WWW.JANISIAN.COM
September 26, 2003
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
eveningsout
Janis lan and Patricia Snyder tie the knot
by John Graves
Folk singer-songwriter Janis Ian and Patricia Snyder, her partner of 14 years, took advantage of the recent Ontario court decision allowing same-sex weddings and got married in Toronto on August 27. It was the second marriage for both women.
Patricia Snyder and Janis lan
Colin Campbell, who covered the nuptials for the New York Times, says that lan and Snyder, a criminal defense lawyer, did not realize they were becoming a couple in 1989 until one November evening a few weeks after they met, when Snyder mentioned the word date.
Ian told Snyder, "How could this be a date? You didn't bring flowers." Campbell says Snyder then picked up a leaf and gave it to Ian.
"That's when I knew," Ian said, noting that she has known she was gay since the age of 9. Ian divorced her husband in 1986 when "he gave me a semiautomatic assault rifle for my birthday."
Ian and Snyder once registered as domes-
charlie's calendar
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Friday to Sunday, October 10 to 12
Load the Boat Fly-in, weekend of square dancing fun sponsored by Cleveland City Country Dancers, optional brunch cruise and dancing aboard the Nautica Queen, Cleveland, 216221-6025, www.iagscd.org/cccd.
Saturday, October 11
National Coming Out Day
Coming Out Day Prayer Breakfast, seventh annual event sponsored by Eternal Joy MCC, featuring Rev. Dr. John McNeil, a retired Roman Catholic priest, speaking about gratitude, 9 am, $20, Schuster Performing Arts Center, Second and Main St., Dayton, 937-254-2087. Poseidon Adventure Brunch and Cruise aboard the Nautica Queen, part of the Cleveland City Country Dancers' Load the Boat flyin, loading time 10 am, departure 11 am, chemical-free environment, $30, 216-221-6025, www.iagsdc.org/cccd.
Before Night Falls, screening of biopic vabout gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, part of the Cleveland Public Library's celebration of Latino Heritage Month, 2 pm, Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium, East 6th St. and Superior Ave, Cleveland, 216-263-2869.
Coming Out Day Interfaith Wership, sponsored by the GLBTS Interfaith Clergy Network of the Cincinnati Region, 4 pm, St. John UCC, 520 Fairfield Ave, Bellevue, Ky. (Cincinnati), 859-261-2066, stjohnrev@aol.com.
tic partners in Provincetown, Mass., but decided against a commitment ceremony because, as lan said, "If it's not going to give us any rights, what's the point?"
The two women were married in a brief ceremony led by the Rev. Malcolm Sinclair, a minister of the United Church of Canada. The ceremony was held "in the tidy, uncrowded wedding chapel at City Hall in Toronto.
Etheridge and Michaels exchange vows
Über-out singer Melissa Etheridge exchanged vows with her girlfriend, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, in a ceremony in Malibu, California over the September 19 weekend.
"We are so grateful for the blessings from our friends and family as we commence our
vows and begin the rest of our lives together," the couple said in a statement Sunday.
Etheridge, 41, and Michaels, 28, met two years ago. They live in Southern California with Etheridge's daughter and son. She shares custody of the children with former lover Julie Cypher, who had the children through artificial insemination sperm donated by rocker David Crosby.
Tab Hunter comes out
Actor Tab Hunter, who won many a teenage girl's heart in the 1950s with such films as Damn Yankees and Battle Cry, has come out of the closet as a gay man.
Hunter, who will discuss his life as a closeted gay actor in his memoirs due out in 2005, told USA Today, "For anyone curious to know my story, I wanted to be sure that they're getting it from the horse's mouth."
Deirdre McCalla in concert, with opening acts Erika and Akron's own Ingy, part of the Out in Akron Cultural Festival, 7 pm, John S. Knight Center, 77 East Mill St, Akron, 330-253-2220, www.akronpridecenter.org/pcoia.html. Coming Out Day Party, featuring lesbian trio Frozen Feet, Miss Vickie D'Salle and Antara, $6 advance, $7 door, benefits Cincinnati Pride, 9 pm, Yadda Club, 404 Pike St, Covington, Ky. (Cincinnati), 859-491-5600.
Saturday and Sunday, October 11-12
Out in Akron, LGBT cultural festival, various locations and events around Akron, 330253-2220, www.akronpridecenter.org.
Sunday, October 12
HUGS East Breakfast and Bridge Tour, breakfast followed by Ahstabula Covered Bridge Tour, Mentor area, http:// hugeast.tripod.com, 440-974-8909, hugseast@ hotmail.com.
Out in Akron Brunch, part of the Out in Akron cultural festival, featuring a yet-to-be-named author to speak and have a booksigning, $18, 11 am, Greystone Hall, 103 South High St, Akron, 330-253-2220, www.akronpride
center.org/pcoia.html.
The Sissy Show, transgendered musical for all people, performed as part of the Out in Akron cultural festival, 2 pm, $10, Greystone Hall, 103 South High St, Akron, 330-253-2220, www.akronpridecenter.org/pcoia.html. Installation of Kurt Wieser, as pastor of Liberation UCC, reception follows, 3 pm, Liberation, 13714 Madison Ave, Lakewood (Cleveland), 216-521-5556.
