It happens to radio stations all of the time. And sometimes newspapers experience it as well. Yes, on occasion media institutions of all sorts have to “re-tune” or “fine time” what they do. This phenomenon is also referred to “changing the format”.

On Friday, July 18 listeners to WRKA-FM were shocked (some of us were actually more like horrified) to discover that the station’s mix of Top 40 Oldies music had been replaced by something referred to as “Modern Country”. How dare they replace Sonny & Cher, the Supremes and Tony Orlando and Dawn with COUNTRY MUSIC!?! Is nothing sacred?!? More than 20 years of Top 40 music had been replaced with “Modern Country” (Isn’t that phrase an oxymoron?).

So now my big announcement. The time has come to “change the format” at THE LETTER newspaper, starting with our August 2008 issue. However you can rest assured that you will NOT find any sort of radical change of format that loyal listeners of the “old WRKA” discovered last month!

While I believe that long-time readers will notice some changes in terms of content, these will mostly affect the back half of the newspaper. Most importantly, these should be positive changes!

Readers and advertisers alike over the past few months have asked for MORE pictures (especially of local events) and more regional news coverage. So as far as the front half content of THE LETTER is concerned, you will find more pictures and more regional news.

Since the “Good Fairy” does NOT pay our bills (they are paid mostly by our advertisers and to some extent by our paying subscribers), the reality is that we are not in a position to increase the number of pages we print each month.  So when I add MORE content to the front of the newspaper, I must REMOVE some content from the back half of the newspaper to make EVERYTHING fit together within 24 pages.

Over the past year we have downsized most issues from 28 page to 24 pages. This move was appropriate given the current economic climate. Lest any gossip begin about this change in page count, two other GLBT newspapers within the region we serve have also undergone a downsizing in the number of pages they print each month. One newspaper has gone from printing 56 pages down to 40 pages. The other publication is down eight or more pages from what they were printing one year ago. During this same time period THE LETTER has only reduced it’s size by four pages. Also remember that a GLBT newspaper based in a much larger metroplitan area than Louisville (namely Saint Louis) publishes only 16 pages every two weeks.

We ARE in a deep recession (understatement!) and it IS taking a toll on the advertising business. So please don’t assume that only THE LETTER is experiencing lean times. Another monthly GLBT publication serving the Louisville market hasn’t printed during two of the past six months (e.g., February and July). At least THE LETTER has never missed printing at least once per month for over 19 years. So while we are in a tough economy we are nonetheless able to consistently serve our community.

Now back to the “format change” at THE LETTER…

I’ve decided to delete some of the feature content in the back half of the newspaper (the features that tend to not have a local/regional focus to them) so that our expanded news coverage and picture content will have expanded presence in both the front and back  of each issue. I didn’t make this decision without first consulting with nearly 20 of our long-term readers. Also, two years ago we asked all of our readers to comment on the feature content of the newspaper.

So based on these recent conversations with our readers and the results of the written survey, some features have been deleted. At least for now. Should their be a massive outcry about any deleted feature, it WILL (eventually) return. So please don’t ”go postal” on me if you can’t find one of the features you like in the August issue.  Just state your position calmly and it will defintiely be taken into consideration when we make future “format changes”.

“Gay” & “Lesbian”: What Are They Afraid Of?
by Dave VanderPol

The fundamentalist-owned-and-operated American Family Association (AFA) is widely known for attacking businesses and organizations that promote a GLBT-friendly agenda. But did you know that they actually go so far as to ban the word from their “news” website, OneNewsNow.com?

The AFA website uses the slogan “Your Latest News from a Christian Perspective.” In addition to op-eds from antigay authors, the site relies on content from the Associated Press (AP). AFA routinely re-writes AP news to put their anti-gay spin on things. For instance, placing the words marriage and wedding in quotes when referring to same-sex couples and swapping out the phrase “groups that oppose same-sex marriage” to read “groups that support one-man, one-woman marriage.”

The AFA website also uses a “filter” to replace every instance of the word “gay” with “homosexual.” So when olympic athlete Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100m of all time earlier this summer, the headline at OneNewsNow.com read “Homosexual Eases Into 100 Final At Olympic trials.”

