February 13, 2004 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

on the airoff the press

ESPN cancels show after NFL objects to gay characters

by John Graves

ESPN has announced that despite high ratings, it has pulled the plug on Playmakers, the all-sports cable network's first-ever dramatic series.

Playmakers was canceled partly because of the NFL's objections over what it describes as negative portrayals of football players involved in criminal activity and homosexuality. The show features David Petronijevic as Thad Guerwitcz, a closeted gay pro football player in the process of being outed.

"Many considerations contributed o the decision, not the least of which was reaction from the NFL," ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro told USA Today sports columnist Rudy Martzke.

"The series was an unqualified hit for the network and it clearly resonated with our viewers. At the same time," he added, "we're not in the business of antagonizing one of our more important partners. There was no point in rubbing their noses in it."

"It was an ESPN decision and now we can all move on," NFL vice president Greg Aiello told Martzke, adding. "We're looking forward to Sunday night's Pro Bowl (broadcast on ESPN) and another great season with ESPN in 2004."

ESPN spokesperson Josh Krulewitz dashed any hopes the show might appear on another channel telling Martzke that it "is our series and as a result it will not air elsewhere."

Show pays off 'duped' men

Some of the contestants on There's Something About Miriam, a British show billed as a reality dating game with a "difference," have been paid an undisclosed sum after they complained they were duped after they found out Miriam, the target of their amorous pursuits, was transsexual. Gay.com's Ben Townley says the six male contestants received the settlement after they claimed they would suffer emotional distress if the show was aired as planned on the satellite channel Sky TV.

The show has also come under fire from transsexual groups in the U.K. who complained that it painted an unflattering picture of transsexuals, and that they were concerned that the show could have a negative affect on how the general public perceived transsexual people.

Although Sky and production company Brighter Pictures confirmed the payouts and issued apologies to the contestants, the show may still air in the U.K. later this month. DeCaro now on satellite radio

Sirius Satellite Radio announced on February 3 that openly gay journalist, author, performer and television film critic Frank DeCaro will host his own eponymous show on Sirius OutQ, the nation's only, full-time gay and lesbian radio outlet.

DeCaro is best known as Comedy Central's "Out at the Movies" film critiques for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

"Two-and-a-half minutes every two weeks on The Daily Show was fun," he says, “but three hours a night on Sirius OutQ is groovilicious.

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The Frank DeCaro Show can be heard on Sirius OutQ live from 10 pm to 1 am Monday through Friday.

'L Word' gets fast renewal

Although it only began airing a few weeks ago, Showtime announced January 29 that it has renewed its brand-new, lesbian-themed series The L Word for a second season, the fastest-ever renewal for a Showtime series.

In a statement announcing the cable network's decision, Showtime president Robert Greenblatt said, “We already have 14 episodes completed, so we've seen the strong future of the series, and with its provocative storytelling, rich character development, amazing cast and universal appeal, the decision to renew The L Word was a no-brainer."

The one-hour drama, which airs on Showtime Sunday at 10 pm, has an ensemble cast that includes Jennifer Beals, Pam Grier and now, according to my friend Kim Jones, Melissa Etheridge's new spouse Tammy Lynn Etheridge-Michaels.

Norton to have U.S. show

Graham Norton, the openly gay host of the British talk show So Graham Norton which airs on BBC America here, has recently signed to tape a U.S. version of his show to begin airing on Comedy Central in June, TV Guide reported.

As complicated as a soap opera

Lesbian love is starting to get complicated on All My Children.

Following the New Year's Eve kiss between Bianca and Lena, Maggie suddenly grabbed Bianca in early February and gave her a passionate kiss when she found out Bianca and Lena were about to leave Pine Valley to keep Bianca's pregnancy secret from Erica.

When Bianca then demanded she and Maggie talk about the kiss however, they were interrupted by Lena, and Maggie, confused by her feelings, ran off and had "panic sex" with Tad's son in the back of Adam Sandler's limo.

How this situation will develop remains to be seen as Adam discovered the two in his limo in their state of undress and promptly had them arrested for trespassing while Bianca's storyline for the week had her admitting her pregnancy to her mother.

Soap Opera Digest reports that All My Children will compete for honors with sister show One Life to Live at the Writer's Guild of

America Awards on February 21. All My Children was nominated for two episodes dealing with Bianca's rape: the episode when Bianca decided o terminate her pregnancy and a second episode where Bianca told Kendall she decided not to go through with the abortion. One Life to Live was nominated Marcie's hazing on the July 4 episode and a September 2 episode featuring Melissa Etheridge's music.

Ready for prime time

There are so many LGBT storylines on prime-time TV dramas that some catching up is in order.

The lack of legal protections for LGBT families was highlighted on the February 4 episode of Law & Order. A woman convicted of murdering her former partner because she was not allowed to see the child the two had adopted. Only one partner had been allowed to adopt the child under Florida's homophobic adoption laws. All through the trial prosecutors argued that the other partner had no standing to claim parenthood under either New York or Florida law.

A gay cop on The District died after being injured in the line of duty when his fellow officer balked at giving the man CPR because he was afraid he might get AIDS, just because the injured man was gay. When the cop finally admitted to Chief Mannion what he had done, he pleaded to be allowed to finish his

shift. Mannion, saying the dead cop had no more shifts to finish, demanded the officer's badge and gun on the spot.

