Why We

Still

Need a Gay

Press

t was one_of those things that just jiggled
lmy 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’,i1o 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 laure-
ate 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 theinews
coverage I saw of the speech. News media
from television to radio to print routinely
focused solelyion Tutu’s call to end racial
discrimination and to embrace racial diver-
sity. And that was certainly the major focus,
but what makes the peace prize-winner truly
remarkable is that he has seen and under-
stood and says out loud repeatedly that hate

 

but here, even though there’s a relevant bill
in the legislature right now.

In ways large and small, our con-
cerns, 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 westill 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 com-
mentary 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‘

Our concerns, our stories,
support by respected allies
for our issues are routinely

-ignored by local and

national media every day,
every week, every month.

Except here.

and discrimination in all, all, all, all, all its
forms is inimical to peace — like “spitting in
God’s face.” I-Immmmmmmmmn.

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, March, 2005).

I saw no coverage of the
Translating Identity Conference anywhere

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 I
news analyst, your stimulating commentator I
on issues you care about — or that snag your
attention unexpectedly — and will find only
here. ‘

Thanks. V

' Euan Bear, Editor