Gay And Lesbian

Joaquin Alvarez -- a 31-year-old Cuban native who has lived in Baltimore for two years and works as a consultant in early childhood education -- is proud of who he is.Right up there in the forefront of what makes him proud is his sexual identity as a gay man."I'm able to express that pride publicly," he said, and he's probably never been quite so public as he was when he posed for photographs for billboards sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore and the Baltimore Justice Campaign.

Television stations like to tell us in their promotional messages how committed they are to diversity. But, when it comes time to walk the walk and air programs that might be controversial because of the diversity they celebrate, many stations run for cover.Maryland Public Television is backing up its campaign to promote diversity this television season with a couple of productions dealing with gay and lesbian issues, and our local PBS outlet deserves some recognition. Not that MPT has made a major commitment to gay and lesbian programming by any stretch of the imagination.

Showtime cable channels tonight will launch the first nationally distributed, weekly block of gay-targeted programming with Night Out on Sho Too, four hours of films, short features and its highly successful Queer as Folk drama every Wednesday starting at 9. In and of itself, tonight's debut of Night Out is no big deal. For one thing, Sho Too (Showtime 2) is one of the multiplex digital channels, which means fewer than one out of five American homes probably has access. Nor is the programming strikingly unusual.

WASHINGTON -- The decision of a federal judge reinstating a woman officer in the Washington State National Guard thrown out after having identified herself as a lesbian raises an interesting political question concerning President Clinton:Would he, and the cause of gay and lesbian rights, have been TC just as well-served had he never made his controversial effort to end discrimination against homosexuals in the military?The judge, in ruling that any such prohibition on military service is "grounded solely in prejudice" and hence unconstitutional, suggests that the Clinton compromise torturously worked out with Congress last summer will prove to have been an unnecessary exercise.

James Harrison, a candidate for the House of Delegates, chooses Roy Rogers for a lunch meeting. The restaurant is affordable, he says. Plus it is directly across the street from a Metro stop, and he doesn't own a car.Over Original Roast Beef sandwiches, Mr. Harrison acknowledges it readily: This is not a big-time campaign. In his first election race ever, Mr. Harrison is a long shot, a dark horse, an underdog.He's a Republican who is challenging three incumbent Democrats for one of three slots.

BOSTON -It is hard to imagine a better welcome for gay and lesbian couples than the words of Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In the 4-3 decision Nov. 18 that ruled gay and lesbian marriages to be legal, she wrote that the Massachusetts Constitution "forbids the creation of second-class citizens." That is really what this is all about. Massachusetts became the first state to finally cut through the homophobia - not halfway and third-class (domestic partner benefits)

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Bill Clinton's top advisers are recommending that he sweep away the nation's long-standing prohibition against gays in the military by issuing an immediate and unequivocal ban on discrimination instead of finessing the explosive issue by ordering further study, according to knowledgeable sources.That recommendation, if accepted, would cap a debate that has raged for weeks over whether Mr. Clinton should end such discrimination "with the stroke of a pen" or compromise by yielding to military concerns and ordering further study before acting.

WASHINGTON -- Amid complaints that President Clinton is ducking out of town during a huge gay and lesbian march April 25, the White House has invited a delegation of gay and lesbian leaders to meet with the president in the Oval Office this afternoon.Gay leaders had mixed reactions to the announcement. On the one hand, some expressed delight at what they characterized as the first exclusive meeting in history between a United States president and openly homosexual Americans.On the other hand, they still very much want the president to attend their march -- and plan to use their meeting with him to tell him so."

Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul T. Graziano returned to his job yesterday as he and the O'Malley administration continue trying to mend their relationships with gay and lesbian leaders, many of whom were calling for his resignation little more than a month ago. Appearing refreshed and confident, Graziano faced the media at the housing agency's offices near City Hall on the morning of his first day back from a monthlong paid leave for alcohol treatment....

With a message of humility, faith in times of suffering and God's unconditional love, a bishop with the Archdiocese of Baltimore celebrated Mass yesterday at a service devoted to gay and lesbian Catholics. "As bishop, being here this afternoon in this community, I do so with genuine affection and gentleness to you," Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, the eastern vicar, told those gathered at St. Bernadette Roman Catholic Church in Severn, a parish that has had a thriving gay and lesbian ministry since 1997.