In the Life: Ep. 802, "December '98 - January '99"

[Music] On this edition of In the Life, anti-gay violence on the rise, an Emmy award-winning director, action, lesbian healthcare, and the father of Frankenstein. She's alive. Plus, an exclusive wrap-up of Gay Games Amsterdam. All up next on In the Life, America's gay and lesbian cultural news magazine. [Music] In the Life is funded in part by the H. Vanamaringan Foundation. Additional support provided by Michael A. Lepin, the Gil Foundation, the Mitchell Gold Company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and prejudice. The Terren K. Watanabe Charitable Trust in memory of Michael D. Palm and in the life members like you [Music] [Applause] [Music] Welcome to In the Life. Hi, I'm Katherine Linton. On this episode, we'll bring you issues of importance to the health and well-being of gay men and lesbians, both individually and as a community. For nearly two decades, the spectre of AIDS has loomed over the gay community. And while AIDS remains the most pressing crisis, the focus on health and wellness has broadened. For instance, attention is being paid to the specific needs of gay youth. And there's new, just published research on health care for lesbians. Medical providers will hopefully begin changing how they talk to women who have sex with women. For this program, we're at the Kalen Lord Community Health Center in New York City, named for singer Michael Kalan, who died of AIDS related causes, and poet Audrey Lord, herself a victim of breast cancer. Kalen Lord is the nation's largest provider of primary care to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. For some time now, providers at Ken Lord have recognized violence as a health issue. For example, their outreach program to teens, known as HOT, ministers daily to young people, many of whom are living on the streets and are themselves victims of anti-gay attacks. And as the country was recently reminded by the brutal murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, violence against gay people is pervasive and on the rise. In our opening segment, Jonathan Kart reports on the crimes, the reaction, and the response. Matthew Shephard is not the first gay man to be murdered for who he is. Tonight, we say he must be the last. Matthew Shepard's murder in October put hate crimes against the gay and lesbian community in the public spotlight. Not since the murder of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Mil 20 years ago has an anti-gay hate crime received so much press or triggered so much activism. It really just galvanized people and not just gay people but straight people also. That desolate rural fence in Laram, Wyoming really captured people in a very profound way. He died in an awful way and in a symbolic way that registered with people as a crucifixion of sorts and that just mobilized people. I think all of us grew a little complacent. It's a wakeup call to realize we don't have protections. But while Matthew's death is a wake-up call for some, to others it's simply a reminder that this type of violence is part of their lives, New York City, home to the largest gay and lesbian community in the country, has seen an 81% increase in violence over the past year. In New York City, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Um, people come and go on rampages. Whether it's an insult or somebody being beaten up or somebody being murdered or somebody being tortured and murdered, it happens regularly. Urban hate violence is increasingly taking place outside of gay ghettos. As in a recent incident near a lesbian bar in Brooklyn at approximately 2 in the morning, uh, a young woman was leaving the bar. She was walking several blocks away when she turned around and realized that she was being followed. She began to run and they called her, "You dyke. Are you a dyke?" And they tripped her up. She called us at around 2:30 from the hospital saying that she had been slashed. Another brutal hate crime took place in Nebraska in 1995, not far from where Matthew Shepard was killed. 21-year-old Brandon Tina was attacked and murdered when it was discovered that she was living as a man. The details and aftermath of the crime have been explored in an award-winning new documentary, The Brandant Tina Story. I fell on the floor, kicked me 100 times, stuck in my bag, and they picked me up, carried me out to the car of my These guys who raped Brandon did it because they were really furious that Brandon was to them a woman and they had thought Brandon was was a guy, a man. Brandon reported the rape to the police, but they did not arrest the suspects. A few days later, the rapists came back and killed Brandon. It is very, very important for people in authority to do their job no matter what their personal belief is. It's wrong for them to express hatred and bigotry because there are a lot of young people out there who take what they say as an an okay or a go-ahad. The defendants in both Brandant Tina's and Matthew Shepard's murders are men under 23. Statistically, the most frequent perpetrators of hate crimes. Recent studies show that young male gay bashers often don't see anything wrong with their behavior. They believe that by hurting gay people, they're doing society a favor. Both individuals tied the victim to a buck fence and continued to beat and terrorize him while he was begging for his life. These