--- Sponsor's Message --------------------------------------
Can't find your pictures? You should use FlipAlbum!
Simply select a folder and FlipAlbum will create a
page flipping album complete with thumbnails and index!
Try it out now! ->
http://click.topica.com/aaaafubz8SnrbAjwjxa/www.softflip.com/c/?x=topica_1
------------------------------------------------------------
__________________________________________________________________________
The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 24 March 2000
Vol. 4, Number 25 (#406)
__________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
Latest Readings of Interest
anti-fascist zines
computer/net zines
Protests Against Hate via Dr. Laura
Steve Gorman (Reuters), "Hundreds rally against Paramount's 'Dr. Laura'
show," 21 Mar 00
AP, "Schlessinger TV Show Draws Protest," 21 Mar 00
E! Online, "Protesters Picket Paramount, Dr. Laura -- Gay-rights
activists turned out en masse outside Paramount's Hollywood studios
yesterday with a message about the studio's upcoming Dr. Laura TV
show: Shame on you! ," 22 Mar 00
Planet Out, "'Dr. Laura' Protested at Paramount," 22 Mar 00
What's Worth Checking: 10 stories
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LATEST READINGS OF INTEREST:
Remember that we carry a large number of other journals of interest to
anti-fascists via <http://www.anti-fascism.org>
under "anti-fascist zines" we have:
Antifa Info-Bulletin #242, 19 Mar 00
Tom Burghardt's weekly zine from the W. Coast
Right Wing Watch Online 21 Mar 00
published by People For the American Way 21 Mar 00
Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 16 Mar 00
published by the Committee For the Scientific Investigation of Claims of
the Paranormal (CSICOP)
Jen Rosenberg's biweekly Holocaust Newsletter is no longer published.
under "computer/net zines" we have:
Computer underground Digest
probably *the* hacker journal is now publishing again with 12:01, 12 Mar
00
CDT Policy Post 6:04, 16 Feb 00
A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online from
The Center For Democracy and Technology
CyberWire Dispatch 5 Jan 00
EPIC Alert 7:02, 2 Mar 00
Newsletter of the Electronic Privacy Information Center
Netaction Notes, #55, 21 Mar 00
Netfuture #104, 21 Mar 00
[A Journal On] Technology and Human Responsibility
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROTESTS AGAINST HATE VIA DR. LAURA
Hundreds rally against Paramount's "Dr. Laura" show
Steve Gorman (Reuters)
21 Mar 00
HOLLYWOOD -- Hundreds of gay activists staged a boisterous rally outside
the Paramount Pictures lot Tuesday to protest the studio's plans for a TV
talk show hosted by controversial radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
whom they accuse of homophobia.
The demonstration was the latest in a growing uproar over Paramount's deal
with Schlessinger, who has denied being anti-gay or trying to foment
intolerance toward gays and lesbians despite her on-air references to
homosexuality as "deviant" and "a biological error."
Dozens of protesters carried signs saying, "I Am Not a Biological Error"
and "Hate is a Paramount Concern," and they chanted, "No Show, No Show," as
passing motorists honked their horns. Across the street, about two dozen
supporters of Schlessinger staged a counter-demonstration, accusing her
opponents of trying to stifle free speech.
Although the entertainment industry has increasingly come under fire for
content deemed offensive by various groups, the outcry over Schlessinger is
unique in pitting many of Paramount's own employees against the studio.
Organizers said many of the estimated 400 supporters who attended Tuesday's
rally work for Paramount, and one of the first to address the crowd was
David Lee, co-creator of the Emmy-winning NBC comedy "Frasier," a Paramount
production.
"I'm here because something I've worked for during the past 15 years has
betrayed me," Lee said, adding that Paramount executives were "behaving ...
irresponsibly by giving a platform to a woman who is hurting the gay
community, literally."
Lee said he approached a number of Paramount executives privately, seeking
to "talk them out of" the Schlessinger show, but joined the protest when
his complaints fell on deaf ears. Many Paramount employees share his
sentiments but have kept their views quiet for fear of losing their jobs,
he said.
Schlessinger, famed for pontificating on moral and ethical issues on a
weekday call-in radio program heard by an estimated 18 million listeners,
has drawn the ire of gay activists for her rhetoric on homosexuality,
including her support for controversial therapies aimed at redirecting gays
and lesbians toward a straight lifestyle.
Last year, she signed a deal to host an hourlong syndicated daytime show
produced and distributed by the Paramount Television Group. The TV show,
which has been sold to about 160 stations reaching more than 90 percent of
U.S. households, is due to premiere in September.
If Paramount refuses to drop the show, leaders of Tuesday's demonstration
said they would carry on their campaign against Schlessinger to television
advertisers.
