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by PlanetOut, www.PlanetOut.com, a Worldwide Online Community of Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans People
Yep, "Ellen's" Over--DeGeneres
For several weeks the media have been chanting a funeral dirge for U.S. television's first series with an openly lesbian (or gay) lead-but now "Ellen" star Ellen DeGeneres has joined in: she says she's had "clear indications" the show won't be renewed for the 1997 - 98 season. In an interview with "Entertainment Tonight" taped on Feb. 20 that aired Feb. 23, when an audience member asked if this would be the show's last season, she responded, "Yes, it is. It's sad. I was very emotional yesterday and I'll be more emotional if we continue to talk about it." She said, "I'm gay, the character's gay and that's the problem everyone has with the show. It's just too controversial. Nobody wants to deal with it." Yet ABC spokespeople continue to maintain that no decision has been, nor will be made until May.
"Ellen's" ratings are down by 22% from last year, and ABC is particularly pained at the show's failure to retain the audience from its lead-in, network top performer "The Drew Carey Show." Last year, closeted "Ellen" held 92% of that audience and 87% of the coveted 18 - 49 age demographic; this year, "out" "Ellen" holds only 78% of "Drew's" audience and 76% of the 18 - 49 group. DeGeneres said in the "Entertainment Tonight" interview that it's "not the same audience. Surprise!"
The flip side is that "Ellen" continues to win its 9:30pm Wednesday timeslot, and there's a real question as to what struggling ABC-which, if the trends of the last few years continue, will be outpaced by relative newcomer FOX in the coming season-can come up with that will do as well. The network will be testing "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" in "Ellen's" slot from Mar. 11 through Apr. 15.
Come what may, beginning in Sept. there will be "Ellen" reruns dating back to the show's 1994 debut on Lifetime cable (they of the motto "Television for Women"). Lifetime picked up the syndication rights in Dec. and plans to keep "Ellen" on Wed. nights in what it's calling a "testosterone-free zone" with "Party of Five" (featuring gay violin teacher "Ross," played by an openly gay actor, Mitchell Anderson) and a newsmagazine.
Post-Maine Anti-Gay Strategy
The Christian Coalition isn't hesitating to take full credit for the repeal of civil rights protections for gays and lesbians in Maine, even though it didn't step in until late in a campaign which would have died during the signature-gathering phase were it left to its Maine affiliate-it was Michael Heath of Maine's Christian Civic League who kept the faith when the situation looked hopeless. (In fact, the repeal campaign may have done more for the Christian Coalition than the national group did for the state campaign: in the course of pushing the initiative, the Coalition claims to have identified 77,000 new supporters through 900 Maine churches.) But the national organization is definitely taking a lesson from the Maine repeal campaign's strategy, and has patterned its own plans in a similar appeal to church membership on social issues.
"Families 2000," the plan put forward during discussions recently with 65 church leaders at Coalition founder Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, sets a goal of recruiting 100,000 church liaisons -including representation in every state-by the Nov., 2000 presidential election. The effort will focus on topics including gay and lesbian civil rights, abortion, pornography, and gambling. Designated volunteers will be responsible for coordinating local Christian Coalition chapter activities with their own churches.
For this year's elections, the Coalition plans to distribute 45 million of its "voter guides" which direct conservatives to select candidates following the Coalition's "moral" agenda. Those voter guides are part of the basis for a current investigation of the group by the Internal Revenue Service for violation of its tax-exempt status and a lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission for illegal campaign contributions. Last month, the Coalition was said to be considering changing its tax category from a tax-exempt 501(c)4 to a 527(c) political action committee.
Since the departure last year of charismatic executive director Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition has lost its pre-eminent place as the religious rights' media spokesgroup, and has also suffered a serious decline in contributions. Although the Coalition notes that its gifts peak in election years, of which 1996 was one, the drop from $26.4-million then to $17-million in 1997 has distinctly weakened the group: some 20 staff have been laid off, the newsletter downgraded, and the much-ballyhooed program of outreach to ethnic minorities has been abandoned. Institution of a membership dues structure is receiving serious consideration in order to boost income.