two young men did not in any way try to hide their crime. They strung him up on a fence, displaying him like a trophy. Those are the actions of people who believe they are living in an environment that would protect them and allow them to get away with their actions. These are young people who are following their peers. is the worst thing you could call somebody in school. And yet no one stops them. Teachers don't. Administrators don't. It's part of the culture. Start with Trent Lad and Pat Robertson, the exgay ads. Um there just seems to be a current in our society where um gay men and lesbians are being attacked in a pretty profound way. [Applause] Increasingly gays and lesbians are being included in the rhetoric of broad-based hate groups such as the Ku Klux Clan. Uh we do not support homosexuality or lesbianism. We believe that it's ungodly and uncristian to do so. then we don't believe that they should have special rights and privileges above anybody else. The fastest growing number of hate crimes being committed right now is against the gay and lesbian community. Only 5% of hate crimes are committed by people who are actually members of these groups. The most dangerous trend that we are seeing is that their ideology has so penetrated the climate of the country. Right-wing groups are also using more far-reaching tactics to foster anti-gay sentiment, such as the new exgay ad campaign by the Center for Reclaiming America. I was active in the gay community for 13 years. I was in it for 6 years, then struggled for 5 years before finding true freedom. We were broken and looking for love in the wrong places. The message in these ads is very clear. Gay people are sick. They need to be cured. There's something wrong with them. It sends a clear signal to people that homosexuality is a choice that it can be changed and people take it to the extreme and think that they can beat it out of people. When someone is the victim of an anti-gay murder, the perpetrator uses such force and literally overkills the person. Um, instead of stabbing someone once, they're stabbed a dozen times. We have a human face on it now. To ask someone to no longer be a gay man is like asking me to no longer be a black woman. Things like the Matthew Shepard murder remind us how vulnerable we are. It's put a fire in my belly. It's wakened me up to the fact that I'm not as safe as I think I, you know, I am. I'm not, people do not accept me as much as I think they do. When it's somebody of another race or another class, it's easier to say, "Well, that's not me." But it is me, and that's what we all have to start thinking about and dealing with if we're going to solve it. Hate crimes are a form of terrorism. Like the crime committed against James Bird earlier this year, the crime against Matthew Shepard has shocked the conscience of the country. Let us act now to pass the hate crimes prevention act. Passage of national hate crime legislation would give federal law enforcement more power to prosecute criminals. Passing a law is a cultural statement about what we believe in as a people. We must say we do not tolerate hate violence. But after you go out and pass the law, don't just wash your hands and say, "Okay, we've dealt with that." You know, that's the time you also need to look at changing the institutions and the culture which has created the need for those laws in the first place. We have a speakers bureau and we go into the schools. We come into classrooms and we speak to students like you. If you know a person who's gay, you're less likely to harbor anti-gay attitudes. So our basic feeling is, hey, if we can go and essentially introduce ourselves as a people to young people, we're reducing violence. Fighting the cultural elements that promote violence is a long process, but the recent outpourings of activism give hope for progress. We need to capitalize on the incredible energy that's coming out of the community right now from all parts of the community and mobilize on the thousands of people that are willing to come out and take the streets. People are saying no, we cannot tolerate this kind of violence. And I need to step out and speak against it and be open and be obvious. As someone who feels threatened by hate groups, I'm going to stand against them. No matter if you're black or white, gay or lesbian, Latino, it's all one attack. Now more than ever is the time for all people who are affected by these groups to join together and not let our differences keep us apart. [Music] into the courtyard of the great view for you. Tomorrow you Hi, I'm Wilson Cruz. The character I play in the musical Rent is no stranger to harassment. A recent study showed that slurs against gay people with words like or dyke are constant in high schools and many times it leads to violence. If you have any connection with youth, let them know that harassment of their gay peers is just not cool. Young people are hungry for role models, so be one. [Music] For our next segment, we pay a visit with Paris Barkley. Never heard of him? Well, how about ER or Brooklyn South or NYPD Blue? In 1998, Barkley won an Emmy for one of the episodes he directed of that popular police drama. And now he's the series supervising producer. But it doesn't end there. He's also an accomplished writer and composer and still finds a time to help out people with AIDS. We spent a day in the life of Paris Barkley, who