Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Mon, Mar 30 1992 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 92 05:43:33 EST Message-ID: 03-30 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update March 30, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Monday morning in USA TODAY: Outing; D.C. TODAY'S DEBATE - OUTING AT THE ACADMEY AWARDS: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The Academy Awards' 1 billion viewers make the event an irresistible forum. Unfortunately, tonight that may produce a sideshow that distracts from real issues this nation must confront if it is to call itself a just society. Some gay-rights activists say they'll protest how the industry ridicules or ignores homosexuals in most films and has failed to make a major AIDS movie. They threaten to name Hollywood homosexuals - to "out" them. ... Their rage is understandable. Their tactics aren't. ... For lesbians and gays, the world too often is a war zone - for no more reason than, perhaps, the whim of a gene. This is the crime. This - not the sideshow you might see tonight - is the outrage that cries for activism from everyone who values human rights. OTHER VIEW: MICHELANGELO SIGNORILE, a New York writer and columnist for The Advocate; his forthcoming book is "Queer in America:" Once again, our high-minded media are chastising naughty gay activists for the practice of outing, weighing in against the radicals' behavior only weeks after they themselves splashed Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton's alleged extramarital binge all over their front pages - certainly without his blessings. Somehow, that was "reportage," while what outers do is "an invasion of privacy." Every day the media alter the lives of countless public figures when they report simple facts about their heterosexuality. But ask them why they won't report that someone is gay, and their excuse for this veiled homophobia is that it ruins careers. This in spite of the fact that no one who has been outed has experienced such a fate - whether it be a member of Congress, a Pentagon official or an Oscar-nominated actress. They're all doing just fine. But that shouldn't matter anyway. It's not the media's job to protect careers. It's their job to report the truth. And it's activists' job to advance a movement. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON WASHINGTON, D.C., BECOMING A STATE: SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sandra K. Wilbourn, 38, student: The District of Columbia should be a state. The people who live there should have the same power as the people in any state to govern and control themselves. I used to live in D.C., and I think the reason it's not a state is because most of the people are black. MALDEN BRIDGE, N.Y., Linc Corsey, 21, college student: Although I definitely think the people who live in the District of Columbia should have some kind of representation, I don't think that it should be made a state. I don't know what I would do to help D.C. residents get representation in Congress, but it should be studied. CINCINNATI, Ohio, Lisa Slone, 32, administrative asst.: To simplify matters, I feel calling it a state is much better than a district as it is now called, considering we don't have any other districts. I don't think the change would be that hard to accept. LOUISVILLE, Ky., Bill Heavrin, 48, commun. affairs spec.: Possibly the condition the city is in is caused by the fact that residents don't have adequate representation in Congress. Latent racism is just rampant throughout our country. D.C. is a microcosm of that racial discrimination. SPARTA, Tenn., Betty Dabbs, 50, teacher: I'm glad they have the right to vote and have a city government. But I don't think there should be another state. I think there are enough states, and it wasn't intended to be a state by the Founding Fathers. I don't see any reason to change it. Issues & Debate Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM