Snyde & Sneak

by Tracy Baim

Gay, HIV+ dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones is at the Art Institute Monday, Nov. 3, 6 p.m., 280 S. Columbus, (312) 443-3711.

Openly lesbian retired army Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer may run for U.S. Rep. in Washington state.

Reuters reports that Oscar Wilde's grandson is ready to revert to the family name: "[Oscar's] wife Constance, hounded by Victorian society, changed her name after his downfall even though she still loved the fallen genius." Now Merlin Holland, Wilde's only grandson, "is ready to embrace once more the heritage of a man who said he had nothing to declare but his genius. ... He feels the timing could be right [to change his name back to Wilde] in the year 2000 when his own son will be 21, his three books on Wilde will have been published and the world will be marking the centenary of the playwright's death," Reuters reported.

k.d. lang performs Oct. 25 at the Rosemont Theatre, (312) 559-1212. From 1-1:30 p.m. she'll be interviewed on WGN radio by Dean Richards from WGN's Pumpkinfest fundraiser for food pantries. She'll be at Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm, 40 W. Higgins in South Barrington. Bring non-perishable food to donate. From 8 a.m.-1 p.m. they will be giving out k.d. show tix. k.d. is happily in love with Murmers singer Leisha Hailey-maybe the two will go to a dyke bar here after the show?

Ellen-watch: V.P. Al Gore spoke in support of Ellen's coming-out series, saying it helps us "look at sexual orientation in a more open light." ... Meanwhile, Ellen has gotten the OK to be seen "walking toward the bedroom" with a "gal-pal" in a November sweeps episode. There will be twin beds, and Ellen's seeking a squeaky clean TV couple to surprise the audience-possible Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke as twin-beds experts Rob and Laura Petrie. ... Emma Thompson is expected to guest in November. ... Ellen's girlfriend will be played by Lisa Darr, lover of Abby on ABC's NYPD Blue. Darr's character was killed off last week in a powerful NYPD Blue. Abby, a police officer who had another cop inseminate her so she and her girlfriend could have a child together, was originally a suspect-but it turned uglier as Abby's ex admitted hiring a killer to to get rid of the girlfriend to make room for her in Abby's life again. A powerful episode on domestic violence.

George & Leo even had a gay scene: Bob Newhart's character notes how people are starting to mistake him and Judd Hirsh's character as a couple because Judd lives in the bookstore that Newhart owns/operates.

It had to happen-and previews look atrocious-a TV movie based on Andrew Cunanan's alleged murder spree is expected soon.

ABC's Primetime Live Oct. 15 profiled Alex Myers, a 19-year-old transgender Harvard student. Alex, formally Alice, discussed his life as a transgender person, and Primetime examined his childhood, high school years, why he terms himself "transgendered" and what it is like to live in the boys dorm at the Ivy League university. Primetime Live's story did not include a transphobic "medical expert" as many such stories do. Instead, the show explores issues of gender by speaking one-on-one with a person living as an openly transgender person, GLAAD noted. Contact: Primetime Live, ABC Television Network, 77 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023-6201, fax: (212) 456-2381, e-mail: abcaudr@abc.com.

TNT TV airs a documentary, Eastwood on Eastwood, Nov. 2. It looks at the making of Clint's new film, Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil, about a New Orleans gay businessman (played by Kevin Spacey) accused of killing his boyfriend, with Lady Chabliss playing herself (as a trans performer). The film opens Nov. 21.

Speaking of upcoming films, Jack Nicholson stars as a homophobic jerk who comes around to being more enlightened in As Good As It Gets. There was a controversy over the trailer for the film, which has him introducing Helen Hunt's character as "Carol the waitress," and Greg Kinnear's character as "Simon, the fag." But in the context of the film, Jack comes to respect Simon, and even the trailer has Jack, after Simon says he loves him, saying he'd be the luckiest man in the world if he was gay and Simon loved him.

Upcoming at Unabridged, (773) 883-9119: Gloria Gaynor Oct. 22; gay comic Bob Smith Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Kenny Fries and other gay and lesbian disabled writers read from their contributions to Staring Back Oct. 27, and gay mystery author R.D. Zimmerman Oct. 28. ... Women & Children First, (773) 769-9299: Jamaica Kincaid reads from My Brother, about her brother's struggle with AIDS, Oct. 30; Daphne Scholinski discusses being forced into psychiatric institutions because she did not fit gender "norms," Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m. Daphne was profiled on Dateline Oct. 20. It was a sensitive story about her "treatment" during her teen years inChicago. A Michael Reese hospital spokesperson admitted the treatment for "gender identity disorder" has come a long way since she was hospitalized there in the early 1980s.

Two British publishers are engaged in a bidding war for an autobiography of Elton John, written with Ingrid Sischy, the openly lesbian editor-in-chief of Interview and a contributing editor with Vanity Fair. Elton supposedly will tell some juicy details. 

