In the Life: Ep. 1202, "The Homefront"

on this month's in the Life America's angriest activists the backlash is going to happen against the system still doing this has nothing changed in the last 15 years a more perfect union in Quebec and the Cuban Defector who crossed over when you make the decision to leave your country you are well prepared to always start over to keep moving ahead all this and more on in the Life America's Gay and Lesbian News Magazine they're so brilliant so Charming so happy so gay in the life is funded in part by the H van Ameren Foundation additional support provided by the Ford Foundation the Gill Foundation the Arcus Foundation Nebraska AIDS project The Pride Foundation University of Nebraska Medical Center HIV Clinic William J Resnick and the annual support of in the Life members like you welcome to in the life I'm Bill Brock truck from NYPD Blue in the community as on in the life we spend a lot of time talking about activism about working for political equality for social acceptance and for visibility we have acted up and fought back and demanded our human rights and we have lived Our Lives anticipating and creating the day when defending them is no longer necessary on this episode conflicting voices from the front lines of activism some of whom question what exactly we're fighting for and against also the politics of daddyhood nomad Diva Joy Cardwell travels out and about from Arkansas to China and what's on Harvey fierstein's mind as he goes back to Broadway I may be ready to join those Nut Cases who claim HIV does not spread AIDS but first Larry Kramer once called America's angriest AIDS activist he's famous and in some circles Infamous for co-founding the AIDS coalition to unleash power or act up which stormed institutions from the New York Stock Exchange to the FDA to the Catholic Church longtime act up member and Northrop reflects on her colleague and friend [ __ ] act up Gay Men's Health crisis The Normal Heart All controversial all confrontational all groundbreaking but that's Larry Kramer he pushes the envelope and pushes us higher and better that's why I love Larry that's why I've worked with him all these years and now at age 67 Larry is continuing to break barriers continuing to ruffle feathers in December 2001 Larry became the oldest person living with HIV to have a successful liver transplant so organ transplantation is his new Crusade and he's gone back to work on his major novel the American people that he's worked on for two decades tonight we hear from Larry himself Kramer on Kramer his legacy and his life I have a 45 year old man's liver and my surgeon in all seriousness says you are as old as your liver so I am now 45 years old not bad for a man who in summer 2001 was suffering from end-stage liver disease triggered by hepatitis B after seven long months on an organ donor waiting list Larry got his new liver in December 2001. he knows he's one of the lucky ones I cannot tell you how many emails and calls I have had personally since the operation how do I find a liver how do I find a hospital it's going to get worse and worse because as HIV infected and H and hepatitis B and hepatitis C infected people live longer and longer there's going to be more of a demand for organ transplants and were just perched at this at this at this sort of this crucial moment on the Seesaw here and I'm afraid we're going to fall off unless we set up a system of you know in your face like we did with act up we must act up fight back fight AIDS act up to many Larry Kramer was act up but long before AIDS Larry was making waves with his written words his career took off early when he won an Oscar nomination for his screenplay adaptation of D.H Lawrence's women in love his first gay novel appeared in 1978. it's then shocking title and sharp edge take on sexual promiscuity caused the gay Literati to cringe but [ __ ] became a bestseller and has never been out of print and he soon began work on another book project it's called the American people it's basically a history of America told through its diseases and in its discriminations and um it's also a history of homosexuality in America and I've been working on it since actually before AIDS came and of course AIDS usurped what the book was about foreign ER AIDS changed everything in 1982 he helped start New York's Gay Men's Health crisis of course he then fought with the organization and left it in 1983 he wrote a scathing Call to Arms in the New York native newspaper blaming the government and gay men for ignoring their responsibility to fight the oncoming plague and he kept writing his 1985 play the normal heart was a Clarion call for action and abstinence now it's a history play people want to know what happened at the beginning to get us into this mess and that's basically what normal heart is all about the very first days of AIDS in this country anyway um it's being done all in the rest of the world in small countries remote places places I've never even heard of um where you never see the royalty checks from but I don't care no Felix you understand that your body no longer has any effective mechanism for fighting off anything I'm gonna beat this thing you know good no that's the right attitude no I mean I'm gonna beat this I've always been lucky good I guess everyone says that well I'm gonna be the one who beats it I wanted my job at the times and I got it I wanted Ned and I oh my God have I given it to him I don't know can he catch it for me now we just did he give it to me then in March 1987 came act up the AIDS coalition to unleash power its co-founder Chief cheerleader and rabble Rouser was Larry Kramer Why act up was so successful because everybody was terrified everybody was terrified of dying which most of them did and everybody was young and angry with a lot of energy and that's why we were able to mobilize so