overcame a drug addiction to become one of the most successful, openly gay men in network television. And the second Emmy goes to Paris Bley. I I'll tell you a secret about the Emmy. I was so convinced that I would win the Emmy that I kind of knew and actually a piece kind of fell over me. I'd seen all the shows and I saw that show and objectively I thought this show is so great I got to win this Emmy. Thank my earthly higher power Steven Botko wherever he may be. You know what? I'm in the greatest place a man can be right now. You know, I'm really loved in my work. I really enjoy doing it. I'm honored and uh you know if worse comes to worse I can always melt it down because it's supposed to be actual gold. This season I've begun as the supervising producer of the show which means I am the fifth ranking producer and what I basically do is make sure that the show happens every day. I do want to speak to Jimmy Smiths if he calls. By the way, satisfying. I'm in charge of spending $2.1 million every show to make the show come alive. So that means that I supervise the casting, the other directors who are directing, the editing process, the hiring and the firing of uh everyone involved in the show. The first scene again. Okay. And I if you could stand up be great. Sure. I think you have to imagine that you're actually sort of dancing in front of him when you're doing it. Okay. Action. On top of being the supervising producer of the show, I'm also responsible for directing five episodes a season. And they're two different things. The producer spends the money. The director calls the shots. The director directs the actors. The producers make sure the actors arrive and are there and are hired and are paid. So basically are the two responsibilities, while they seem to overlap, actually are very distinct. They begin and end when shooting begins. So sometimes I end up having to do both of them at the same time, but only five times a year, gratefully. It just looks more interesting than shooting back. Wow. I wonder if we could get someone in the DJ booth and do that. Shoot back out towards it, too. It's interesting being an openly gay producer on a show that's known for its sort of macho sensibility. I thought was going to be a predicament and a difficult to navigate and the problem. But from the first day I came on the show and actually I directed two episodes just as a director for hire. Those are my first experiences. I found it exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be. We could do this. We could do this handheld if we if we had to. It's really quite embracing. There are quite a number of gay people and lesbians involved in the production of this show. And you know what? There's no differentiation in how they're treated on this series. Take one. Hey Mark. People can tune in on almost any show and there's going to be some gay person, some sort of gay mix in there and they're each going to be different because they're each going to be from a unique vision. On our show, Bill Brockford plays John Irvin who's a very unique character. He's a little bit of a He's a little fastidious. Yeah. At the same time, he's heartfelt and he's instantly loved. He's our most popular character. He gets more male than Dennis France when he's on the show. When I first started working in Hollywood, as it were, doing television shows, I didn't think that my sexuality was really going to be relevant. So, I didn't feel it necessary to let people know. And actually, I was afraid that if they did know, they would have judgments and they would make decisions about me that weren't based on my personality, but what they thought a homosexual would be like. So, I always kept it quite quiet. By not revealing who I am, I'm putting myself in more and more uncomfortable situations. I'm uncomfortable with people and I've got secrets. They don't really know what my life is like. So eventually it came out and from the time it came out some people didn't like me and some people stopped speaking to me and some people embraced me. So now I am faced with a life in which I do not have to deal with homophobic people in my career at all because they're just not involved with me. And it's it's it's a lot better this way. Okay, let's look at this. I just have to look at two scenes so it won't be too tragic. Boom. Just go to a closeup now and just skip that whole hasn't take you know what I'm saying. Just blow away that whole wide shot. So you come right off of Sipwoods and then you say take the grand departure as well you got to get Sidwood sitting down. I still think you got the garden spot huh James Greek. I started as a writer. I was writing musicals, writing plays and then writing television commercials for advertising agencies. From there I went to directing television commercials and then I started a music video kind of production company. Let me argue for that. I think the biggest turning point in my life that allowed me to actually be a director was sometime around 1989 in the summer of 1989. I had started this company. It was not very successful. I really got involved as heavily as I could in drinking and drugs just to sort of assuage the pain of being a director who wasn't directing anything. Um and I just fell into an abyss. You know, I fell into a total depression that lasted for about six months. I think I was watching uh the Fourth of July fireworks and