Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 26 June 2019

LGBTQ news coverage still evolving 50 years after Stonewall

By DAVID BAUDER Coverage of gays in the
Associated Press military, for example, fo-
NEW YORK (AP) — During cused on “showers and
the 1969 series of riots that submarines,” Renna said,
followed a police raid of or the unease of straight
the Stonewall Inn, the New males in the presence of
York Daily News headlined gays. Lesbians were barely
a story that quickly be- mentioned, a sign of little
came infamous: “Homo awareness of diversity.
Nest Raided, Queen Bees Through her work at
are Stinging Mad.” GLAAD, Renna saw how
Some of the coverage of Ellen DeGeneres’ revela-
rioting outside the gay bar tion that she was a lesbian,
— unimaginable today in both the ABC sitcom char-
mainstream publications acter she played at the
for its mocking tone — was time and the comedian in
itself a source of the fury real life, was pivotal to pro-
that led Stonewall to be- moting understanding.
come a synonym for the Renna has urged journal-
fight for gay rights. ists to pay attention to their
Fifty years later, media language. Being gay is not
treatment of the LGBTQ a lifestyle, she notes; “Hav-
community has changed ing a dog is a lifestyle.” She
and is still changing. In this Monday, June 3, 2019, photo, pride flags and pride colors display on the Stonewall Inn bar, also urges the use of “sexu-
“The progress has been marking the site of 1969 riots that followed a police raid of the bar’s gay patrons, in New York. al orientation” as opposed
extraordinary, with the ca- Associated Press to “sexual preference,” a
veat that we still have a lot rate substitute for reality, a ries in The New York Times “faggotry” and said of the recognition that being gay
to do,” said Cathy Renna, pitiable flight from life. As and the New York Post rioters at one point, “limp isn’t a choice.
a former executive for the such it deserves fairness, were buried well inside the wrists were forgotten.” “The vast majority of jour-
media watchdog GLAAD, compassion, understand- newspapers. An Associat- “That event has generally nalists are not homopho-
who runs her own media ing and, when possible, ed Press story from June 30, been seen through politi- bic,” she said. “They’re ho-
consulting firm. treatment. But it deserves 1969, said “police cleared cal lenses,” Alwood said. “It mo-ignorant.”
Before Stonewall, main- no encouragement, no the streets in the Sheridan was also a wake-up call for Renna, who wears her
stream media coverage of glamorization, no rational- Square area of Green- the media.” hair short and favors tai-
gays was generally nonex- ization, no fake status as mi- wich Village early Sunday The immediate impact lored suits, is used to being
istent or consisted of nega- nority martyrdom, no soph- as crowds of young men was growth and a height- mistaken for a man. Until
tive, police blotter items. istry about simple differ- complained of police ha- ened profile for news out- about a decade ago, peo-
When a small group dem- ences in taste and above rassment of homosexuals.” lets specifically oriented to ple she would correct gen-
onstrated against govern- all, no pretense that it is New York television stations gays and lesbians, said Eric erally shrugged. As a sign of
ment treatment outside anything but a pernicious ignored it, so the visual re- Marcus, author of the book changing attitudes, “now
the White House in 1965, a sickness.” cord amounts to a handful “Making Gay History” and people fall over themselves
newspaper headline said, This is the sort of thing that of still pictures. host of a podcast of the to apologize once they re-
“Protesters Call Govern- Howard, who was 14 at The Daily News story was same name. alize I’m a girl,” she said.
ment Unfair to Deviants,” the time of Stonewall, read filled with slurs, and it be- Marcus wrote in an essay A handbook of terminology
noted Josh Howard, whose about people like himself gan: “She sat there with her this week about how Time for news organizations that
film “The Lavender Scare,” when he was young. legs crossed, the lashes of magazine’s 1966 story “just is put out by LGBTQ jour-
about an Eisenhower-era “It’s a hard way to grow her mascara-coated eyes about burned the skin off nalists has helped increase
campaign against gays up,” said the longtime CBS beating like the wings of a my face as I read it.” awareness.
and lesbians in govern- News producer. “I sort of hummingbird. She was an- Time didn’t cover Stone- There are still missteps. The
ment, aired on PBS this realized that it was safe for gry. She was so upset she wall, but in October 1969 AP decreed in 2013 that
week. me to be in the closet.” hadn’t bothered to shave.” published a cover story its journalists would not use
A 1966 Time magazine ar- Stonewall got some At the time, many demon- about the emerging civil the word “husband” or
ticle called homosexuality straightforward coverage strators were more upset rights movement. While “wife” in reference to a le-
“a pathetic little second- at the time, although sto- with riot coverage by the more straightforward in its gally married gay or lesbian
now-defunct alternative reporting than the essay couple. After a protest, the
newsweekly The Village three years earlier, the story AP reversed its call a week
Voice, said Edward Al- “was still dripping with sar- later.
wood, author of “Straight casm and contempt,” he Two 2017 entries in the AP
News: Gays, Lesbians and said. Stylebook , considered the
the News Media.” Time published Marcus’ authoritative reference
One Voice writer holed up piece as part of its Stone- for journalists on the use of
with police inside Stonewall wall anniversary coverage, language, illustrate how
and said he wished he was although it didn’t apolo- far things have come since
armed. “The sound filtering gize for its past work. the “queen bees” days 50
in doesn’t suggest dancing While outright hate within years ago.
faggots anymore,” Howard the mainstream media sub- The AP endorses the use of
Smith wrote. “It sounds like sided through the years, “they, them or theirs” as sin-
a powerful rage bent on discomfort and stereotyp- gular pronouns (replacing
vendetta.” ing persisted. The go-to he or she) if the story sub-
In this Friday June 14, 2019, photo, Stonewall Inn visitors read Another Voice writer, Lu- gay image for most publi- ject requests it, although
news clipping headlining the 1969 riots that followed a police cian Truscott IV, repeatedly cations was a silhouette of the AP urges care in writing
raid of the bar in New York. referred to “faggot” and two men holding hands. to avoid confusion.q
Associated Press