Jamie and his closeted gay friend Wilson on Hack were beaten after visiting a gay bar by assailants who believed they were a gay couple. It seems Wilson had gone to the bar to liquor up enough to come out to Jamie, who told Wilson he felt a little deceived and wanted to know why he hadn't come out soonerlike when they were picking up girls in college. When Wilson returns to the area sometime later, he meets a man he recognizes as his assailant and is murdered by the man. Hack, who has also been sniffing around the case, determines that the murderer is actually the cop assigned to the case, a self-hating closet case who cruised the parks for anonymous sex with other men.

And, over on NBC's ER, lesbian doctor and new mom Kerry Weaver dedicated a new wing of the hospital for the care of the LGBT community, ironically built with money left by the late, homophobic Dr. Ray Romano. As one of the ER staffers pointed out, "Revenge is best when served cold." up

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 1:30 pm, and at www.wruw.org.

Two books ensure Rustin's place in history

Lost Prophet

The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio

Free Press, $35 hardcover Time on Two Crosses The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin

Devon W. Carbado and Donald Weise, editors Cleis, $16.95 trade paperback by Anthony Glassman

When one thinks about same-gender loving African Americans, the famous names of Audre Lorde, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Bill T. Jones immediately spring to mind.

When thoughts turn to the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and A. Philip Randolph loom large, bringing up images of bus boycotts, marches in Washington and black power salutes.

It might seem that, Coretta Scott King's vocal support of gay equal rights aside, the two worlds are quite distinct and separate. That impression, however, is false. There is one nexus where the two worlds not only met, but history was formed.

There is one man who, had he accepted his lot in life, had he refrained from fighting, half the names connected with the civil rights movement may have been but footnotes in history.

That man was Bayard Rustin, subject of Brother Outsider, a documentary released last year. Two recently published books examine his life, one from the outside and one from within.

Rustin was, by all accounts, a remarkable man. Born to a teenaged mother, his father abandoned the girl when she got pregnant. Her parents, Bayard's grandparents, raised him as their own, and until adolescence, Rustin believed that his mother was really his sister. Growing up in West Chester, Pennsylvania, he came in contact with the Quaker aversion to violence and war, and was sent to prison for refusing any form of military service, including civilian work for the government during World War II.

A brief flirtation with Communism ended when the American party shifted its focus away from racial justice after Germany in-

vaded the Soviet Union.

He was one of the founders of the Congress of Racial Equality, and participated in “freedom rides" throughout the country to determine if interstate bus lines were complying with a Supreme

Court ruling that threw out segregated seating for passengers with interstate tickets--an exercise that resulted in a stint on a North Carolina chain gang.

as

through its documents and collecting interviews with people who knew him, provides the more objective, analytical look at the man. D'Emilio, known as a leading light in the field of gay history and studies, delves into both the

TIME OWO CROSSES THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF

BAYARD RUSTIN

Solled by Dean M. Faradza

Despite his imprisonment. shown in both Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, edited by Devon W. Carbado and Donald Weise. and Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio, his commitment both to Gandhian non-violence and racial justice were never shaken.

After Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger, Rustin was dispatched to Montgomery, Alabama, where he was influential in the bus strikes there. He worked closely with Rev. Martin Luther King, instructing the young leader on the ways of nonviolence and helping to build a move-

ment.

reality and the myth of Bayard Rustin, who was a consummate professional at disseminating half-truths about himself and letting others' perceptions of him stand without correction.

The lies were small, generally designed to garner more respect from others, and they served their purpose well. Those who knew him, even those occasionally at loggerheads with him, remembered him fondly as a fiery speaker who could walk into a room of strangers and leave behind a functioning organization, dedicated to civil rights.

Lost Prophet

The Life and Times

During this time, some of their colleagues began spreading rumors about Rustin's sexual orientation, which he never denied but kept quiet nevertheless. Attempts to silence Rustin or exile him from the inner circles were never quite successful, but they did result in keeping him more in the background of the civil rights movement.

The 1963 March on Washington is a prime example. Rustin, under A. Philip Randolph, was one of the main organizers of the event. Randolph served more as the name and Rustin as the brawn and brains to deflect criticism about Rustin's sexual orientation.

When the history books were being written, it was Randolph's name that was remembered and not Rustin's, an egregious omission which historians are now remedying. Lost Prophet, in examining Rustin's life

of Bayard Rustin

JOHN DEMILIO

Time on Two Crosses, on the other hand, is solely what was put forward by Rustin himself, but provides as valuable a tool in studying the life of a man now gone. In reading what Rustin wrote, it is possible to see the gradual shifts in his thinking, in his beliefs. One can

see his move towards working for equality based also on sexual orientation, his relationships with some of the pivotal figures of the middle decades of the century. His reports on King, Malcolm X and many other figures who were so central to the civil rights movement are remarkable.

The book also contains a detailed report by Rustin on the series of "freedom rides" organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, as well as his own account of his work at a prison camp that resulted from the freedom rides.

With the help of these two books, perhaps history will finally put Bayard Rustin in the place he earned through decades of service to mankind, and hopefully lead some to realize just how connected the civil rights and the gay rights movements really are.