many people that's what act up at its height was all about fighting to save our own lives the temperatures Rising is getting warm the party's over so we went to school the backlash is not going to happen against the activists now the backlash is going to happen against the system people think all you had to do was go out there and scream and yell and you'd get your way and get your drugs it wasn't that at all act up had a Cadre of experts that we could send into inside to the meetings and once we got our seat at the table we knew how to use it very well and you know we did those drugs are out there now because of act up solely because of act up and the drugs that are keeping everybody around the world who can afford them alive are there because of us and all illnesses have profited from the anger of act up today many of those former activists are on the inside working within the system to Kramer that's understandable but it's not enough I don't see any gay activism man I don't see any AIDS activism and uh the the organizations that represent us in Washington are pathetic we have a paltry maybe five ten people in Washington fighting for us so while we criticize HRC and they're eminently criticizable we can't really condemn them because they're not really getting our support until we are strong enough to have enough lobbyists in Congress as the Jewish people do as the Catholic Church does as the automobile industry does we are not going to have any rights if every city with a gay population in this country had a fundraiser once a year and raised two hundred thousand dollars to fund their own lobbyists in Washington imagine how many lobbyists we would have we would have a huge network of lobbyists hundreds of them for his part Larry Kramer can find Solace knowing that his words still resonate his follow-up to The Normal Heart the destiny of me opened in London in the summer of 2002. this was just such an unbelievable treat for me to have this play I don't know what to say re-recognized they got wonderful reviews in New York but it was never done anywhere else in the world and I've never been able to understand why every single actor in it was phenomenal in many instances much better than the ones we had here in New York uh and the audience was just like this you could have heard a pin drop the whole time and Larry continues to hammer away on the American people the book he began more than 20 years ago I was terrified that I would be dead without finishing it and um now that I have been granted more life that's number one on the agenda to finish that book I started out to be a writer and not an activist and I want to be taken seriously as a writer that's the thing I want to be remembered for when I die that's what this attempt to write this gigantic novel is all about um I want to be remembered as a writer who was an activist not an activist who was a writer thank you in August of 1988 I was shooting the Ryan White story and we were on the set one day and somebody was interviewing Ryan I heard him say uh well one time somebody spit at me and called me a [ __ ] I said it's unconscionable that anybody would treat this young boy like this and then I said they're treating my friends like this people say that this is a compassionate country and yet my friends were being largely ignored and they were dying and it wasn't okay with me so I needed to stand up and be counted I needed to say something about it and it started from that moment I'm Judith Light and you're watching in the life our next two stories focus on people who are creating unorthodox but very real families of their own from Daddy and papa bringing new faces to the Castro to couples forming a more perfect union in Quebec the New York Times publishes same-sex wedding announcements New Jersey couples Sue to get marriage licenses unless we just want what everybody else has access to which is marriage and Bravo airs a reality series on gay weddings perhaps the hottest and most controversial gay issue today is the right of same-sex couples to marry so far the greatest progress in this country can be seen in Vermont which in July 2000 became the first state in the Union to pass a law allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil unions I've done about a dozen civil unions and my husband is also a minister and a justice of the peace has done close to that himself minister Beverly Boke was the first to perform a civil union church service in Vermont I'm confident that the majority of the people in my church think it's a wonderful thing and are very proud of the state of Vermont for being open and affirming and Progressive enough to allow for civil unions for gay lesbian couples to virtually marry what the civil unions Bill does is to say that a gay person who is not allowed to get married has the same rights that I do in terms of if their loved one is hospitalized if somebody dies and there's some property and Joint name Insurance rights all these things that I can get because I'm married without thinking about it gay people couldn't get in our state now they can Governor Dean believes his signing of this controversial legislation will ultimately be understood by most Americans it was history in the making all we're talking about is equality under the law and I believe that most Americans whether they're comfortable or uncomfortable with the gay and lesbian Community believe that all Americans should be equal under the law that's the right thing to do that's what we've done in Vermont since Vermont's historic act similar laws have been passed north of the Border in both Nova Scotia and Quebec the myth had about downtown I see it was the 22nd so Jesus it is the 23rd that we met before midnight so my story sticks well from there on we just started to build a life together vowders and Roger Tebow of the Montreal suburb of Point Claire are