Paramount has promised that Schlessinger's upcoming program will encompass
a wide range of viewpoints. In a statement Tuesday, the studio said, "we
are committed to presenting society's moral and ethical issues without
creating or contributing to an environment of hurt, hate or intolerance."
Schlessinger was not available to comment Tuesday, but in a March 10
statement she later described as a "clarification" of her views, the radio
host said she never intended "to hurt anyone or contribute in any way to an
atmosphere of hate of intolerance."
- - - - -
Schlessinger TV Show Draws Protest
AP
21 Mar 00
LOS ANGELES -- Gay rights protesters shouting "shame, shame, shame"
gathered outside Paramount Pictures Tuesday to demand the studio drop plans
to bring controversial radio host Laura Schlessinger to television this
fall.
The tough-talking host known as "Dr. Laura," who dispenses relationship
advice on her enormously popular radio show, has called homosexuality a
"biological error" and "deviant."
"When Paramount bought Laura Schlessinger's show, they bought a battle with
the gay community," said Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay and
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
One of the signs carried by the more than 200 demonstrators read "No More
Matthew Shepards," a reference to the gay student killed in Wyoming in
1998.
Paramount, which has been slammed by other gay rights groups, has stood
firm, and none of the stations signed on to air Schlessinger's show have
backed out.
In a statement, the studio said it was committed to presenting moral and
ethical issues without "creating or contributing to an environment of hurt,
hate or intolerance."
Countering the demonstrators were about 75 Schlessinger supporters
organized by Campaign for California Families, a conservative, nonprofit
organization.
- - - - -
Protesters Picket Paramount, Dr. Laura -- Gay-rights activists turned out
en masse outside Paramount's Hollywood studios yesterday with a message
about the studio's upcoming Dr. Laura TV show: Shame on you!
E! Online
22 Mar 00
It was the latest, but most public and most vocal, fallout from Dr. Laura
Schlessinger's on-air remarks referring to homosexuality as "deviant" and
"a biological error." Protesters feel that Paramount is giving the
controversial radio shrink a bigger soapbox to shout her alleged anti-gay
rhetoric from.
Many of the 500 irate sign-toting, slogan-chanting picketers, including
Frasier cocreator Davis Lee, were Paramount employees. "I'm here because
something I've worked for during the past 15 years has betrayed me," Lee
said, adding that Paramount execs were acting "irresponsibly by giving a
platform to a woman who is hurting the gay community, literally."
Lee said he joined the protestors, whose signs read "I am not a biological
error" and "hate is a Paramount concern," when his talks with Paramount
executives bombed.
Meanwhile, across the street, about two dozen supporters of Schlessinger
chanted: "Protect Dr. Laura, protect free speech."
"It feels like we're in the 1950s again," says Bill Dobbs, a gay civil-
rights attorney and member of the organization Queer Watch."I don't know
how [giving Dr. Laura a show] can be progress."
While Schlessinger has insisted she didn't mean to disparage homosexuals
(she "clarified" her remarks in a March 10 statement, saying that she never
intended "to hurt anyone or contribute in any way to an atmosphere of hate
of intolerance") she still maintains that homosexuality is a curable
condition. And she says the First Amendment protects her right to say it.
As for Paramount, the studio issued a statement saying "We are committed to
presenting society's moral and ethical issues without creating or
contributing to an environment of hurt, hate or intolerance."
Despite the studio's assurances for a balanced show, protesters say if
Paramount doesn't drop the show, which is set to debut in most of the
country in September, they will go for the jugular and turn their campaign
to the show's advertisers.
- - - - -
"Dr. Laura" Protested at Paramount
Planet Out
22 Mar 00
The movement protesting Paramount Television Group's plans for a syndicated
television show by top-rated radio talk show host "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger
demonstrated a physical presence -- beyond its myriad e-mails, faxes, phone
calls, Web site, and print ads -- outside Paramount's Hollywood studios on
March 21. Their numbers were variously reported at 200, 400 and 500, while
counterdemonstrators across the street were said to number "about two
dozen" by some sources and as many as 75 by others. Schlessinger believes
homosexual acts are immoral and "deviant," that same-gender attractions are
the result of a "biological error," that so-called "reparative therapies"
are effective in changing homosexual orientation, and that many gay men are
predatory pedophiles.
Demonstrators chanted, "No show, no show" and carried placards including "I
am not a biological error" and "Hate is a Paramount concern." The protest
was organized by StopDrLaura.com, HateWatch.org and the Horizons
Foundation. The StopDrLaura.com Web site has received more than seven
million "hits" in its less than three weeks of existence, and its current
offerings include a "virtual vigil" for those who would like to have been
part of the Paramount Protest but were unable to attend.
Paramount issued a statement essentially repeating its March 10 communique,
that, "we are committed to presenting society's moral and ethical issues
without creating or contributing to an environment of hurt, hate or
intolerance."
