Editorial
Editorial
Why We Still Need a Gay Press
It
was one of those things that just jiggled my elbow, a collection of hmmmmn
moments.
When the March 2005 issue of OITM
came out, it carried a centerfold arts story on Vermont resident and filmmaker
John Scagliotti (Oliver Button Is a Star, In the Life, Before Stonewall,
After Stonewall). Scagliotti's new documentary, Dangerous Living,
on how it is to be gay or lesbian in the rest of the world, was shown
in Montpelier during the Green Mountain Film Festival at the end of March.
I waited to see how other media would handle it.
And I waited. And I waited.
There was nothing in any of the media
I checked: not in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, the Burlington
Free Press, Seven Days, no mention on Vermont Public Radio.
And some of those media outlets, like WPTZ Channel 5 and VPR, ballyhooed
"Vermont filmmakers," including Nora Jacobsen (Nothing like
Dreaming) and Ed Dooley (Sacrificial Lambs).
I even checked all the references to the
film festival's 2005 series that I could find on the Web, and the only
places Dangerous Living was mentioned outside a calendar listing
were on the Festival's own website (www.focusonfilm.net)
and in the pages of Out in the Mountains. Hmmmmmmmn. The film's
showing, by the way, sold out.
The second hmmmmn moment occurred during
and after the ceremony in which the University of Vermont and St. Michael's
College conferred honorary degrees on South African Anglican Archbishop
("retired") Desmond Tutu. I was in UVM's Patrick Gymnasium with
the hundreds of others to hear the Nobel laureate speak.
It was Roman Catholic St. Michael's
College President Marc A. vanderHeyden – not President Dan Fogel
of secular UVM – who commended Bishop Tutu for his stand against
homopobia, among other ills (racial discrimination, hunger, poverty, war)
we humans inflict on each other. And the dear bishop himself mentioned
it at least twice, declaring that his god called "all, all, all,
all, all" of us to the table as family: brown, black, yellow, red,
and a pale shade of pink; "gay, lesbian and so-called straight"
included.
VPR did us all a service by re-broadcasting
a slightly edited version of Bishop Tutu's remarks. But otherwise, that
inclusive call was omitted from the news coverage I saw of the speech.
News media from television to radio to print routinely focused solely
on Tutu's call to end racial discrimination and to embrace racial diversity.
And that was certainly the major focus, but what makes the peace prize-winner
truly remarkable is that he has seen and understood and says out loud
repeatedly that hate and discrimination in all, all, all, all, all its
forms is inimical to peace – like "spitting in God's face."
Hmmmmmmmmmn.
There was how little coverage was
given to the Episcopal House of Bishops' response to the worldwide Anglican
Communion’s call for the US denomination to cease ordaining gay
or lesbian bishops and for an apology following the ordination of Gene
Robinson. What little coverage there was in Vermont focused solely on
the proffered apology, not on the declaration that no bishops would be
ordained rather than singling out potential lesbian or gay candidates
to refuse to ordain (see "Blessings
of the Times," Out in the Mountains, April, 2005).
I saw no coverage of the Translating Identity
Conference anywhere but here, even though there's a relevant bill in the
legislature right now.
In ways large and small, our concerns, our
stories, support by well known and well respected allies for our issues
are routinely ignored by local and national media every day, every week,
every month.
Except here.
That’s why we still need – need
more than ever – a gay press.
Please support your gay press: advertise,
subscribe, volunteer. Tell our advertisers that you saw their ad in our
pages and that you appreciate their support for our community.
Ask your favorite coffee shop, co-op, laundromat,
chiropractor's or dentist's office to become a distribution point (they
can do it with as few as 5 copies!). Tell your friends they should be
reading OITM – for the issues, the writing, the news and
commentary they won't get anywhere else. The best advertising we could
ever have is word of mouth from a trusted source – that's you.
Write letters to the editor about issues
that concern you. Tell us when we’re doing a good job and when we
could have or should have done better.
And, of course, donations are gratefully
accepted – and tax-deductible besides.
Support your gay press, so we can continue
to be your eyes and ears, your news analyst, your stimulating commentator
on issues you care about – or that snag your attention unexpectedly
– and will find only here.
Thanks.
Euan Bear, Editor
Euan Bear,
Editor