like any old married couple in December will be 30 years together on the 22nd on that radiator quite alive we didn't have time to think or to see the time person it's just recently since that fight against homophobia arrived that we realized that we were together for so many years that fight against homophobia took the form of two neighbors harassing them over several months resulting in a very public court battle in May 2001 thousands marched in point Claire in support of Roger and Teo because of our visibility as an example we decided to go for the civil union after 30 years together Roger and Teo publicly tied the knot becoming the first couple to take advantage of Quebec's new law we had about over 200 people in the courthouse I don't want to cry my makeup will run people were very impressed many people said you look like two king or two three I was not there it's something we will never forget every member of the parliament vote in favor of this law it as Minister of Justice Paul bajan's Mission has been to abolish all distinctions in Quebec law regarding sexual orientation Quebec is the first North American society to do this I think very special because except in Netherlands it's the only place in the world where you have exactly the same rights and obligation for everybody it is not surprising that such Progressive legislation has passed in Quebec this fiercely independent province of 7 million people draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every summer for a full week of Gay Pride events in Montreal in 2006 Montreal will host gay games seven yes here yeah discrimination is allowed love brains but beyond the festivities and economic benefit the gay population in Quebec is also seen as an important constituency by politicians families are not exactly as they were in the past and we have to show opening to these new realities is Justice critic for the liberal party which supports civil unions it's a good thing we're talking about equality so uh you know civil clearly demonstrate Quebec is open so I think it's a good thing since the definition of marriage in Canada is determined by the federal government the most Quebec could do for its gay citizens is to sanction civil unions so what we did we left them the copyright of the word marriage we call it civil union we thought that Vermont had a good idea naming it that way but some gay couples in Quebec feel that civil unions do not go far enough and have moved to challenge the law directly on the issue of marriage during the 90s we began to see things happening in the states around the question of conjugal relationships and marriage and full citizenship full rights and we saw nothing happening here so we decided to do something about it on the 14th of September 1998 we filed our first suit against the government of Quebec and the government of Canada to get a marriage license actually we went and tried to get a marriage license and of course they refused us what Michael and Renee seek with marriage is legal recognition of their relationship beyond the borders of Quebec something not possible with civil unions it's pretty good it however is not marriage it isn't recognized outside the province of Quebec if you stay in Quebec that's fine with the civil union but if you go outside if you want to change move somewhere else it doesn't do anything for you it's not equality that's what it is I think the point that we try to make all the time is that marriage is the gold standard of relationship recognition and we don't see why we should be taking gold plate when we can have gold but some in the gay community did not agree when we first started this we got a lot of opposition of course from the straight community and religious people who called us the doing the devil's work and whatnot but also from the gay community particularly people that call themselves queers they said that we had renounced our radical background our act up past and all that stuff but after a while after changed people get to see Bob with me maybe it would be a good idea if we can get married and see the advantage of getting married you know like Financial possibilities and everything that goes away between two persons on September 6 2002 the Quebec Superior Court ruled in favor of Michael and Renee and gave the Canadian Parliament two years to change the law the judge wrote the definition of marriage creates a discriminatory distinction by excluding same-sex couples this distinction undermines human dignity and denies the applicants equal rights though the government has appealed the ruling the case brings Canada one step closer to becoming the first non-european country to legalize same-sex marriage foreign people didn't have before and it's an opportunity to do with our not do it you have two people that love each other they want to live together and their love is as strong it's not that different at first time it might be different but it's not different it's exactly the same thank you I did the age walk back in October of 2000 and the first thing I saw were people holding signs and I thought oh my gosh there's people out there you know supporting but it was just the opposite it was a little girl standing there with a sign that said die [ __ ] or something something as absolutely absurd as that if she had seen what I saw I don't think that would have been the case I'm Larry Sullivan and you're watching in the life the closer I got to fatherhood the more I ran across gay dads I met divorced gay fathers men who co-parented with lesbians and others who had flown overseas to adopt almost always becoming a gay dad required months sometimes years of perseverance Daddy and papa is a one-hour documentary about gay men who are raising kids and it looks at the political issues the cultural issues the personal issues involved in and what it means for a gay man to be taking