television and a commercial came on for 1800 cocaine. They said, "If you have a problem with cocaine, you should dial this number." Literally from that day on, there began sort of an ascension in my career. I started to get a new clarity. I haven't had a single drink or any cocaine since that day, that first day that I went to that rehab. And suddenly, you know, I'm working like 14 hours a day and I'm not exhausted. I'm exhilarated. And suddenly, I'm involved in different community projects. I'm doing all this sort of stuff. And I'm finding all of this life that I I never had before. Ken is our much sought after director of development. Project food delivers meals to people who are not in a position to cook for themselves for the most part. People who are living with AIDS today. They don't have the family and friends that a lot of us would have if we were in the same situation. and they certainly don't have the means. And so for $5 a meal, we get to like just bring them a meal. A volunteer. They don't know. A stranger comes and gives them a hot meal on any given day and they say thank you. And it really moves. All those in favor of approving the minutes, please say I. I. I. Right now, I think the world is aching for tolerance, for lessons of tolerance. I'm trying to create a show actually a one-hour drama where that's the pivotal um crisis of the show which is trying to make the world more aware of the fact that once you get to know someone really get to know them you tend to love them because that's what I live by. I live by the fact there are only I heard this a long time ago. There only two kinds of people. There are the people that I love and the people that I don't know yet. Every boy desert. Not if you're gay. What? Gay. What? Gay. Homosexual. A faggalite. Hi, I'm Mitchell Anderson. Being out on the job isn't easy, whether you're on a set, in an office, or on an assembly line. But there are places to find support. Today, more and more companies have gay employee groups. If you are dealing with issues of coming out, you might want to contact the National Coming Out Project. To find the link, go to In the Life's website at inthelifeetv.org. [Music] One of the innovative projects here at Ken Lord is a lesbian health program started in 1990 to provide care to a seriously underserved community. Studies show that lesbians often avoid going to the doctor fearing they'll be met with discrimination or hostility. And even at gay clinics, lesbians sometimes feel uncomfortable in a predominantly male environment. Now, two groundbreaking studies offer further proof that lesbians indeed have unique health concerns. Here's correspondent Tanya Barfield with the story. The last time I saw a gynecologist was about 7 years ago in the East Village and I went in and I had my exam and I said, you know, I'm bisexual. And the doctor's face changed and she sort of backed away from me. Then she left the room and I heard her talking with her assistant in the hallway and then she made her assistant come in and do the rest of the exam. No, I haven't gone to the gynecologist since that experience 7 years ago. I mean, I know I should. I should be getting it every year, but I haven't gone. Just don't want to deal with it. What we do know is that because lesbians often don't get care as often as heterosexuals, that if they have cancer, it's usually found later and therefore can be more difficult to treat. In 1993, a researcher from the National Cancer Institute speculated what many in the lesbian community already suspected that lesbians are at a high risk for breast cancer. But it wasn't until last September that a scientifically researched study was finally published. Doctors Stephanie Roberts and Suzanne Dibble at the Lion Martin Women's Health Services in San Francisco published findings that lesbians may have greater risk factors for breast cancer than do heterosexual women. They drew their conclusions from a review of their clinic's medical records. We found that um the lesbians were more likely to have never been pregnant, which is not a surprising finding, but never having been pregnant can uh confer a two to six times increased risk for breast cancer. The other thing that we found was that the lesbians had a higher body mass index on the average. But if it represents body fat, then that could be a an increased risk for breast cancer. And the third thing we found is that the lesbians reported more often having had breast biopsies. This larger number of breast biopsies or surgical examination of breast abnormalities could mean that lesbians have a higher incidence of fibrocystic breast disease, a disease previously linked to risk for breast cancer. Well, a survey is prospective, but it's one it's one type of prospective study. The main significance of the work that we've done is that we actually have done a very scientifically rigorous study related to lesbian health. If you were to look at some of the surveys that were done um oh 15 20 years ago where you could find lesbians where as bars and then what gets reported is that lesbians drink more than um heterosexual women. But you have to look at where the samples came from. The Dibble Roberts study um what's exciting about that is again the methodology. the methodology is really that that's the type of research that mainstream researchers do and get lots of money for and have um big press conferences