Cabaret Q, the Out in Akron cultural festival talent show, 7 pm, Greystone Hall, 103 South High St, Akron, 330-253-2220, www.akron pridecenter.org/pcoia.html.
Compiled by Anthony Glassman
Tab Hunter
The other side of Boy Meets Boy
James Getzlaff, the 33-year-old openly gay human resources coordinator from Los Ángeles, proved his gaydar was in good working order when he picked a gay man on Boy Meets Boy, Bravo's dating show in which a gay man must choose a date from a whole group of eligible males with the twist that some of the prospective dates are actually straight.
By correctly choosing a gay man, Getzlaff won $25,000 and a vacation trip to New Zealand, which he and his chosen mate, Wes Culwell, will take next March.
"I wouldn't call us boyfriends, but we see each other about every other week," Getzlaff said when Us Weekly interviewed the two and asked if they were still together after the show completed taping last May.
Asked why he chose Wes, Getzlaff said, "I figured Franklin [one of the three finalists] for the straight one, and I had the most chemistry with Wes."
Did he have an inkling some of the guys were straight while the show was being taped? "Not at all," Getzlaff said. "I was told everyone was gay, so I didn't question it. When I found out I was like, 'What? What?' '
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Getzlaff said he hasn't hung out with any of the straight contestants from the show since it ended saying, "There's no animosity, but I hold my friends to really high standards, and a friendship can't start on deceit and lies."
Even Jack is a positive influence
Richard Harris, a psychology professor at Kansas State University, polled "about 200 relatively sheltered rural Kansas college students" who had almost no contact with lesbian and gay people to see if positive TV portrayals had affected their attitudes.
When Harris first asked one of three groups of students in the study to think of a gay or lesbian character on TV who was portrayed in a positive light, 28 percent chose Will from Will and Grace, 18 percent picked Ellen DeGeneres, 9 percent chose Jack from Will and Grace, and the rest selected various other characters.
Students in the study, reported on Wired.com, were then to rate the characters on a scale of one to seven on such things as whether or not they thought the characters were serious or funny, responsible or irresponsible, moral or immoral.
Harris then asked the study participants to rate themselves on a series of 40 statements on their attitudes toward gays and lesbians such as: "I think male homosexuals are disgusting," or "male homosexuality is merely a different kind of lifestyle that should not be condemned."
Harris found that after considering lesbian and gay portrayals they perceived to be positive, the study participants' "attitudes toward gay and lesbian people were significantly more positive than a control group and another group that were asked to consider a
character that they thought was portrayed negatively."
Pay-per-gay
DirecTV digital satellite-television service is about to launch Here! Pay Per View, the nation's first channel aimed exclusively at the gay and lesbian market.
Here will be a movies-only channel available to subscribers of DirecTV who will be able to select from a rotating list of four to six new films a month. The channel was created and financed by filmmakers Paul Colichman and Stephen J. Jarchow through their film company Regent Entertainment.
Colichman told the Boston Globe's Suzanne Ryan they hope to expand beyond DirecTV within six months and have Here listed as a pay-per-view or video-on-demand service on cable systems nationwide.
Queer Eye's new suit
Blair Boone, the African-American culture guy in the original cast of the TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the show's producers.
Boone is claiming breach of contract after he was replaced after two episodes by actor Jai Rodriguez.
Gay.com's Ari Bendersky says Boone, who left his full-time job as ad manager and writer for the gay magazine MetroSource, is suing the producers, Queer Eye LLC, for $105,000.
Boone said that after two episodes, the producers called him to a meeting and told him that the role of culture vulture would take a different slant and that his services were no longer needed.
Boone noted, "In the beginning, it was surprising and a blow, I'd spent a month working with producers and the ther cast members). I left a full-time position for the next year, and there was a lot riding on it. It was a big disappointment."
Queer Eye LLC issued a statement that read, "The lawsuit has no basis. We intend to defend ourselves against these unfair and groundless allegations."
Although Boone was paid $6,000 for his two appearances, his lawsuit claims he is owed money for the full, 35-episode season. Boone's attorney, Ariel Berschadsky, said Boone and Scout Productions had entered into a one-year contract.
Gay Games to be broadcast in Canada
The Gay Games will be broadcast live for the first time by a national television network after the Montreal organizing committee for the 2006 games signed an agreement with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC will show the opening and closing ceremonies live and to produce daily one-hour specials on the athletic events during the eight-day games, to be held in Montreal July 29 to August 5, 2006.
Jean-Pierre O'Brien of 365gay.com says the CBC's French language network will broadcast games across Canada, and will be made available on satellite around the world. The CBC will also provide network radio coverage along with web specials.
The Montreal event, called Rendez-Vous Montreal 2006, has also received funding from the city, provincial and Canadian governments."
Participants are expected from more than 100 countries and will compete in 30 sporting events. Organizers anticipate over 250,000 visitors will attend the Montreal Games, which are expected to generate around $200 million for the local economy.
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 Saturdays at 9 am, and at www.wruw.org. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.
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