a step away from the kind of standard gay male evolution of Life the idea for Daddy and papa came out of a dinner conversation that William my partner and I were having with a friend of ours Kelly who one night said I'm going to adopt two kids he lives right in the Castro and a completely childless neighborhood I thought this sounds pretty interesting so I started filming him uh really not nowhere knowing where it was going and then as the project evolved I ended up filming some other families and then eventually coming to turn the camera on myself and my own family when William and I decided to take the step to adopt as well we decided to move ahead toward adoption Through The Surreal and sometimes frustrating process of getting certified as foster parents I really want to focus on the film on men who are making a conscious Choice as out gay men to form their own families and to look at the specific challenges which gay dads face which are you know I think above and beyond what what straight parents face and also what lesbians face I wanted to put a face on that and demystify it a friend of mine said you know you are America's nightmare you know this gay guy with two kids living in the Castro that is so much with so much of this country really doesn't want to see happen you just can't walk into a supermarket or a restaurant or a mall or a School playground with two dads and a kid or two and expect that no one's going to pay attention I mean you immediately become well you're like us but you're not like us I think the face of the American family is changing uh you know there are all sorts of new families that are out there I didn't start off being an advocate for gay adoptions I was the adoption Advocate there are lots of kids out there who need homes and they wait and they wait and they wait I see gay families adopting as an untapped resource more and more counties more and more private agencies are opening their doors wide open to people who want to explore this you know we're going to be your daddy's do you know that a lot of families formed by gay men are multiracial and that brings up a whole other set of issues that kind of are on top of being you know gay dads for open-minded people and people who are really paying attention to their world the kind of cookie cutter two straight parents and two kids model is just not really in existence I think the gay part of it is really not a big deal how many daddies do you have two Daddy yeah you have two daddies I don't see there being nearly enough films out there that deal with gay culture and the complexity of what we're all doing I mean this is it's an entirely new culture that's just sort of blossomed in the last you know 30 to 50 years and and is changing every really every year and people aren't documenting it nearly enough hey it's our new reality that's right it took a little over three years from the time that I first started filming Kelly to the time that we finished it and raced off to Sundance audiences responded to it really positively I mean from the very first screening looking Daddy and Papa's shaving the Castro and Beauty before age films that I made there's a lot of similarity in all three of these films in that they all deal with gay culture and gay history and of the evolution of of gay men's Community how am I in the mainstream how am I on the fringes what's my relationship like to straight people to other gay people how am I perceived all of those questions are kind of lurking under the surface of all of these films shaving the Castro focuses on a barbershop that's in the middle of the Castro that's been there for 70 years that started out being a a typical barber shop and a working class straight neighborhood and has somehow weathered the transition to this almost completely gay neighborhood and it's still sitting there Beauty before age is a film that explores gay men's experiences of growing older we interview people ranging from age 19 up to their late 70s about what does it mean to grow older what's the process of aging and how do we cope with that there's so many straight people just have this very superficial view of what k Community is and and all of these films dig below the surface and get people to see it as much more complex than that with Daddy and papa I wanted to tackle a more complex issue in a parenting it's very very loaded it's interesting some of my closest gay friends have really distanced themselves from from me since we became parents and then I have other gay male friends who have actually become much closer to us since we became dads and I and I think for them it's a sense of hey these guys have a family and I want to be part of a family I want to be really involved in kids lives I don't know what it feels like to not have two dads I feel like I have a lot of parents and that I can brag about having more parents than other people I think adoption by Gaming has increased a lot at the beginning it was you know 90 95 percent lesbians and their kids and now it's almost really almost feels like half gay men it's really changed as a gay parent it's kind of constantly trying to figure out where do I fit and where donut fit and what are the challenges ahead of me in the straight community and in the gay community how do I navigate this I know there's a lot of people in this country who have a lot of very entrenched ideas about negative ideas about what gay dads are like but hopefully by exposing people a little bit to what the issues are they can move a little bit more down the Spectrum to being open-minded that really is one of my main goals as a filmmaker and part of how why I'm a filmmaker to begin with is to be able to look at what's happening and tell those stories and tell them in a way that both straight people and gay people can identify with them and begin to dissect them and think about it and and and have it have a real impact on their own lives thank you hi I'm Miss USA 2002 Shantae Hinton and you're watching in the life still to come on in the Life Miami's Queen of Clubs she took those indigenous sounds but she modernized it it's hip history the boys in the band become men it took the milieu of the homosexual lifestyle at that time and just unapologetically did a play about it and Harvey feierstein acts up about AIDS activism but first in the Life Ventures out and about with joy Cardwell the black pride a sequel to boys in the band and a hit George wolf musical all this and more coming up and out and about hi I'm Joy Cardwell we started in Arkansas where a group of seven gay and lesbian residents have challenged that state same-sex only sodomy law according to that law certain acts of sex are legal for straight people but illegal for gays and lesbians no one has actually been prosecuted in Arkansas in the more than 20 years of the Law's history for private conduct but we have argued and the Arkansas Supreme Court resoundingly agreed that this law stigmatizes gay men and lesbians in Arkansas it Brands them as criminals and it hangs over their heads as a constant threat that at any moment they could be singled out for prosecution Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot violate people's right to privacy and tell them what they can or cannot do with other consenting adults then the court went on to say not only is this law a blatant violation of a fundamental right to privacy but it also violates core equal protection values found in our state constitution because it singles out only our gay and lesbian citizens with the overturning of the Arkansas sodomy law by the state supreme court four states still ban only same-sex sodomy Kansas Missouri Oklahoma and Texas and in New York a celebration of black pride the annual week-long celebration promotes recognition of the talents contributions and empowerment of gay people of African descent the events included a multicultural festival and an award ceremony and in China AIDS activists Juan Yan Hai is free again after an international outcry for his release Juan was held captive by China's security apparatus for four weeks after revealing the government's responsibility for the growing AIDS epidemic in rural China in the Life Met Juan in 1998. I used to work in a Health Department in Beijing for AIDS education so we organized a hotter line for counseling of AIDS and sexuality including homosexuality and we also organized some salon and some similar talking about the gay life in Chinese Society so in 1993 the government become you know angry towards my work so my job was was stopped and I were fired by the government back in the U.S another historic ruling Washington State appeals court ruled unanimously that firing public employees because they're gay violates the U.S Constitution in 1996 the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark gay rights ruling in which it stated a principle a general principle that the government can't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation without at least some sort of reason that is at least rational ACLU attorney Ken Cho represents Mary Jo Davis a lesbian government employee in a Washington state hospital who was subjected to severe and ongoing anti-gay harassment Davis was eventually fired the court of appeals made clear that the law does make it illegal for the government to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in the employment context now to a celebration of queer culture gay and lesbian performers gathered at New York City's Dixon place for a month of queer inspired experimental theater dance and music among the performers were Reggie cabaco and Eileen Cho with their Hollywood spoof I slam shut Mark Crawley's play the boys in the band is a milestone in gay culture it still attracts audiences more than 30 years after its controversial Premiere in pre-stonewall 1968. the boys in the band uh sort of established me as a playwright it was a play that came out in 1968. it caused a lot of noise because it took the milieu of the homosexual lifestyle at that time and just unapologetically did a play about it I mean as people reacting to people it wasn't uh the big secret in the second act oh he's gay well how are we going to have a conversation in depth a warm rewarding meaningful friendship while Captain more than 30 years later Crowley's sequel to The Boys in the band called the men from the boys premieres in San Francisco it's a sequel in as much as its own it uses the same characters and they are 30 years old I'll be interested to know what is said about the comparison of the two plays and how the characters have evolved either for the better For Better or For Worse and believe me some have got worse and some have got better when say one word famous Apollo Theater it's the Harlem song by gay writer and director George C wolf they're so brilliant so Charming so happy so gay as they strollers the show Chronicles life in 20th century Harlem through song and dance the energy history and Magic that grew out of the culturally diverse neighborhood come back to life I grew up in a small town in the 1970s my friends and I experienced homophobia firsthand I can remember being scared for my life running from men with baseball bats seeing my friends get stabbed and being called names that I was too young to even be able to relate to what I did know was that I was different I felt like I didn't fit in or belong I felt publicly ostracized and was in pain there were no Role Models I could look to no one for me to say I want to be just like her so instead I turn to thoughts of suicide drugs and alcohol that's why 10 years ago when MTV asked me to come out as a lesbian on the real world I knew I had to say yes I had to set aside my fear of my own safety knowing without a shadow