Some of the protesters were Paramount employees, including the
demonstration's lead-off speaker David Lee, co-creator and executive
producer of the NBC hit sitcom "Frasier." He said, "I'm here because
something I've worked for during the past 15 years has betrayed me." He
charged that Paramount executives were "behaving ... irresponsibly by
giving a platform to a woman who is hurting the gay community, literally."
Lee said that he had joined the protest movement only after his efforts to
talk with Paramount executives failed. He declared that, "It is outrageous
that Paramount chooses to be in business with a woman who is literally
dangerous to the gay community. She may not have a club in her hand but she
encourages an atmosphere where those who do wield weapons feel free to use
them."
Peter Teague, executive director of the San Francisco-based Horizons
Foundation, said, "It is now up to Paramount to mitigate the damage Dr.
Laura causes and refuses to acknowledge by shelving the ill-conceived
concept of a 'Dr. Laura' TV program."
West Hollywood City Councilmember Steve Martin read his Council's March 20
resolution saying, "Let it be resolved that the City of West Hollywood
condemns Paramount Studios for its part in spreading Dr. Schlessinger's
message of hate by giving her a wider forum from which she can shamelessly
attack a minority community."
Another speaker was high-profile attorney and Los Angeles radio talk show
host Gloria Allred, who told CBS News, "If this minority can be humiliated
and scapegoated and subjected to stereotypes and false statements about
them, can any minority feel safe?"
Similarly, lesbian event producer and StopDrLaura.com co-founder Robin
Tyler told the crowd, "Paramount would never give a TV show to a host that
called any other minority 'biological errors'." Noting that two years
before the sitcom "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" had been cancelled
in the face of protests of its portrayals of African-Americans, Tyler said,
"We demand equal respect, not a double standard!" She said, "Although we
believe in freedom of speech, we do not believe there is a constitutional
right entitling people to a syndicated television show." Should Paramount
proceed with its plans, she promised, "We intend to go after sponsors. We
intend to go after local affiliates carrying this show."
David Goldman, executive director of Boston-based Hatewatch.org, a civil
rights group monitoring hate groups, said of Schlessinger, "We are in no
way trying to prevent her from exercising her freedoms, but we believe that
people should know what she is saying and respond accordingly."
Even GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, left the
suites for the streets on this one, with its executive director Joan Garry
-- herself a former TV executive -- in the lineup of rally speakers. When
Paramount's plans were announced last month, GLAAD entered into
negotiations with studio executives, hoping to achieve some "balance" in
the TV show, so that Schlessinger's opinions and the suspect right-wing
research she's cited to buttress them would not be the only information
offered about gays and lesbians.
What turned GLAAD from this patient approach which has so often been
successful for the group was Schlessinger's apparent recantation of her
March 10 "clarification," which many described as an apology. A column by
conservative Don Feder in the March 15 "Boston Herald" said, "On Friday,
Schlessinger issued a statement regretting 'words I've used' that have
'hurt some people.' This is a clarification, she told me, not an apology.
She will continue to recommend reparative therapy (for homosexuals who want
to change), to oppose same-sex marriage and adoption, and champion Judeo-
Christian sexual ethics." At that point, GLAAD executive director Joan
Garry issued a statement that, "This disavowal of her own words
demonstrates that Schlessinger cannot be held accountable for what she says
publicly. Because she has breached the integrity of her own statement,
GLAAD now has no assurance that Schlessinger will not publicly defame
lesbians and gay men in her radio or upcoming tel! ! ! evision broadcasts.
GLAAD now calls upon Paramount to... [abandon] its plans to produce and
distribute any program featuring Laura Schlessinger."
