The November 19 Ellen was a hilarious tour de force for guest stars Emma Thompson and Sean Penn, both portraying themselves. Ellen gets a job as Thompson's personal assistant shortly after she discovers that Thompson is a lesbian. Thompson is encouraged by Ellen's candor regarding her sexual orientation and decides to come out herself at a nationally televised Hollywood dinner in her honor. "Let's go out and terrify some Baptists," she declares. Ellen warns her that the press will probably dig deep into her past. A drunk Thompson confesses to her darkest secret...she's really from Dayton, Ohio and learned the accent from watching Julie Andrews movies. At the dinner, Sean Penn steals Thompson's thunder by coming out himself. The underlying theme of the show highlighted how difficult being openly gay can be for all types of people, especially celebrities who fear losing movie and TV roles because of who they are.

Please thank Thompson and Penn for their inspired performances on Ellen, and for supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Contact: … Emma Thompson c/o Catherine Olmin, Public Relations, PMK, 955 S. Carrillo Dr., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90048; … Sean Penn c/o Mara Buxbaum, Public Relations, PMK, 1775 Broadway, Suite 701, New York, NY 10019.

Recently the radical religious group American Family Association (AFA) has been appropriating GLAAD's work to further its own anti-gay agenda. This week, the AFA redistributed GLAAD's weekly "'Ellen Watch'" almost word-for-word to its followers, encouraging them to attack "Ellen" advertisers for sponsoring the groundbreaking television show. Please do not let their narrow-minded hate be the only voice that these advertisers hear! To receive "'Ellen' Watch" every Thursday, simply respond to this e-mail (if you are receiving this "GLAADAlert" via e-mail) or contact GLAAD at glaad@glaad.org and ask to be added to the list. The AFA gets it, why shouldn't you?!

On the November 19 episode of ABC's popular sitcom The Drew Carey Show, the title character's brother, Steve, visits after he breaks up with his fiancee and shocks Drew by cross dressing. Unsuspecting Drew hires Steve for the cosmetic section of the department store he works at, and when Drew pays him a visit he finds Steve dressed as a woman. Steve explains that he is a cross dresser and that he could not think of any other way oftelling Drew. Mr. Wick, Drew's boss, insists that Drew fire Steve. In the end, Drew comes to accept his brother and saves Steve's job.

Earlier this year, GLAAD briefly spoke with a writer from the show regarding issues of gender, cross dressing, sexual orientation and transgender people. Overall, the episode handles the issues around cross dressing quite well, breaking down a number of myths and stereotypes.

However, the episode does make one large mistake. When Drew asks Steve if he is gay and Steve responds that he is not, Drew says that it is unfortunate because lesbians and gay men are protected from job discrimination by federal law. In fact, that legislation (Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA) failed to pass Congress last year, and is one of the most important legislative protections that the community is still fighting for today.

Please thank "Drew Carey" for a show that dealt with transgender issues in a progressive and fair manner, and encourage them to continue to feature Steve. Also stress that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is not protected from job discrimination by federal law, and that in fact hundreds lose their jobs each year simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or identity.

… Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90037, fax: 310.557.7679, e-mail: abcaudr@abc.com;

… Bruce Helford, Executive Producer, The Drew Carey Show, Warner-Brothers, 4000 Warner Blvd., Building 19, 1st Floor, Burbank, CA 91522.

The December issue of the national hip-hop music and culture magazine "The Source" features an outstanding article on "A B-Boy Adventure Into Hip-Hop's Gay Underground." Writer R.K. Byers (who identifies himself as heterosexual) describes his experience going to Phab, a gay hip-hop night at a New York City nightclub. He acknowledges his discomfort as part of a broader societal discomfort with gay people. "Even extremists from different sides of the racial divide seem to be able to come together in opposition to [gay people]," he says. "In the hip-hop community,homophobia seems to be linked to an even greater fear. Hip-hop, which is quite unfairly seen as the last frontier of real nigga-ness, might suffer as an icon of Black masculinity if one of its more hard-core artists revealed himself to be gay."

Byers interviews a host of people at the club, including Tutti Frutti, who said, "'Eighty-five percent of the hip-hop industry is gay.'" Byers also discusses how the recent embracing of hip-hop by gay clubs has been a way for gay fans of hip-hop to, as one interviewee puts it, "'trace my roots back to summer night block parties, the whole nine. Back then, MCs were given credit for being an artist first. They didn't have this whole Black manhood issue on their shoulders just because they were rappers.'" Later, he describes "the gay insider term 'Banjee,'" as "'urban men who have sex with men but are not effeminate or powerless.' By definition, Banjees are not necessarily gay." He adds, "The scariest thing should have been the number of times I kept seeing myself in the club; bald, brown-skinned brothas who had the same walk, mannerisms, or overall style that either I had or could relate to.

"And they loved hip-hop. What did that say about them, or more importantly, about me? The Gay Rapper controversy came back into my mind....It's easy to imagine that the percentage of gay rappers is proportional to the percentage of people in general. And let's be realistic, it probably wouldn't just be the wack ones, either."

To close, he quotes Nigel, "a gay brotha from around the way,": "'If your shit is wack, it's wack whether you're gay or straight. If your shit is the bomb, it's the bomb. If your interpretation of the art changes because of the sexuality of the artist, then you're the one with the issues.'"

Please commend "The Source" for an excellent article which breaks through stereotypes about hip-hop, and lesbians and gay men to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about the ways sexual identity shapes (and is shaped by) culture, race and gender.

Contact: Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Editor, The Source, 215 Park Ave. S., 11^th Floor, New York, NY 10003-1603, fax: 212.253.9344, e-mail: jali@sourcemag.com.

The Clint Eastwood-directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has opened in theaters across the country, and features a number of gay and transgender characters. The story centers around Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey), a gay antiques dealer, who shoots and kills his gigolo boyfriend. The Lady Chablis, a black transgender performer in Savannah, Georgia, portrays herself and has been credited by a number of reviewers as the film's "scene stealer."

This film, sure to be a hit, treats with sophistication gay and transgender characters who could easily have fallen prey to Hollywood oversimplification and sensationalism.

Please thank Clint Eastwood, who had almost total control over the film's production, for translating the gay and transgender characters from this entertaining and engaging best-selling novel to the big screen. Contact: Clint Eastwood, Malpaso Productions, Warner-Brothers Studios, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522-001.