The Boston Globe reports that "The families of two British nurses accused of murdering a colleague at a Saudi Arabian hospital expressed delight ... at the lifting of the death sentence that had been imposed on one of the nurses. But the two women still face the prospect of years in a Saudi prison. The threat that Deborah Parry, 38, would be publicly beheaded was removed when Frank Gilford, the brother of the slain woman, accepted $1.24 million in lieu of a death sentence. ... Saudi law allows for payment of diya-blood money-to the family of the victim in exchange for a lighter sentence. Authorities there have yet to say whether Parry has already been found guilty, nor have they ever said that, without Gilford's appeal for clemency, she would have been executed. The other nurse, 31-year-old Lucille McLauchlan was found guilty of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to eight years ... and a public flogging of 500 lashes." The women are accused of murdering Yvonne Gilford, 55, last December at the military medical center in Saudi Arabia where they all worked. There have been claims of an affair gone wrong, but the women said there was just friendship. The Globe said: "Although the nurses signed confessions, they later recanted, saying that the confessions were obtained after they suffered physical and sexual abuse from Saudi police interrogators. ... [Early confessions] say the murder occurred during a fight between Parry and Gilford when their homosexual relationship ended. Although all three women have histories of long relationships with men, the 'lesbian lovers' feud was viewed by the Saudis as central to the confessions. While the nurses later renounced the statements, the Saudi court listened to no other evidence during the trial." There was a similar attack on another nurse last year, and evidence helping the women was never introduced in the trial.

Angie & Debbie Winans may sing their anti-gay anthem "It's Not Natural" at the Million Woman March this weekend in Philly. Well, it certainly isn't natural for them to be so hateful: "I was chilling on the couch one night/ Looking at my screen TV/ There were people celebrating and / congratulating / The new addition to the Gay Community [Ellen]/ I was vexed in the spirit / And began to write this song/ It may be cold, but let the truth be told / It's not natural/ No, that's not the way it goes/ It's not natural/ Just because it's popular, doesn't mean it's cool/ It's not natural/ No, that's not the way God planned/ It's time for the world to understand." As many "love the sinner/hate the sin" folks say, they claim they "aren't bashing gays, they're bashing homosexuality." "It's Not Natural" is "an insidious piece in a larger movement supported by the sisters, a movement which uses religion as a platform for bigotry, devaluing lesbians and gay men and attacking tolerant people everywhere," said GLAAD. Contact: Angie & Debbie Winans, and Bill Carpenter and Vincent Young, Capital Entertainment, 1201 N. Street N.W., Suite A, Washington D.C., 20005, fax (202) 986-7992.

Paula S. Peebles, program committee chairwoman for the march, said all women of African descent are welcome, and the march "is not dealing" with issues of sexual orientation. The Philadelphia Enquirer said the sisters were also scheduled to perform the song at "For Sisters Only," a conference held for African American women in Baltimore. "We were asked by the sponsors, not to do the song, because quite a bit of controversy had been stirred up, so we complied," Debbie Winans said. "We are not about controversy or confusion, because God is not the author of confusion. So there is no problem." Debbie Winans said if they were asked not to sing the song at the women's march, they would not perform it, The Enquirer reported.

Deep Inside Hollywood

by Miss Paige Turner

Anne Heche has recently been making news on the maternal front. In an interview with TV Guide, her partner Ellen DeGeneres declared that the couple would like to become parents in the near future. Ellen did not mention many details except to say that the 28-year-old Anne would likely carry the baby herself. Is it clever publicity or just incredibly good timing? Gay producer Scott Rudin (In & Out) just announced that he had cast Anne as (you guessed it) a pregnant woman in the upcoming feature film A Simple Plan. Based on the novel by Scott Smith, the film stars Anne as the pregnant wife of Bill Pullman (ironically, Ellen's co-star in her 1996 box office dud Mr. Wrong). Hollywood seems undeterred by Anne's new sexuality since this will be her third hetero romantic lead since coming out. Anne is wrapping up work on Six Days, Seven Nights with Harrison Ford before beginning work on Force Majeure in November opposite Vince Vaughn. A Simple Plan will likely begin production at the beginning of 1998, with a release into theatres that fall.

Boldly going where other gay-themed films have sadly gone before, MGM has accepted an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for the screen adaptation of Martin Sherman's searing drama Bent. The film includes scenes of explicit sexuality which MGM marketing executive Gerry Rich declared in a statement about the rating were "absolutely necessary to the story." Set in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Bent (playing at Chicago's gay film fest next month) is the story of a forbidden gay relationship in a concentration camp. "The material is, by nature, graphic and controversial," MGM distribution president Larry Gleason has stated in defense of the film, adding: "To tell this story without portraying the era honestly and with integrity would compromise the power of the film." Ironically, the first movie to receive an X rating (openly gay director John Schlesinger's Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy) and the first movie to receive the revised NC-17 rating (Henry And June), both contained prominent gay storylines which prompted the controversial ratings. While the new rating will discourage some newspapers from advertising the film, it is unlikely that anyone interested in the story would be deterred by the NC-17 label. Bent, which features cameos by Mick Jagger and Sir Ian McKellan, is due to be released in theaters later this year.

In his book Gorilla Suit bodybuilder Bob Paris shatters myths about his now-defunct role-model relationship with Rod Jackson, but his is not the only high-profile gay relationship experiencing private turmoil. One notable lesbian and her highly visible partner, while often appearing publicly together, have not been so together in private. One recently carried on a heated, quiet affair with another well-known lesbian for several months. Is theirs an open relationship whose details are kept hidden from the press, or is this dream marriage really on the rocks?

Miss Paige Turner can be reached through this publication or by e-mail at paige@planetout.com.