Other rally speakers included Rabbi Denise Eger of the gay-affirming
Congregation Kol Ami; African-American sexologist Dr. Sylvia Rhue; Reverend
Troy Perry, moderator of the Universial Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches; and representatives of the national Human Rights
Campaign, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, the statewide lobby group
California Alliance for Pride and Equality (CAPE), and the Los Angeles
chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING
stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story5/>
Sue Lindsay (Denver Rocky Mountain News), "Guilty Plea In Homeless Death:
19-year-old will testify against co-defendant who threatened to harm him,"
14 Mar 00, "A 'mall rat' charged in the slaying last fall of a sleeping
homeless man pleaded guilty to reduced charges Monday and agreed to testify
against a co-defendant who has threatened to harm him. Thomas Holden, 19,
was charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of Melvin
Washington, 47, who was attacked Sept. 8 as he slept on a steam grate. He
died Sept. 15. Washington was one of seven homeless men found dead last
fall in a series of attacks that terrorized street people in downtown
Denver. No charges have been filed in the other deaths." <1476.txt>
Steven C. Johnson (AP), "Latvian Waffen SS Honors Comrades," 16 Mar 00,
"About 300 veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS walked slowly through Riga on
Thursday to honor their fallen comrades in a ceremony bitterly criticized
by Russian and Jewish groups. The former soldiers, most in their 70s and
80s, said they weren't making a political statement but remembering 50,000
comrades who died in battle." <1477.txt>
AP, "Former Austrian Deputy Sentenced," 15 Mar 00, "A former member of
Parliament representing Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party was found
guilty Wednesday of fraud and embezzlement and sentenced to seven years in
prison. Peter Rosenstingl had been charged in connection with the
disappearance of $2 million of public and party funds. He dropped out of
sight in May 1998, setting off an international manhunt that led to his
arrest in Brazil a month later." <1478.txt>
via Bifa (Anarchist Federation -- Krakow), "Protest at 'Banquet' and
Defense of Adam Mucha," 12 Mar 00, "There was a lot of nazi provocateurs
working for the police at the 'Banquet.' Some of them were coming right in
front of the speakers, and shouting 'nazis ok'. They didn't get beaten,
cause the police was waiting for us to do that. ... Adam Mucha 'Bzyk' has
been accused of beating a cop, but no twith the axe. Still, he can face 10
years prison.A lawyer has been found for his case, and he will work for
free." <1479.txt>
Center for New Community (press release), "National Rifle Association
Condemned for 'Crass Sensationalism'," 17 Mar 00, "The Center for New
Community has condemned as 'utterly irresponsible' the remarks of National
Rifle Association Vice President Wayne LaPierre holding the President
responsible for the shooting death of Ricky Byrdsong by white supremacist
Ben Smith in July, 1999. 'This is one of the most offensive, shameless and
self-promoting assertions ever made by an NRA leader,' said Rev. David
Ostendorf, Executive Director of the Center. 'It is crass sensationalism of
the worst kind, exploiting the pain and suffering of racist violence. No
matter where one stands on the gun issue, these remarks are utterly
offensive and irresponsible'." <1480.txt>
Marilyn Miller (Akron Beacon Journal), "Symbols of hatred mar home: Cross
burns in yard, slurs found on door in Wooster complex," 22 Mar 00, "A black
family awoke Monday to find their front door spray-painted with racial
slurs and learned a cross had been burned in the back yard of their
apartment complex. Wooster Police Capt. Donald Edwards Jr. said the
incident at Palm House Apartments in the 1100 block of Rebecca Street
probably occurred about 2 or 3 a.m. <1481.txt>
AFP, "98 US Senators Urge Putin To Wage War On Anti-Semitism," 11 Mar 00,
"Russian interim leader Vladimir Putin must make fighting anti-Semitism a
priority of his new administration, 98 of 100 US Senators said in a letter
to ex-president Boris Yeltsin's chosen successor." <1482.txt>
AP, "Member of white supremacist gang gets 2 years in classmate’s beating,"
23 Mar 00, "A sometime leader of a suburban Gilbert high school white
supremacist gang drew a two-year prison sentence for beating a classmate.
Kevin Papa wept and his knees buckled Tuesday as he was sentenced by Judge
James Keppel of Maricopa County Superior Court." <1483.txt>
Amy Mayron (Saint Paul Pioneer Press), "Minneapolis coalition to aid hate-
crime victims," 20 Mar 00, "A coalition of human rights groups, social
outreach agencies and religious organizations in Minneapolis will announce
today the launching of a network to support victims of hate crimes. The
program has 33 agencies that have agreed to participate, including the
Minneapolis Police Department, the mayor's office, the Greater Minneapolis
Council of Churches and the Urban League of Minneapolis. It also includes
groups that represent the gay community, Native Americans and schools. The
goal of the group is to support victims of hate crimes, as well as educate
the community about such violence and cultural diversity issues. The group
will advocate reporting hate crimes to the police and monitor the success
of hate-crime investigations and prosecutions." <1484.txt>
Tribune-Review, "Man charged in attack on white supremacist leader," 23 Mar
00, "A South Side man was charged Wednesday for his role in the attack on
the Mt. Washington home of a white supremacist leader that resulted in the
shooting death of a companion. In another development yesterday, criminal
homicide charges were withdrawn against the Mt. Washington man, Michael
Stehle, 26, who has been described as a local leader in the National
Alliance white supremacist organization. All of the charges stem from an
incident in the early morning hours of Feb. 8 when three men entered
Stehle's home on Southern Avenue. ... Police described Hartzell and Kopp as
members of a second 'skinhead' organization who were upset with Reichel
because of a previous confrontation." <1485.txt>
* * * * *
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only.
__________________________________________________________________________
FASCISM:
We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.
(No permission required for noncommercial reproduction)
- - - - -
back issues archived via:
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/>
_________________________________________________________
Enlighten your in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15
