QilMina G^A§8ociatioii, I^wgiel^
Vol, 5, No. 2
December 1979
ABC Broadcasts Documentary
The Gay Media Alliance has learned
that the doctjmentary titled "ABC News
Closeup—Homosexuals" is scheduled to
be shown on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 10 p.m.
EST.
Fred Goldhaber of the Gay Media
Alliance was allowed to preview the
entire one-hour program recently.
The program is preceded by an
advisory for parental discretion and
against stereotyping gay people. It
says that ^ay people are just as di
verse as straights. Goldhaber said,
"This makes the program a signifi
cant pro-gay event."
"This is an iraportant program,"
Goldhaber said, "which features
only lesbians and gay men talking
about themselves, their experiences
and their feelings about being gay."
The program has no narration, and
there are no professional overviews.
The program also does not discuss
"origins of homosexuality".
The program is in four segments:
oppression; escape; relationships;
expression.
"Although two of the people dis
cuss suicidal feelings," Goldhaber
said, "it is made clear that these
feelings are the result of the
often vicious oppression of hetero
sexual society.
"The lesbian and gay men are a
cross section of gay^ life in America,
and reflect a wide range of experi
ences and beliefs. They are people,
human beings with human feelings.
"On the whole, the program is sen
sitive and honest. The emphasis is
on the oppression that lesbians and
gay men live under in a predominantly
heterosexual world and the ways in
which they deal with this oppression
and overcome it.
"Many of the conversations are
about the joy and exhilaration that
gays have experienced from coming
out-of their closets or, as a 50-
y0ar—old convert to homosexuality
put it, ’going over the fence*."
The show advises that it is about
certain urban men and v/omen who are
homosexuals. "Even the majority of
lesbians and gay people living in
huge cities should find the show in
formative and interesting,** R. Paul
Martin, spokesperson for GMA said.
(ABC, cont, p. 1^
Border Harassments
Continue Against Aliens
Pj-Qgress on banning discrimination
against foreign gays wishing to enter
the United States seems to have halted
since former Immigration and Naturali
zation Service director Leonel Castillo
issued a mid—August directive deferring
any INS action in barring gays from
this country. According to the Wash
ington, DC Blade, harassment of gays
at the border has continued despite
the directive.
Prior to this summer’s events, gay
£Qj-g^gQ0j7s \jQ.x& often denied entrance
on the basis of a 1952 McCarthy-era
law which stigmatized all visiting
aliens categorized as homosexual as
"afflicted with psycopathic personal
ity." Public Health Service psychia
trists and psychologists were called
upon to conduct examinations ^Landing
to "diagnoses" of sexual de)^le^y,
which allowed Immigration Ser^^ce
officers to deport the individuals
in question.
This policy was dealt a fatal blow
with the case of Carl Hill, who is th(
news editor of the London Gay News.
He was denied entrance along with his
lover after an inspector spotted a
"Gay Pride" button Hill was wearing.
The Gay Rights Advocates sought
judicial relief in Hill’s behalf, and
after a hectic two-month campaign the
achieved a major victory. The Sur
geon General forbad Public Health
Service medical officers from Issuing
certificates of exclusion based sole!
(BORDER, cont. p. 12)
ii; :