quote:

---

ABC Television Network, March 26, 2002

TED KOPPEL WILL ANCHOR A FIVE-PART "NIGHTLINE" SERIES ON GAY LIFE --"A MATTER OF CHOICE?" - BEGINNING MONDAY, APRIL 8, ON ABC

Series Concludes With a 90-Minute Town Meeting

ABC News' "Nightline" will broadcast a special five-part series exploring the lives of gay and lesbian people in America beginningMonday, April 8. "A Matter of Choice?" reported and anchored by Ted Koppel,takes an in-depth look at the complexities of the gay experience, fromsenior citizens facing unique challenges in their twilight years to teenagers grappling with issues of sexual identity. "A Matter of Choice?" airs on "Nightline" MONDAY, APRIL 8 - FRIDAY, APRIL 12 (11:35 p.m. ET), on the ABC Television Network.

"Television has tended to focus - and 'Nightline' has been no exception - on the issue of AIDS and on hate crimes. Television in general tends to focus only on the 'out and loud' sector of the gay community, what we have come to call the first 10 rows in the gay pride parade. This series will show a part of the gay community not often seen on television. As our viewers will see, the sexual aspect of gay relationships merely represents a small percentage of gay life. We were stunned to discover how many gays and lesbians, especially older people, spend many years of their lives in heterosexual marriages, raising children, and seeing their children have children of their own," said "Nightline" anchor and managing editorTed Koppel.

The five-part series will conclude with a live 90-minute town meeting anchored by Ted Koppel from Roanoke, Virginia. On September 22, 2000, a hate crime in Roanoke - the murder of a man in a local gay bar -galvanized a once fearful gay community to take a visible and vocal stand against violence. The local newspaper published a series of stories on Roanoke's gay community, which triggered strong reactions in the community,including cancelled subscriptions and lost advertising. Against the back drop of the murder and a frank newspaper series, Roanoke citizens engaged in avery public conversation about homosexuality, and the "Nightline" town meeting will continue that conversation.

The series begins on Monday, April 8, with a conversation with residents of a retirement community near Bradenton, Florida. The Palms of Manasota is the nation's first gay and lesbian retirement community,and many of the residents here spent a large part of their lives trying to live "straight," often while married. These gay retirees speak honestly and openly with "Nightline" about coming to terms with their sexuality.

"A Matter of Choice?" then examines the gay community through the eyes of the citizens of Roanoke, Virginia. On Tuesday, April 9,"Nightline" reports on the murder of Danny Overstreet in a gay bar in Roanoke,and the reaction to a newspaper series on the gay community published by the local paper in the wake of the murder. Mr. Koppel will also have adiscussion about homosexuality with four Roanoke-area religious leaders, a Methodist, a Muslim, a Roman Catholic and a Southern Baptist.

On Wednesday, April 10, "Nightline" profiles two sets of parents in the Roanoke area, a lesbian couple raising a child they had by artificial insemination, and a second couple - devout Southern Baptists -raising their children in an environment that reflects their moral values. The program also profiles a former Roanoke Commonwealth attorney who had to prosecute gays under Virginia state laws while he was living a secret gay life. Today he is a defense attorney for people charged under Virginia's sodomy and solicitation laws.

Gay teenagers are the focus of "A Matter of Choice?" on Thursday, April 11. The program profiles a young lesbian whose own difficult experience coming out as a teenager has inspired her to work with gay teens.

Mr. Koppel also speaks with gay and lesbian teenagers from the Roanoke area who are grappling with their own issues of sexual identity.

The series concludes on Friday, April 12, with the live, 90-minute town meeting in Roanoke, anchored by Mr. Koppel.

Photography for "A Matter of Choice?" is available at or by calling (212) 456-6719.

---

------------------
~La

------------------
Giles: Come down, and we will go about fixing this in a sensible fashion!
Anya: Sensible! You think it's sensible for me to go down into that pit of cotton-top hell, and let them hippity-hop all over my vulnerable flesh?
Giles: Fine, then just stay up there and keep making bunnies! That's a capital plan!
Anya: What capital? I never know what you're talking about. Loo, shag, brolly, what the hell is all that?
Giles: What? There's no way that you could remember me saying any of those words.
Anya: Oh, bugger off, you brolly.

The people who hate homosexuals will do so regardless of the causes of homosexuality, (though they seem irrationally adament that homosexuality is a choice). For the bigots out there, if gayness is a choice then they are evil, weak deviants. If gayness is physically based then homosexuals are sick, mentally ill people who deserve pity and corrective therapy.

There truely is no winning this debate for the gay community.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Genea:
La, you are a well of information, my palm pilot now has a friendly reminder so I don't forget.

---

heh heh, over here I'm a well, in the spoilerfree thread I'm a gem. I'm all kinds of inanimate objects today!!

As for the nature vs. nurture thing, I figure I'll just have to have my own sort of experiment. Eventually I'm going to be having my own babies. I'm a lesbian and I'll be wanting some of my own, so I'll be needing to get some sperm from somewhere. One possibility is to use one of my male friends (for whom I've offered to be a surrogate mother. oh yeah, he's gay too). So if I do that, my kid(s) will have genes from two gay sources. Then, if I also have some kids (I want 4 or 5 children, someday, providing I end up with enough money to take care of them) using some anonymous sperm from a donor who may or may not be gay, I can see if any of my kids also turn out gay. Of course, they'll be growing up in a "gay" house, but if the kid with all "gay" genes turns out straight ... well then who knows what that all means!

And none of that makes any sense whatsoever and I'm pretty much just joking anyway

------------------
~La

"No good sittin' worryin' abou' it. What's comin' will
come, an' we'll meet it when it does."
~Hagrid, from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

Personally i don't ever remember making a consious decision to be like i am. Like, there was no entry on my things to do list that said "become queer today!". It was something i knew from early childhood.

Anyhow, the queer by choice movement is something I just heard about, not something i necassarally(sp?) believe in. I honestly don't know why I'm queer. I am going to watch this show though.

------------------
~La

------------------
~Mel

I agree the eternal nature vs nurture is pretty much a no win situation, but I suppose anyway you can inform people is good. I mean, it's a week long thing. At least it's not being crushed into one hour long segment. Someone is acknowledging that its an issue that deserves a bit more attention.

I asked them if they made a concious choice to be straight and they chuckled and said no of course not, i then asked well why do you think its a choice for me?? You obviously instinctively know who you are attracted to and i said its the same with me..

Ive known but didnt understand, that i had an attraction to women since i was in the third grade when i had a "crush" on my best friend..Of course at that age one doesnt know what thats all about..

I came out in 1979, so its pretty obvious i went thru struggling with how to understand what i was feeling during a time in which homosexuality was not discussed much, nor was it really talked about, as it is today..

I tried the dating boys thing in high school, had one date, the guy kissed me and i knew right then hmmmmm i dont like this much..It just doesnt do it for me..Never dated guys again..

I enlisted in the Army in 1979 and met my first love..Go figure, join the Army and come out lmao..I fell head over heels for a cute little medic and she tried to hide the fact that she was gay from me, but eventually fessed up cause she and i were attracted to each other from the get go..

As soon as she and kissed for the first time, hiding in a bathroom stall lol, i knew this is for me *g*..She and i went our seperate ways after basic training..Having been out longer than i, we had some wonderful discussions about what it means to be gay and discovering ones self..I will never ever forget her for helping me to realize who i am..

------------------
"But with Tara, I just know she likes Willow, and she already has one of those" – "Family"

"Honey, in case you didn’t hear me the first six-thousand times, no more teleportation spells." – "Crush"