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10
FCC Acts 6n Petition
(Gont. from p. 1}
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organizations of and for the elderly;
organizations of and fpir women;
organizations of and for youth--
including children—and students;
professions; public safety; health
and welfare; recreation; and religion.
Broadcasters were required to
ascertain representatives of the 19
elements. An optional category was
provided for surveying other elements
not on the checklist. However, there
was no requirement to go beyond the
stated 19 elements.
The 1977 petition submitted by
NGTF had requested that the list of
19 groups be expanded to include
"organizations of and for the gay
community." When handicapped groups
petitioned as well, the Commission
staff recommended modification of
the optional "other" category to en
sure that all significant elements
and institutions in a community be
given an opportunity to participate
in the ascertainment process.
The rule appiroved by the FCC,
therjfore, places an obligation on
broadcasters to go beyond the 19
elements when an unlisted element
significant to the community contacts
the broadcaster.
After the Commission vote, FCC
chairperson Charles D, Ferris ^id
in a written statement, "Our action
today does acknowledge that groups
constituting significant elements of
the community—handicapped, gays,
new immigrant arrivals such as the
Vietnamese in some areas—are part
of our diverse American people.
Whether wealthy or impoverished,
politically powerful or weak, they
deserve to be hearf,"
"Lesbian and gay groups across
the country have been given an im
portant tool to use in the effort
to improve broadcast coverage of
our concerns," said HGTP Co-
Executive Directors Charles F.
Brydon and Lucia Valeska.
The NCTF pamphlet, "Media Guide
to Gay Issues," can be obtained by
sending 100 to:
National Gay Task Force
80 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
(Letter cont. from p. t)
Cruising
am
Cruising illustrates all these
points. It underscores them through
Pacino in the lead role: discover-
ingr:rand liking, -relishing—the gay
subculture, finding a gay friend,
discovering homosexuality in himself,
losing his orientation, and finally,
acting out from self-hatred and self
rejection to murder the nan to whom
he finds himself attracted, Pacino's
motivation is the same as that of the
psycho-killer; to destroy the evi
dence of homosexuality.
Cruising is not a particularly
pleasant film. Tnere are moments
of hideous brutality. These are not
points against the movie: the
realities of repression and self-
hatred are unpleasant, brutal and
hideous. To depict them any other
way is dishonest.
Perhaps this perspective separ-
Cruising from the general realm
of gay experience; after1all, very
few of us become.,so unhinged by re
pression and self-hatred as to commit
murder. (Suicide is a more common
pattern.) But repression and self-
hatred remain very important prob
lems for many gays. Since homo
phobia is so prevalent, most of us
have to work through these problems.
Gayness is very positive when
one has evolved to the point of
dealing with the repression and op
pression involved; of course, there
is a need for films about triumph
and liberation and positivism.
Still there are certain social
(and hence psychological) reali
ties; to ignore them because they
are unpleasant is dishonest and
dangerous.
A gay movement which insists
that all artistic treatments of homo
sexuality be, essentially, propa
ganda pieces about happiness and
fulfillment and coming out, while
ignoring social realities, is suf
fering from serious problems of
self-confidence.
Perhaps these problems of self-
confidence and image arise from the
kinds of repression and self-hatred
analyzed in Cruising. If so, the
source of the gay paranoid over
reaction to the film is that;
rather than being dishonest, it
was honest enough to explore a sen
sitive area that most of us would
like ’ to forget.
As long as the manifestations of
self-hatred exist—queer bashing,
sado-masochism, suicide, murder,
etc.—it behooves us to remember
and understand them, not to censor
them and pretend that they don't
exist,
-Nelson Lancaster