of a doubt that what I was about to do would help people and it did visibility saves lives helps build progress and change and makes a difference I'm Beth Anthony and you're watching in the life thank you in 1993 an Innovative musical sensation emerged from Miami's South Beach Gay and Lesbian Community a Cuban Defector named albita with an androgynous Persona and crossover appeal quickly became a favorite among Club goers like Madonna and Gianni Versace her distinctive voice and rhythms also made her a hit within the local Cuban community thank you when I arrived to Miami I think it was important for me to find that I had become a way or a vehicle for the new Latino Generations born in Miami who are suddenly rediscovering their roots that have been communicated to them by their grandparents while at the same time mixing with the sonoridades that they have been accustomed to listening to as children she took those indigenous sounds what was the real rhythm and blues of Cuban music if you will but she modernized it there's elements of jazz there's there's elements of today it's hip history and that's a hard thing to find in music it happened to me often that people approach me and say I never listened to this kind of music before and because of you I'm going to start listening to it and that's a beautiful thing especially with young people I think the classic story the one that really tells who I'll beat that was was is that the day that she actually defected from Cuba when she slipped across the border from Mexico into this country and asked for political Asylum they were playing a tribute to this daughter of the Revolution who had done so much for Cuban music was playing on the Cuban government radio over there obviously the very next day I'll be that doesn't exist in Cuba anymore and it was a long time before you would hear any of her music playing on the radio again down there because of the political system I look at things a different way I go through life I am who I am and I am what I am I can't afford for one second to worry about whether or not I'm bothering someone that's their problem not mine or willingness to take risks soon caught the attention of Miami's gays and lesbians dresses in what might be considered a very Manish Garb she was breaking down whatever you know old stereotypes we had here or everything but I'm glad that there's an appeal I think that it has to do with that that raw Rich sex appeal of her voice of her sound of her look soon got her notice by Emilio and Gloria Estefan who were at the center of the Miami music scene they had created one of the world's most formidable Empires selling more than 60 million records after seeing her perform Emilio signed albita to his Label Crescent Moon a division of Sony I think that is the best thing that can happen to any artist you arrive and you find yourself in contact with the people who are at that moment the most influential and powerful and who can produce your music but her bid for commercial stardom met with limited success I think that most people you know in their minds now Latin music fits salsa Merengue or you know Latin Pop and I think that her music goes beyond that but mainstream Latin audiences weren't buying her CDs and radio stations weren't playing her music in the music world especially in the Latino music world people don't know who the songwriters are they might know who is the most commercially in style or who is on display it's not an easy Fit For A Music Company when a musician proposes something artistic instead of something purely physical I always say that if Barbra Streisand was born today I don't think they know what to do with her either you don't ask Picasso to change his style to accommodate your decor and I don't think that anyone should ask Avita to change her style to accommodate our ear I didn't do anything with Sony I didn't want to do and I think maybe that's why they later broke off the relationship unable to Market her as the next Latin sensation Sony dropped albeda I don't think you get scared of having your contract canceled and start over somewhere else because that happens to every every not just artists but to everyone when you make the decision to leave your country and start over again you are well prepared to always start over to keep moving ahead refusing to get discouraged I'll beta threw herself into writing and producing the music that she loved to feel that need to share something with someone else which included performing for the gay audience that had always given her their support hold onto your as the opening act of the human rights campaign's 2000 equality Rocks concert in Washington DC Alberta shared the stage with Ellen DeGeneres Melissa Etheridge and Katie Lang parentia it's a magical experience being in front of hundreds and thousands of people while at the same time knowing that you are supporting a cause I think we have to fight so that people respect more our personal spaces and civil liberties the same way as We Fight Against Racism when I play someplace and they open their doors to me I don't ask are you gay are you from the Communist party or are you from this political group whatever because I think that music is or art is the most universal sensibility that exists and because of that it doesn't matter what you think it doesn't matter what religion you are who you sleep with whatever you are art is for the whole world and that is the beautiful thing about it albita is now signed with a new independent label Times Square records which is marketing her work as World music what Bob Marley did for reggae I think albita does for the real roots of Cuban music viewing her music as World music I think is is a smarter way to look at her music is it going to sell more albums I don't know but it's certainly a more intelligent way to view her music instead of trying to cram