Elizabeth Birch of the Human Rights Campaign believes the Christian Coalition is misreading the Maine election results and said of the recruitment strategy, "It is unconscionable that a group purporting to speak for Christians would embark on a systematic national campaign promoting discrimination in the trappings of faith."
Web Defense v. E-Mail Firing
A gay Massachusetts computer professional claims he lost a job after a co-worker hacked into E-mail that revealed his relationship with his domestic partner-so he's fighting back with a website. David Smith's case is a complex one involving complaints of both sexual orientation and physical disability discrimination filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, plus possible future "whistleblower" filings with the Massachusetts state Attorney General and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. His target is the State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) division of the State Street Corporation, which calls itself "the world's leading specialist in serving institutional investors" with $3.9-trillion in assets under custody and $390-billion under management. Having endeavored to keep the matter private from his August firing until he'd reached the deadline for filing with MCAD, Smith is making sure now that his side of the story is heard by publishing it on the Web.
As Smith tells the story, he was hired in January 1997 by SSGA through a contract agency when his partner, Patrick Jorstad, also a computer professional, was already on staff. Jorstad had kept his sexual orientation secret even from his own family, and the two revealed their relationship only to their supervisor, so that possible conflict of interest could be considered. Smith was twice signed to new contracts, the second with a substantial wage increase in July 1997.
Then in August Jorstad left the company. A week later, a co-worker told Smith that a third party in SSGA (one who had been hired and supervised by Jorstad) was bragging to others about having broken into the company's E-mail system and retrieved messages sent between Smith and Jorstad that made clear the nature of their relationship, which had become a topic of ridicule behind Smith's back. Smith went to supervisors to demand an investigation, telling them of his fear that the apparent security breach might have much larger implications for their operations. Smith was fired two days later for making "malicious" and "false" accusations against a co-worker - but he believes it's a case of the company "shooting the messenger" who warned of a possible security problem.
The physical disability aspect of the case arises from Smith's request for a week of paid leave during the investigation, in the belief that the stress involved - including working in the proximity of the offending co-worker -was aggravating his Crohn's Disease, a painful chronic autoimmune dysfunction of the digestive system. SSGA refused to grant this request, even after Smith's contract agency offered to pay him for the duration.
The alleged hacker (named on Smith's site but not in the formal complaints) says that he told the company that he'd obtained the E-mail from another source, but was soon terminated for refusing to reveal that source. He also denies that Smith's termination had anything to do with his sexual orientation.
SSGA's official response to Smith's allegations is that the company "Will directly and clearly respond with substantive information to show [Smith's legal] action is without merit. Our reply will, of course, be a matter of public record for anyone to examine." In other words, the company is saving the presentation of its side of the case for the formal hearings. As for Smith's allegations of potential security problems, SSGA says there is "no basis" for them.
Elton Dubbed Sir
Openly gay singer-songwriter Elton John was officially invested as a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Feb. 24. Eschewing his more fabulous outfits, Elton wore a formal morning suit to kneel before the Queen and be touched on each shoulder with the traditional sword. His partner, David Furnish, and his parents came to watch the event he says he never dreamed would happen. "They don't come much bigger than this" he said. "To be knighted by the Queen with my mother and father here is fantastic."
However, the man who moved millions with his performance of "Candle in the Wind 1997" at the funeral of Princess Diana is perhaps not as famous as he once thought. As he approached the Queen to be knighted, the Lord Chamberlain announced "Sir John Elton."
And what does one Queen say to another? "Her Majesty said she hoped being here today didn't interfere too much with my arrangements," John said. "She said I must be terribly busy. But this is not the sort of thing you put off. I flew back [to London] from LA yesterday and I'm going to Australia on Thursday, but there was no way I would miss this."
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