just out ▼ January 10. 1998 ▼ 9
American Airlines changes
sponsorship strategy
In response to growing controversy over al
leged drug use and unsafe sex taking place at gay
male “circuit parties,” American Airlines has
withdrawn its sponsorship of several such events,
the New York Blade reports.
A company representative said the airline spon
sored several parties that served, at least in part, a
philanthropic function, but it will instead become
more involved in sponsorship of the nonprofit
organizations themselves.
American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea
Rader said the decision was prompted by several
factors, including the increasing criticism of cir
cuit parties by gay writers like Michelangelo
Signorile.
“[HJaving our name on an activity that’s been
linked to drug use and other kinds of questionable
behavior, whether it be a gay function or some
other function, certainly is something that would
make us sit up and take notice,” Rader said. “We
like to be sure that our dollars are used in ways we
consider appropriate.”
APA says yea
On Dec. 18, the executive council of the Ameri
can Psychoanalytic Association adopted a resolu
tion endorsing the legal recognition of same-sex
marriage.
According to the Business Wire news service,
the resolution states: “Because marriage is a basic
human right and an individual personal
choice.. .the state should not interfere with same
gender couples who choose to marry and share
fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and
commitment of civil marriage.”
Dr. Marvin Margolis, association president,
expressed support for the resolution and lauded
the ongoing political and judicial work under
taken by psychoanalysts to counter attempts to
infringe upon the civil rights of any individual.
Member Dr. Ralph Roughton added that the
group is “proud to join the many prominent na
tional organizations and individuals which sup
port the efforts for gay and lesbian civil rights in
the area of marriage and family.”
‘Famous’ doesn’t equal
‘popular’ for Ellen
PHOTO BY JEFFERY
A Gannett News Service poll found that more
than 90 percent of U.S.
citizens know who
Ellen DeGeneres is
(making her more
well-known than Sen
ate Majority Leader
Trent Lott) but only
one in three approve
Œ
of her, the Detroit
News reports.
Responses to other
questions in the sur
vey indicate that a sig
nificant number of
people think the de-
Ellen DeGeneres
piction of queers on
television has gone too far: 33 percent said televi
sion should feature no gay characters and 23
percent said there should be fewer gay characters,
while 30 percent were satisfied with the current
mix and only 7 percent wanted to see more gay
characters.
The survey also found that respondents were
largely opposed to legal recognition of same-sex
marriage, with 58 percent saying the government
should prohibit the practice, vs. 33 percent saying
it should be allowed.
So much for teamwork
Two incidents involving allegations of homo
sexuality and ensuing fights between teammates
have made headlines in the nation’s capital of late.
According to the Washington Post, on Dec. 10
Rod Strickland of the basketball team Washing
ton Wizards accosted teammate Tracy Murray
after learning through a third party that Murray
said Strickland was gay.
Four months earlier, Washington Redskins
teammates Stephen Davis and Michael Westbrook
came to blows because Davis used a derogatory
term in suggesting that Westbrook was gay.
Both incidents were resolved through disci
plinary actions and fines imposed by the teams’
coaches.
The Post story suggests that the macho atmo
sphere surrounding professional sports should not
be held at fault. Rich
ard Lapchick, director
of the Center for the
Study of Sport in So
ciety at Northeastern
University, told the
newspaper: “Not to
diminish [the impact
of] racism or sexism,
but we have people
studying diversity and
conflict resolution and
they say homophobia
is the biggest problem
close to it. It is not
something about professional sports. It’s a huge
problem in society.”
Teachers, students
under fire in California
When a San Leandro High School science
teacher recently told students she was a lesbian,
her admission set off a storm of parental criticism,
The Associated Press reports.
The teacher’s revelation came during a week
of campus lessons about diversity, during which
more than half the school staff wore pink triangles
that proclaimed, “Someone you care about is
lesbian or gay.”
Complaints were quick to follow, and an ad
hoc parents’ group asked the school district to fire
the science teacher, who prefers to remain anony
mous, as well as the principal and another outspo
ken teacher, Carl Debro, who told reporters, “Some
teachers feel that this is a witch hunt...and the
silence of the district has left them feeling that
maybe the district is going to allow this witch hunt
to continue.”
The AP report says district officials are inves
tigating Debro for alleged “unprofessional con
duct,” “misuse of class time” and showing disre
spect for the race and sexual orientation of the
parents who complained. The parents are hetero
sexual and white; Debro is heterosexual and black.
Further controversy arose when John Cambra,
leader of the newly formed parent group People
Interested in Public Education, wrote a letter to a
local newspaper in which he claimed that two 15-
year-old girls had had sex in a high school bath
room.
One of the girls denied the story and reported
that she and her girlfriend had been so harassed as
a result of their openly lesbian relationship that
they left the school to join an independent study
program.
Compiled by Christopher D. Cuttone
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