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0
General Gayety
by Leslie Robinson . Contributing Writer
The rainbow and TV icons
Meredith Baxter’s announcement that she
is a lesbian has put a — you should excuse
the expression — kink in the long line of all-
American TV moms.
It’s not June Cleaver or Harriet Nelson who
has come out, but as Elyse Keaton on “Family
Ties,” Baxter was a loving mother and wife, a
maternal anchor on a hugely popular show
that ran during most of the ’80s.
Now Baxter isn’t just a member of the TV-
mom sorority. She’s also one of those LGBT
actors who played iconic straight roles.
Sometimes America’s favorite, most hetero
sexual characters were played by actors who,
well, were really, really acting.
Baxter says only relatively recently did
she figure out she’s gay, so she wasn’t con
sciously hiding anything. From the televi
sion audience, anyway. Whether she was
hiding anything from herself is between
her, her therapist and, this being L.A., her
other therapist.
Elyse Keaton, a liberal former hippie, had
what so many TV moms had over the decades
preceding her; maternal warmth, patience,
wisdom. She also had what a TV mom need
ed by the ’80s: a job, although I admit I could
n’t remember she was an architect. You could
argue that handling her conservative son
Alex, famously played by Michael J. Fox, was
work enough.
During the ’80s, Elyse
Keaton was, and she
remains still, one of
America’s best-known
mothers. Now we know
one of America’s famous
mommies was a lesbian.
Life is good.
I had no idea back in the ’70s that
Grandpa Walton was anything other than
straight as a board from the Walton family
sawmill. In fact. Will Geer was more like the
curly shavings.
Grandpa, patriarch of “The Waltons,” was
a good-natured character. Hard-working,
dedicated to his family, wise, mischievous
and fond of visiting the Baldwin sisters for a
nip of upscale moonshine, he was still in
love with his wife of a zillion years. I’d guess
that, regardless of class, race, religion or any
thing, many Americans would’ve loved to
have Zeb Walton as their grandfather. He was
the definition of endearing. Sort of a walrus
meets a panda.
I can’t think of any other grandfather on
TV more appealing. Actually, I can hardly
think of any other grandfather. Grandpa
Munster? He was more all-Transylvanian than
all-American.
When Will Geer took the role of Zeb
Walton, he’d already had a long career on
the stage and in film and television. He was
attracted to radical politics; actress Helen
Hayes once called him “the world’s oldest
hippie.” In 1933, Geer met Harry Hay, who
would later be one of the founders of gay
see General on 21
Stage set for council action
from page 5
very confident that our council has the ability
to have a rational discussion about these
issues and focus on what we aU want to focus
on, which is competitiveness and there is
clearly a link between these issues and attract
ing talented people to our area.”
Throughout the almost year-long dis
cussion over the county’s new benefits poli
cy, Roberts argued inclusive policies will
help Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
compete with the private sector. She said
feedback since the Dec. 15 meeting has
proven her right.
“I have gotten a number of emails from peo
ple who are with companies that offer [domes
tic partner benefits] — both gay and straight
folks who say their companies long ago decided
that it helped them attract the best work force
and let people know they care and are fair]’ she
said. “They know they are not going to be dis
criminated against in the workplace.”
City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tern
Susan Burgess has long been among the most
outspoken and visible city leaders supporting
Charlotte’s LGBT community. She assures the
city is making plans now to address these
issues soon.
“I expect we’ll do something,” Burgess said.
“That has been the plan all along. I have talked
to [Foxx] about the schedule to approach this.
We are working on it, so I think something will
happen. I’m not sure exactly when.”
Domestic partner benefits will likely con
tinue to be a hot-button issue, but the city will
also need to consider amendments to its
employee non-discrimination policies which
do not include protections on the basis of sex
ual orientation and gender-identity.
Mecklenburg County policies presently
include sexual orientation.
Both Foxx and Burgess are committed to
adding sexual orientation to the city’s non
discrimination policy but have been vague
on their positions regarding inclusion of
gender-identity.
“We want to do what we can get passed,”
Burgess said. “We’ll see how far we can go
with that.”
In a Q8cA with Q-Notes after the election,
Foxx said he’d be willing to look into the
inclusion.
“I’d have to dig a little more into the
human resources aspects of that to under
stand the extent to which it isn’t covered by
sexual orientation,” he said.
The council’s consideration of new policies
should be made easier by the absence of long
time mayor Pat McCrory, who opposed inclu
sive changes in the city’s employment or bene
fits practices.
Six other jurisdictions in North Carolina
offer domestic partner benefits. Thirteen local
governments include sexual orientation in
their employee non-discrimination policies;
four also protect employees on the basis of
gender-identity. I
Read more:
Find breaking news and read more about the Dec. 15
Mecklenburg County Commissioners meeting at
q-notes.com.
6 DECEMBER 26.2009‘ftNotes