay twist," writer Ron Zimmerman said. He added that, while the story has "a comedic slant," he hopes the 21st-century Kid is "an empowering character that the gay community would be able to embrace."

The Rawhide Kid's coming out was debated by guests Stan Lee, creator of SpiderMan and chairman emeritus of Marvel Comics, Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the homophobic Traditional Values Coalition, and hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on CNN's Crossfire on December 13.

Lafferty said the comic was another attempt to sexualize kids and complained the comic was filled with sexual innuendoes. Lafferty also claimed the comic's writer also writes for the notorious Howard Stern.

Lee countered this last claim by Lafferty saying, "Can I just mention that the writer of The Rawhide Kid, may be doing things with Howard Stern, but he was also one of the early producers and writers of Seventh Heaven, a show that's highly regarded by Christians and conservatives. At present he's working on developing something with Tim Allen. I mean, we are not dealing with people who aren't really good writers and ethical people."

Lee added, "The lady just said that it's aimed at kids. It's not. It's a comic book. Today comic books are read by everybody. Not just little kids."

When asked if there were any other comic book characters about to come out, Lee responded, "Well, I'm not going to get into that. But the book I mentioned years ago that I did, Sergeant Fury,... had a gay character. One member of the platoon was called, I think, Percy Pinkerton. He was gay. We didn't make a big issue of it. In this comic book that I read, the word gay wasn't even used. He's just a colorful character who follows his own different drummer. He follows a different beat. But we're not proselytizing for gayness."

GLAAD to be nominated

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has announced the nominees for the organization's 14th annual Media Award ceremonies next April.

Top film nominees include Far From

Heaven, the story of a married man coming out to his wife, and Frida, Salma Hyack's critically acclaimed portrayal of bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Other nominees in the film category include The Hours, The Rules of Attraction and Sweet Home Alabama.

Limited-release films nominated for awards include 8 Women, Borstal Boy, His Secret Life, Kissing Jessica Stein and Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Of the small screen nominees, only NBC's Will & Grace and HBO's Sex and the City were picked for the outstanding sitcom award, while cable dominated the drama series category with Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under, The Wire and The Shield taking most of the nominations.

The lone broadcast TV nominee was

runs into two of his students who had graduated 20 years earlier. Although the plot seems to reflect the problems the Catholic Church faces now, Almodovar said, "It's about love, hate and vengeance."

Saying the film is not about social commentary, Almodovar concluded, "All I would say is the best way to look at human actions is through the eyes of the heart." Monkeying around with McGillis

New on cable this month: Showtime is airing The Monkey's Mask, a film about a lesbian private eye played by Susie Porter. She has an affair with a married professor played by Kelly McGillis while searching for a young woman who was the professor's former student as well as her secret lover.

ABC's already-canceled Once and Again, The straight gay guy

which featured a teenage main character coming out as a lesbian just before the show was pulled.

HBO's The Laramie Project and NBC's The Matthew Shepard Story, a pair of TV films dealing with the gay-bashing murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, were both nominated.

Details, details

Although MTV and Showtime have played it pretty close to the vest about their plans for a new gay cable network, industry insiders say that MTV consultant Matt Farber, who has overseen the project's development, will be picked to head the new cable channel.

The new channel, which will be known as the Outlet channel, will offer a mix of lesbigay and trans-oriented films, dramas, sitcoms, reality series and game shows. Outlet will also feature reruns of Showtime's hit gay series Queer as Folk and Earthlings, a lesbian drama featuring Jennifer Beals and Pam Grier which is due to debut on Showtime next year.

Sir Queen?

Queen Elizabeth II installed British drag performer Danny La Rue as an officer in the

Danny La Rue

Order of the British Empire on November 26 to honor him for his work in raising thousands of dollars for AIDS charities.

"As far as I know, I'm the first female impersonator to be given an honor," the 75-year-old La Rue said. “I

feel 20 feet tall. I've spoken to the queen so many times and I wondered what she was going to say, and she told me what a pleasure is was for her to give me this honor." Almodovar honored

Gay Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar was named best director at the European Film Academy's annual award ceremony in Rome on December 7. Talk to Her, his new film about the relationship between two men and the comatose women they care for, was named best film.

"My films are evolving with time and becoming more openly emotional. That's a symptom of maturity, I'm afraid," Almodovar told USA Today. "I have an interest in showing men who are emotional and fragile, and one of the characters [in Talk to Her] has a strong feminine side, essentially because he spent his entire life taking care of women."

Almodovar said his next project is La Mala Educacion, a film that is "loosely based” on Almodovar's own educational experi-

ence.

"It's really the first film where I portray the school in which I studied, which was a Catholic school run by priests,” Almodovar noted, saying, “It's inspired by this very dark childhood, lived in schools where the priests often abuse children."

In La Mala Educacion, one of the priests

Former Saturday Night Live news anchor Colin Quin quipped, “Is the gay channel still around? Somebody has to play the straight gay guy. I could do that," when Us Weekly asked if he had a "plan B" if his new cable show flops.

Quinn says that he and his guests will feel free "to say things on TV that they say off TV" and that his new show, Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn, promises to be an "irreverent free-for-all" of humor mixed with commentary about current events. The show airs at 11:30 pm Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on Comedy Central following The Daily Show with Jon

Stewart.

They said what?

In response to rumors about the sexual orientation of Justin Timberlake and his N'Sync bandmates, Timberlake says, "I can honestly say that I've never seen Joey's, Lance's, JC's or Chris' penis."

Commenting on her “over-the-top” style, singer Kylie Minogue quipped, “I'm a drag queen trapped in a woman's body . . . a very short drag queen."

Inspector has two mommies

Sally Struthers and Debbie Allen will play the lesbian adoptive moms of Inspector Raina Washington, on The Division, cable network Lifetime's series about a police unit staffed mainly by women.

Washington (played by Taraji P. Henson) came out about her lesbian mothers to Captain Kate, whose own daughter had just come out as a lesbian last season while Jinny, a patrol officer played by Nancy Mckeon, has a gay brother on the force.

The two moms will show up at the station house at a crossroads in their relationship on the January 19 episode of The Division, which airs on Lifetime Sundays at 8 pm.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender 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.

You're Invited

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Zion United

Church of Christ December 24, 2002 7:30 p.m.

An Open and Affirming Congregation

Preaching

The Rev. Dr. Joyce T. Morris

Zion United Church of Christ of Tremont is located at 2716 W 14th Street in Cleveland.

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