Howard Fendrich’s AP story, modified by the American Family Association for readers of OneNewsNow.com, included the following amusing lines:

“Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has.”

“Wearing a royal blue uniform with red and white diagonal stripes across the front, along with matching shoes, all in a tribute to 1936 Olympic star Jesse Owens, Homosexual dominated the competition.”

“Everyone expected Homosexual to make the U.S. team.”

After the laughs and shaking of heads, surely instances like this should give people everywhere pause. The American Family Association’s fixation with being anti-gay — right down to the word itself — serves neither America nor the many families that call her home!

Gxx & Lxxxxxx Film Series

Here in the Metro Louisville (Kentucky) public display of both the words “Gay” and “Lesbian” came under attack from parents horrified that they might have to “explain what a ‘gay’ is” or explain what a ‘lesbian’ is” to their children.

The phrase “Gay & Lesbian Film Series” that appeared on the marquee at Village 8 Theatres in suburban Louisville drew an average of ten complaints per day for nearly three weeks, according to a theatre manager. Under the stress of the constant stream of criticism, the management finally relented and edited the marquee text to read “G & L Film Series”.

General complaints about the film festival that began in early June, including specific outrage over the marquee wording, came in by phone and e-mail and at least one very heated face-to-face exchange between an anti-gay patron and a manager in the theatre’s lobby. The angry customer screamed, “By showing these gay films, you have unleashed the moral equivalent of a terrorist attack on the citizens of our community!” The verbal trade went on for nearly minutes.

Despite all of the homophobic protests – and even in the wake of substituting “G” and “L” for “Gay” and “Lesbian” on the theatre marquee – ticket sales for the film series were excellent. In fact, one of the two opening films sold more films than any other film shown the first week of June.

This article appears in the July 2008 issue of THE LETTER newspaper (www.TheLetterOnline.com).

Another Sexual Revolutionary Reporting For Duty!
by Dave VanderPol

Understatement Alert: Anti-gay candidates (and their political action committees) really infuriate me! How dare they paint pro-gay candidates as being “extremists.” How “extremist” is it to support marriage equality for lesbians and gays?
 
Even though I’m not a politician I too must then be an “extremist” because I support equality, huh? Fine. While they’re at it, the right-leaning whack jobs might as well call me a “radical” as well. Being a radical isn’t always a bad thing, you know. In fact, feminism is still considered “radical” by most of the folks who would accuse supporters of same-sex marriage of being “extremists”. Remember those bumper stickers that read, “Feminism Is The Radical Notion That Women Are Human Beings”?

What some folks intend to be an insult, in some cases I’ve been able to turn around and see it is a compliment. Such is the case of a remark that was made during the last U.S. presidential campaign by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of the formerly-esteemed Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, located on Lexington Road in Louisville.

If you’ve never heard of Dr. Mohler, this is the same seminary president who barely a decade ago was so disrespected by his students that many of them refused to shake his hand when he presented them with their diploma. This is the same Southern Baptist Convention leader who, when learning that one of his campus security guards was gay, forced the employee to undergo “ex-gay counseling” as a condition of his employment.  This is the same “pro-life leader” who led his seminary to close its affordable childcare ministry because it wasn’t a financial gold mine. Al Mohler is the same “compassionate conservative” who supported the closing of the Carver School of Social Work at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Dr. Mohler is the same “visionary leader” who showed us how to turn a seminary with declining enrollment into a cash cow by building luxury apartments and a conference center on school property.

While driving home from church (What? Me, a gay man, actually goes to church!) the Sunday prior to Election Day 2004, I was listening to a Christian radio station that ran an endorsement of President George W. Bush (such a shock!) that was voiced by Dr. Mohler. I assume he had authored this piece since it was loaded with his usual brand of extremist name-calling.

Mohler’s endorsement included the following gem that was offered as a reason to re-elect Bush:

“Will we protect marriage as the basic institution of society itself, or will we allow it to be undermined by activist judges and sexual revolutionaries?”

