Gays See Something Good on Television

Robert F. Gentry was rushing home from Washington to watch a certain prime-time television show on a certain network this week when his plane was delayed an hour in Chicago.

But Gentry, a former Laguna Beach mayor, said Thursday that he and other passengers were reassured as they boarded the connecting flight the day before. “Even the pilot said, ‘I want to get you home in time to see Ellen,’ ” Gentry said.

On Thursday, Gentry and others in Orange County who are gay or lesbian were still basking in the euphoria of the night when a major television network for the first time allowed a lead character in a series to come out of the closet.

In the aftermath of the widely publicized episode of ABC’s comedy “Ellen,” in which the lead character revealed she is lesbian, some community leaders here said they hoped the event would promote tolerance toward homosexuality in Orange County. Gentry, who became the county’s first openly gay elected official in 1982, called the episode historic.

“Having a mainstream TV character talk openly and honestly about who she is helps millions of people who are dealing with the same issue in their lives,” said Gentry, adding that he wept while he watched.

Last year there were 15 hate-related incidents toward gays and lesbians reported in Orange County, including several violent attacks, according to the county Human Relations Commission.

That is down from 35 such incidents in 1993, the highest number since the commission began keeping tabs in the early 1990s. But some activists cautioned against too much optimism. The 1993 mark, for example, came when the issue of gay rights in the military was prominent.

“Whenever we have a few steps forward in educating people, we experience a backlash that is as strong as the movement forward,” said Pat Walsh, director of a lesbian, gay and bisexual student center at UC Irvine. “I just know that there’s a lot of hostility out there.”

Walsh said students at the center were watching a tape of the episode Thursday afternoon, laughing and applauding, and that some phoned friends and family across the country to talk about it.

Alice Lin, a UCI senior who is lesbian, said the campus atmosphere can be oppressive. “You don’t see gays and lesbians holding hands because they’re afraid of what people will think,” she said. “I think it probably will be a long time before we see that kind of acceptance in Orange County.”

There were, of course, many in Orange County who didn’t watch the show, and some who rejected its message entirely.

“I think it’s a shame that so much coverage was given to that lady and her show,” said Felix Rocha Jr., a member of the Orange County Board of Education, referring to series star Ellen DeGeneres.

Rocha, an opponent of gay rights legislation, added: “I don’t approve at all. If that’s what she was, she could have kept it to herself. I happen to believe the young lady is completely wrong. My prayers are for her that she straightens up.”

Others who watched the show considered it not much more than an entertaining night in front of the tube.

“I still don’t see what all the hoopla was about. I don’t know why there was such a negative reaction,” said Richard Herber of Orange, a board member of the county’s chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a national support group. “There wasn’t any embracing or any sexual activity.” Herber said he has noticed no upsurge so far in inquiries about the group.

Lorri Mier, interim director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County, praised the show as a positive step. “But I really don’t know that the impact is going to be long-lasting and global,” she said.

Indeed, some gay and lesbian activists say their most difficult moments in Orange County may be past. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) was widely backed in the gay community last year in her upset victory over incumbent Republican Robert K. Dornan. In 1994, Huntington Beach Union High School District trustees upheld the right of student gay-support groups to meet on high school campuses, settling a controversy over one such club that formed at Fountain Valley High School.

Joseph Amster, editor of a gay monthly, the Orange County and Long Beach Blade, said: “We’ve become more and more accepted [in Orange County] because we’re so spread out. We don’t have a West Hollywood or a Castro Street. So many of us live right next to everybody else. We’re your friends, your neighbors, your sons and daughters.”

Still, that doesn’t mean gays and lesbians always feel safe here. Many hate-related incidents targeted at gays and lesbians go unreported because the victims are closeted, said Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Human Relations Commission. He said the TV show could help prevent such violence.

“It basically portrayed Ellen DeGeneres as a decent, happy, well-adjusted, bright, articulate person, who just happens to be gay,” Kennedy said. “It was not a militant, in-your-face, offensive kind of thing. Every time you’re exposed to people who are different, you start to recognize that their differences are pretty minor compared to their similarities.”

* ‘ELLEN’ IMPACT

Audience of 36 million tops all expectations; comedian’s mate will test casting tolerance. F1