it into a niche where we're expecting her to be Ricky Martin because she's never going to be that yeah because the CD is so made by hand it's like if you were knitting something it's made by hand they are all my songs almost all of the arrangements except for one are mine as well I produce the city I was always there working it out with the sound Engineers Etc and that's why we named it that way it's all made by him I think it's very important to be clear with what you want and to follow through with what you want with what your heart dictates to you what your desires dictate and what your soul dictates I've always tried to do that with my music I've always tried to do what I want and today things are more clear to me than ever thank you on the next edition of In The Life the gay wizards of Wall Street heating warnings about hepatitis and a peek up the skirt of Hedwig and the Angry Inch all this and more on in the Life America's Gay and Lesbian News Magazine I remember one of the most moving shoots that I ever went on for in the life was in 1997 when I was producing a segment on a teen suicide Robbie Kirkland and I flew to Cleveland and was picked up by his mother taken to his house fed breakfast by her and then she brought me upstairs to see his room where she hadn't even made his bed after um a year like so it was and then his letters that he had written and his Diaries were spread out all over the floor so it was his Monument to this boy who killed himself because he was gay um and to be there in that home with that mother who had learned that and had become so supportive of the gay community I'll never forget that that day I'm Catherine Linton and you're watching in the life and finally when Harvey fierstein went back to Broadway in Hairspray he started to question how he has spent the last 20 years of his life as you may know I I'm back on Broadway that's right these shaved eyebrows are not meant as a fashion statement well no sooner had I arrived in my dressing room then the request to perform AIDS benefits began to pile up nothing new about that I do AIDS benefits all the time but the sheer number of requests started me thinking why are we still doing this has nothing changed in the last 15 years and if not why not have we wasted two decades battling the wrong cause of AIDS for the better part of the last 20 years my friends and I have sacrificed time energy and resources to the crisis we've raised money performed shows spoken at at schools on TV at rallies in movies Hospital Wards street corners we've marched and protested and screamed ourselves horse we've sought out experts trained the counselors built Hospital Awards created hospices handheld patients counseled families and some Memorial quilt panels in every city of every state of this nation we've back from politicians and bullied pulpits lambasted school boards and blackballed bigots we've written legislation and pamphlets and found funding for prevention we fought Court battles and took on drug companies we've smuggled meds phonied insurance forms bribed health care workers to get What patients needed we've lectured and written about our experiences we've buried our friends and our lovers and our family members and our neighbors we've passed out condoms and rubbered bananas and worn red ribbons to every public event imaginable we've held world events and out mediaed every single other disease ever contracted by man or beast we've spread the message in all conceivable languages that aids is a deadly but difficult to contract and completely preventable disease we've done all this for the better part of 20 years and still AIDS is a day-to-day reality in our community am I alone in feeling like a political fool a social fossil and a community failure I know folks who think that being HIV positive is cool sexy and desirable I know HIV positive people who have unprotected sex with others without care or conscience I know HIV positive people who only have unprotected sex I know HIV negative people who only have unprotected sex I've spoken to an HIV negative teen who only wanted two things in this world to meet a nice guy and to zero convert now if these people care so little about their own lives and well-being why should I care I should give up my Saturday night to raise money to buy drugs for some punk who went out and got AIDS thinking it was cool I should sign posters and theater programs for auctions to pay for the treatment of someone who continues to have unprotected sex spreading the misery should I waste my time and energy fighting to keep the infecting of others with HIV decriminalized and deprived matter why waste money buying condoms to distribute when I can't even get some of my own acquaintances to have safer sex shouldn't I forego all this goody two-shoe crap and just let the Next Generation Fester on drug cocktails and slowly die why not my generation has struggled and sacrificed all of these years and we've made little difference why shouldn't I stop wasting my time or have we been fighting the wrong cause of this epidemic all along have we I may be ready to join those Nut Cases who claim HIV does not spread AIDS no I don't blame Aids on Government testing or bio Warfare I believe AIDS is spread by the same killer virus that has stalked and destroyed our people for as long as we've existed forget silence equals Death how about self-loathing equals AIDS simply stated happy people don't hang themselves do they I'm Bill brockdrup from all of us at in the life thank you for watching and we'll see you next month to get brighter someday foreign part by the H van Ameren Foundation additional support provided by the forward Foundation the Gill Foundation the Arcus Foundation Nebraska AIDS project The Pride Foundation University of Nebraska Medical Center HIV Clinic William J Resnick annual support of in the Life members IQ foreign