Wow! I’m a “sexual revolutionary”. I might as well wear start wearing a pink armband.
 
Being a “revolutionary,” simply means that I support “revolutionary principles,” according to one dictionary definition of the word. Let’s not forget that a revolution is defined as a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving. Some changes are not necessarily bad (i.e., emancipating slaves, allowing women the right to vote, etc.).

Would someone please tell me why it’s a bad thing to stand up for the equality of same-sex couples who desire to marry? Isn’t it even MORE revolutionary (but only in a bad way) to attempt to oppress the rights of minorities?

So I thank Dr. Mohler for his backhanded compliment and for giving me another reason to be grateful that I’m an Ex-Southern Baptist.

This installment of Dave VanderPol’s RADICALLY SERENE THOUGHTS column was pubilshed in the December 2004 issue of THE LETTER newspaper (www.TheLetterOnline.com).

Luke & Noah: Important Lessons from A Sleepy Midwestern Town
by Dave VanderPol

Will you love me any less because you know that I occasionally watch soap operas? I hope not! You do practice “Tolerance”, right?

Jake Silberman (Noah) and Van Hansis (Luke) of AS THE WORLD TURNS

While my all-time favorite soap is still The Young & The Restless (I sure wish they would bring back Brenda Dickson, the original Jill Abbot!)¸ I have come to have much love and respect for As The World Turns (ATWT) since they added an openly gay character, Luke Snyder (played by Van Hansis).

Thirteen months ago ATWT introduced us to the character Noah Mayer (portrayed by Jake Silberman), who has since more-or-less come out of the closet and more-or-less (most of the time?) become Luke’s boyfriend. In soap opera shorthand Luke & Noah are referred to simply as “Nuke”. Nuke is the first gay couple to be portrayed on a soap opera. This is historic, is it not?

In true soap opera fashion, Nuke has had more plots twists and relationship ups and downs than I can count. One day they are solidly in love. The next day they are “splitsville”, or on the verge of never having anything to do with each ever again. Don’t we Drama Queens just love the drama?!?

But can any important lessons be learned from the trials and tribulations of Luke and Noah?  Definitely! Most of them are painful and ones I would like to forget. My short list of Invaluable Nuke Reminders goes like this.

• Growing up gay can be very painful – especially in a sleepy Midwestern town like Oakdale, Illinois, which is ground zero for ATWT. Being raised in a medium-sized Indiana town (Terre Haute) makes me tremendously grateful for the many GLBT community resources we have here in Louisville (and most major metropolitan areas). Apart from the Internet, many small town folks don’t have “instant community” available to them. I’m GLAD folks in small towns have the Internet available to them, but that’s hardly a substitute for face-to-face community.

• Being raised by a homophobic parent (as was Noah’s character), along with being exposed to potentially many other societal factors, is sure to produce TONS of internalized homophobia (e.g., self-hatred). Noah’s in-and-out relationship with the closet — and on-and-off relationship with Luke – serve as  painful reminders that no matter how much you may love your significant other, there is simply no “fast track” to instantly zap away internalized homophobia. As a community, we need to avail ourselves to coming out and other support groups and gay-affirming professional mental health therapists in order to rid ourselves of the emotional pain that goes with being raised gay in a hostile family and/or society. Wishing and hoping that pain will disappear without effort and support isn’t rational.

• Richard Bach was right when he observed that it is best let go of people who can’t make a commitment. His quote is worth re-quoting: “If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.” The way that Luke goes chasing after Noah, begging him to come to his senses, just drives me nuts!  How I’d love to slap a copy of the best selling self-help book CoDependent No More in his hands! (Then again, to coerce someone to read a codependency self-help book would be rather codependent, would it not?).

Sending Noah off to a coming out support group and encouraging Luke to find a therapist to help him with his codependency issues seem like great ideas to help our beloved soap characters move on to the “next level” of their existence. But back here in the “real world” what can be done to help the real people whose stories often parallel the many plot twists experienced by Nuke?

• Every town, regardless of the size, needs a chapter of Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to our loved can find support to overcome their issues. It is often overlooked that PFLAG offers great support for us GLBT folks, whether we’re still in-process or fully out.