about the results of. In another landmark study, a researcher from the University of Washington in Seattle found evidence that the human papilloma virus or HPV, a high risk factor for cervical cancer, can be transmitted from one woman to another during sex. Scientists previously believed that HPV could only be transmitted through heterosexual intercourse. We have some very good data that's based on the history that women provide us and on the infections that we can find in those women currently to suggest very strongly that at least human papilloma virus or HPV um which is the primary cause of cervical cancer um in women is very probably transmitted from one woman to another. The researchers also discovered issues of concern about health care providers and their treatment of lesbian clients. Time and again when I'd see a woman who had gone for three years, eight years, 10 years without a papsmear and asked her about that, her response was, "Well, my doctor told me not to." Many medical providers think that in fact female to female transmission of any STD is impossible and doesn't occur. Very strong circumstantial evidence that herpes, genital herpes, is transmitted from one woman to another. So, it's very clear for those two. And I suspect that for things like chlamydia and gorrhea, there'll also be some um component of sexual transmission between women. Both the Dibble Roberts study and the Morazzo study, they're being done by lesbian researchers who have achieved a level of respectability and prominence. medical providers will hopefully begin changing how they talk to women who have sex with women about STDs and other STD researchers are hopefully going to look at this and say, "Wow, you know, um this is a population that we haven't uh looked at at all." Meanwhile, the Mary Helen Mner Project for lesbians with cancer in Washington DC has already begun to educate healthc care providers about the special needs of lesbian clients with a new video and training kit. The CDC uh some time ago um gave us money to create a kit that we currently have called Tools for Caring. And tools for caring about lesbian health is a curriculum that can be utilized um by lesbians and or anyone to sensitize health care settings about what would make it more lesbian friendly. You can increase your understanding of lesbian issues and develop non-judgmental ways of thinking and interacting. Grassroots lesbian advocacy along with past research efforts has led to probably the most significant development in lesbian health. A long awaited report funded by the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This Institute of Medicine report outlines priorities for lesbian health research over the next decade. What's going to come out of it and what they looked at? what research has been done, what does the research say? Um, and based on what the research says, what should the priorities for future research be? Researchers will be able to site the M report as the reason that that funding is needed on whatever proposal, research proposal uh, they're submitting. I think it's important to realize for non-medical people that the Institute of Medicine is a very conservative August body that is actually a part of the National Academy of Sciences and to actually have them sort of validate the concept of research in lesbian health by creating um and pursuing and completing this report is a huge deal and was a direct result of a a lot of work by a lot of activists, feminist and lesbian cancer organizations. they are budding in different parts of the country and this is exciting. The amazing grassroots research that's continuing um the ability to get questions about sexual orientation or sexual behavior included in women's health studies and this youth study and the ability to start getting funding for research specifically on lesbian health is like nothing we have ever seen. [Applause] Hello. That's right. I'm a disabled lesbian rabbi. Give me your money. Hi, I'm Lisa Cone. You know, we all hate exams, but there are some tests we can't ignore. If you're a lesbian, find a doctor you can talk to. The In the Life website and community bulletin board at inthelifeetv.org will give you a link. Get the right information, get your exams, stay healthy, then reward yourself. Go see a play. What should I do then? [Music] I'm Ian Mckllen and you're watching In the Life. [Music] Still to come on in the life to a new world of gods and monsters. Ian Mckllen plays James Whale, the father of Frankenstein and exclusive footage of the 1998 Gay Games in Amsterdam. But first, AIDS, of course, is the most serious health challenge the gay community has faced, and the Kalen Lord Center has been at the forefront of providing HIV care. The Community Health Project, the name by which the center was previously known, helped establish the first community-based HIV clinic in the country in 1983. The AIDS crisis also galvanized major efforts to raise money for treatment, research, and education. In our next segment, Paul Mueller investigates some innovative approaches to AIDS fundraising, as well as some events to raise cash that have been marred by controversy. [Music] A summer dance party in the sun and sand on New York's Fire Island. Thousands of men and women riding bicycles hundreds of miles across America. Scuba diving in the crystal clearar waters of the British Virgin Islands. And a friendly competition between Broadway and off Broadway's finest. Just as AIDS doesn't discriminate against its victims, fundraising for AIDS is without boundaries as well. In the summer of 1983, a group of residents in the gay community of the Fire Island Pines turned a small party at a private home into an AIDS benefit. 