• Every town, regardless of the size, needs a coming out support group. It disturbs me that Louisville no longer has a group (for either women or men) with the sole focus of helping folks come out. Do we have any qualified individuals amongst our readers willing to help begin such a group in Louisville or elsewhere within the region we serve? If so, please allow THE LETTER to share this information with our readers.

• Every town, regardless of the size, needs mental health therapists who are visibly gay-affirming. Sometimes support groups aren’t enough and professional assistance is called for.

• Every town, regardless of the size, needs welcoming and inclusive faith communities that can facilitate healing of religious-based internalized homophobia, for those struggling with this type of pain.

It sure is easy to write about these issues (probably as easy as it is to write a decent soap opera script). But the reality is that, as I see it, more of us need to be more involved in groups and organizations that can make the world better for our GLBT sisters and brothers. Will Louisville ever again have a GLBT community center, let alone Coming Out Support Group? What resources are missing in your corner of the world? What are you doing to meet these unmet needs?

This installment of Dave VanderPol’s RADICALLY SERENE THOUGHTS column was pubilshed in the July 2008 issue of THE LETTER newspaper (www.TheLetterOnline.com).

Becki Newton plays Amanda on UGLY BETTY

The first time I heard Amanda’s character on Ugly Betty refer to Cliff’s character as “Trans Fatty” it made me angry. Very, very angry.

My anger is understandable. Being overweight most all of my life (and knowing first hand how hurtful verbal body bashing can be), I am fairly thin-skinned when myself or others are being put down because of our my/our weight. TV’s Judge Judy said: “Beauty fades but dumb is forever”. In 20 years (or less) I predict that most “beautiful” body bigots will be pretty haggard looking themselves. Today’s twink usually becomes tomorrow’s slob! And f you want to see REAL ugliness, look into the mind and heart of a bigot.

Yes, Amanda got me angry. But eventually I calmed down and decided that the name TransFatty wasn’t all that bad — or at least it had potential! I have come to embrace this name for myself and this blog. Today I don’t mind being called TransFatty — as long as you understand that my definition makes turns around an intended slur into a compliment. You see, I’m a “fat man in transition as I work to loose weight”.

To enhance the quality of my physical health and well-being I’ve placed a high priority on weight loss. Weight Watchers’ POINTS food plan and working a program of 12 Step spirituality has helped me release nearly 85 pounds, one pound at a time. The truth is that all of us who struggle with food addiction ARE “good enough” no matter what our weight. And no matter what hateful twinks say about us!

The two faces of actor David Blue, who portrays Cliff on UGLY BETTY

I still don’t appreciate folks who, like Amanda’s character and many gay men, choose to verbally bash people who, like me, aren’t “height-weight proportionate”. As a matter of fact, I find myself attacted to (openly-straight) actor David Blue, who plays Marc’s boyfriend Cliff on Ugly Betty. He has a face I find to be truly handsome and some delicious curves befitting a truly handsome “man of size”. If you got “some curves” and you’re gay, single and looking…please DO drop me a line!

“Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right…”
I’m more than fed up (NO pun intended) with the epidemic of “body bigotry” in the world of gay men. It is hypocritcal (at best) for GAY men who (as we should) demand equality to turn around and bash other gay men because of their body weight.

I’ve been aware of this issue many years when I first I began reading personal ads by/for gay men. Did you ever just want to SCREAM when you read the words “No fats”?!? I don’t care if another gay man is attracted to only men who are “height-weight proportionate”, but I absolutely will not tolerate body bashing comments or lookes just because I don’t meet your definition of ’studly”.

What about the bear community (e.g., gay men of size)? If other people (gay men or otherwise) want to remain obese, I dont judge them. I also surely don’t need them putting me down for wanting to lose weight. Yes, some of these self-identified “bears” DO bash gay men like me for wanting to lose weight).

So whatever shape or size you happen to be, I’m glad you’ve found my blog!!! Care to share your story about being body bashed by other gay men? Write to editor@theletteronline.com.