16 years later, the Morning Party has become one of the most successful and longestr running AIDS fundraisers in the country. 100% of the proceeds benefit gay men's health crisis in New York, the world's oldest and largest AIDS organization. I view it as an important celebration of life and it's a really another milestone in the fight against AIDS. That's what this party is all about. But in recent years, however, the morning party has come under attack from critics who claim this AIDS benefit has become more of a circuit party. Much of the the press's reaction would certainly highlight the mainstream press is a perpetuation of the negative stereotypes of gay men as promiscuous, drug partygoers. It becomes a reflection on the total community. Ronald Johnson is GMHC's acting executive director. He contends the organization is taking the necessary steps to prevent drug use at the party. When we decided to do the party this year, we looked at the 90 1997 party and the fact that there were no overdoses. There were there was not the kind of medical emergency that we had in the previous year that is 96. And we instituted a program what we call the summer share program of providing throughout the summer uh information, workshops, interventions uh dealing with the issue of substance uh use within the gay community. With over 4,500 attendees, this year's party raised $435,000 for AIDS related services at GMHC. People are still dying. People are still getting sick. People are still getting infected. The fact that there are more people living with with AIDS and HIV infection does not mean that the needs have disappeared. The needs have changed and there are more people that we have to serve. From partying on Fire Island to working out on wheels, the AIDS Rides have blossomed into a multi-million dollar fundraising effort run by Pilatada Teamworks. The AIDS Rides are a forprofit venture benefiting nonprofit organizations. Palada takes between 110 and $190,000 as seed money from these notfor-profit organizations and spends that money to produce the AIDS rides. What we do is we want to convince people to do something beyond what's been done before in the fight against AIDS. But some people say too much of what these AIDS rides earn goes back to Pilata Teamworks to cover such things as administrative costs. you need to have a little knowledge and background on how one raises money and that it is a business, you know. Um, I guess the first thing I always put out there is if somebody can do it better at no cost or less cost, please do it because people living with AIDS and HIV need it. As of now, we've raised uh over $90 million gross and with an average of about 57% uh of that money going back to agencies. From the streets and highways across America, we travel to Tortoola in the British Virgin Islands where gay and lesbian scuba enthusiasts don't mind taking the plunge to raise money for AIDS. The annual lesbian and gay scuba diving jamberee is sponsored by Diving for Life, a nonprofit organization benefiting AIDS charities nationwide. Diving for Life was originally the brainchild of Patrick Kelly, who was a member of the New York Village Dive Club. 7 years ago, he decided to form a jamboree with lesbian and gay scuba clubs from around the country. Over the course of the seven years, we lost Patrick, but the organization has continued to grow, and it is now a major fundraiser for lesbian and gay health charities around the country. It was really just an opportunity for representatives from gay and lesbian scuba clubs across the country to get together and have a big event. From that first event, when it was over, we realized that we'd made a profit of about $3,000. And so, there was some question as to what to do with the funds. And so a group of the the club leaders got together and determined that if we were to do this event on an annual basis that we could form an an organization that could raise funds for uh gay and lesbian uh and age related charities. This year's dive raised $46,000 with over 130 divers from the US and England. It's a great great event. Uh uh it's like going to camp. It's like being a little kid and just going to camp and meeting up with your friends and doing the things you love to do, which is in this case scuba diving. After last year's trip, which was in Bonire, I developed a lot of friendships and since everyone's got computers these days, we all kept contact via email. We do sort of form the middleman between the resort and the participant. We try to offer them a below retail rate. Uh but those profits that we do make are what generate our funds so people can go on vacation and raise money at the same time. It's 1998 Easter Bonnet. Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS draws upon the talents of the theater community to raise money. The annual Easter Bonnet competition is a culmination of a six-week fundraising effort by Broadway and off Broadway companies and national touring productions. And now, the first prize for the most fabulous bonnet ever goes to 177. This year's bonnets raised close to $1.8 million to help people living with the illness. This year, more than ever, AIDS organizations across the country have experienced severe cuts in their budgets due to what fundraising experts site as the public's misconception that AIDS no longer poses the threat. it once did. In response, AIDS organizations are coming up with innovative ways of fundraising to keep the public informed and aware. This process is not a cheap one and our goal is to minimize expenses and to maximize the number of donor dollars going back to the agencies. AIDS is not over. It's it's not a time to be complacent. We need to reinvigorate ourselves. We are looking at ways in which we can develop new messages to to communicate the realities of this epidemic. [Music] I can't. [Applause] [Music] I'm Learia. Cast up on the town is proud to be working with Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. Can't wait till you see my Easter bonnet next spring. It's going to have Barbie dolls on it. Hey, find out how you can give time to AIDS organizations in your area. Your local yellow pages or gay and lesbian newspaper should have lots of listings. You can also check out the in the life website and community bulletin board at inthelifeetv.org. Remember, you can make a [Music] Our next segment is about one of the most successful directors during Hollywood's golden era, James Whale, a maverick filmmaker who was haunted by his own homosexuality and his legacy as the father of Frankenstein. Several recent works chronicle the life of the artist who created monsters while battling demons. Look, it's moving. It's alive. It's alive. It's alive. If you look at the most popular work of James Whale, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and even the musical Showboat, a theme of a misunderstood outsider emerges, drawing a parallel with the director's own life and the isolation he felt as an openly gay man in 1930s Hollywood. One of the most prestigious directors of his era, Whale was also mocked as the queen of Hollywood. 40 years later, his life has spurred biographies, a novel in a feature film called Gods and Monsters. The film is a fictional account of the end of Whale's life, but it is based in reality. He's a bit of a gay hero because he was someone who was openly gay in the 1930s all the way through the 1950s and um thrived in spite of it. This is Mr. James Whale, who made Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. And this, forget the baby a second, is the monster and his bride. Gods and Monsters stars Sir Ian Mckllen as the Englishborn director. The film surrounds his obsession with a young straight gardener played by Brandon Frasier. Good morning. My name is Well, this is my house. You're a homosexual if I must use a clinical man. I'm not. You know, I never thought you were. In the film, a frail and dying James Whale, ostracized from Hollywood, is haunted by his sometimes painful past. He had seen the destruction in the First World War firsthand and never forgotten it. The work he wanted to do would include pieces of himself. This black humor which I feel he developed while he was in the trenches in the first world war. Good old youn like a turkey hen. His movies are just full of a kind of camp wit that is as fresh today as it was 60 years ago. The most overt is the whole character of Dr. Ptorius in Bride of Frankenstein who's played by Ernest Thessiger who is very good friends with Whale and Whale created this character for thesiger to play the bride of Frankenstein. And the man is this desiccated old queen. Ernest Thesser was one of numerous gay actors whale cast in his films. Some claim it was Whale's subversiveness that ruined him and forced him to retire. Well, the usual story is that it is what ruined Whale's career. Thing is Whale stopped making films in 1941, long before the post-war homophobia really had its toll. So, the rumors are true then? rumors of those people that you were forced to retire because of um a sex scandal. A homosexual scandal, you mean? For me to answer a question with that magnitude, you'll have to remove both your shoes and socks. You're a dirty old man. It's certainly not a PC character. You know, he's an older uh gay man who still has sexual urges. Any young guy within 500 feet, he tries to get them to take their clothes off. Certain predatory things like that. Just like going swimming, isn't it? He will suffer the fires of hell. It's very sad. You sure of that? That's what the priest tell me. His sins of the flesh will keep him from heaven. When I was growing up myself in the United Kingdom in the 40s and 50s, uh homosexuality was uh never mentioned. If I had had a few positive uh gay images in my life, had it been had I understood Michelangelo was gay, had I understood that Benjamin Britain was gay, uh that John Gilgood was, people I admired and it was no big deal, you know, they weren't monsters and they weren't gods, then um I think my life would have been easier. What a couple of queens we are, Colin. Yes, that's right. A couple of flaming queens. One shouldn't categorize him as a an early gay activist. Such things didn't exist in the 30s and 40s perhaps. But he becomes symbolic because so few people in Hollywood through the years even now of his eminence find it um comfortable to be honest about their sexuality. Scene 215. Take one. Action. [Music] I'm not a monster, but I play one on stage. For more information on the life of the monster maker James Whale, check out James Whale, A New World of Gods and Monsters by James Curtis. For a history of gay Hollywood, David Arenstein's new book, Open Secret Gay Hollywood, 1928 to 1998, might be of interest. I'm Ever Quinton and you're watching In the Life. [Music] No event exemplifies the health and vitality of the gay community more than the Gay Games. The 1998 event in Amsterdam attracted over 15,000 participants from around the globe. In the life was also there to capture the pride, the passion and a few of the problems. We bring you now a replay of some of the events you might have missed. [Music] Hello, I'm Pedro Andres. I'm coming from Colombia and uh well, I'm going to do the marathon. My name is Eva and I'm coming from Croatia. I am a dancer. [Music] The first week of August brought Gay Games 5 to Amsterdam, a city known for its genuine acceptance of homosexuality. [Music] Not all the participants knew it, but the games were actually at risk of never even beginning thanks to an overexpenditure of more than $1 million. In a gesture of goodwill and generosity, the Gay Games was saved by the city of Amsterdam. A lastminute donation of 5 million guilders allowed the games to begin. Welcome again. Built on the ideals of founder Tom Wedell, himself an Olympic athlete, this year's games lived up to their motto, friendship through culture and sports. Participants came from 78 countries, proudly and loudly parading at the game's opening ceremonies. And remember, many of those sharing their pride so visibly came from nations where this sort of openness is inconceivable. Some from nations where to be openly gay is to risk imprisonment, even death. People from Eastern Europe, from Asia. I saw a man from Iran and during the opening ceremony, he was just there by himself. Well, we know that people in Iran, for instance, are hanged because of their homosexuality. Amnesty International helped athletes from a number of these countries come to the games and experience what was for some their first chance to be open about who they were without fear of reprisal. Croatia is um right now very right-wing country, very conservative after the war and it is um quite difficult to be gay in Croatia. Eva Goten is from Zagreb, Croatia, where being a lesbian, while no longer illegal, is still challenging and sometimes dangerous. I think when I come home from here, I will be so much more richer and fuller and, you know, with more energy. [Music] And energy was not hard to find. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Throughout the week, athletes competed in 29 sports from bad mitten and basketball to weightlifting and wrestling. Work him, Tony. That's it. Work him. While most of the athletes were happy just to reach for their own personal best, the competition was fierce for the gold, silver, and bronze medals, and several new records were set. Unfortunately, there were some disappointments at the games. In a surprising example of what some were saying was reverse discrimination, no mixed sex couples were allowed to participate in ballroom dancing. And in the most glaring error of the games, not all of the athletes who made the journey to Amsterdam were able to officially compete. [Music] Many participants arrived without realizing that the figure skating event did not meet the guidelines for an international skating union sanctioned competition. In the past, the organization has provided a waiver for athletes to skate in the gay games. But this year, proper application procedures were not followed and the waiver was denied. All of the figure skaters risked being permanently banned from their sport if they competed in the games. [Applause] The result, rather than watch four years of training and dreams go up in smoke, the athletes found another way to reach their moment in the spotlight. A so-called public practice. But as the crowd could attest, this was a practice in name only. [Music] Make me feel like a natural woman. While the main focus of the gay games is by definition athletics, many participants took part in cultural events ranging from coral recitations to storytelling. [Music] Audiences were exposed to music, theater, and art from gay and lesbian artists from around the world. Cultural events were not limited to stages and concert halls. The Ammersport swimming venue was the host of this year's Pink Flamingo, an event which began at Gay Games 3 in Vancouver as a drag relay race. Eight years later, the event has blossomed into a poolside extravaganza that is planned with almost as much care as the swimming competition itself. The eight days of the games closed with the running of the marathon along the very same route as the Olympic marathon held in 1928. Then it was back to the Amsterdam Arena for the closing ceremonies and a look ahead to Sydney, Australia in 2002 for Gay Game 6. From all of us at In the Life, thank you for watching and we'll see you next time. That is the [Applause] [Music] Come on. Come on. [Music] [Applause] [Music] In the life is funded in part by the H. Vanamaringan Foundation. Additional support provided by Michael A. Lepin, the Gil Foundation, the Mitchell Gold Company in the hopes of eliminating all types of fear and prejudice, the Terren K. Watanabe Charitable Trust in memory of Michael D. Palm and in the life members like you [Music]