Badpuppy Gay Today

Wednesday, 9 April 1997

Chastity Bono proved herself able and eloquent as she entered a TV debate against The Reverend Jerry Falwell in an April 8 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live. She also proved herself an effective representative for gay and lesbian concerns.

Asked about her relationship with father, one time TV personality and songster, Sonny Bono, now a Republican congressman from Palm Springs, California, Ms. Bono said that on a personal level her father has been supportive with regard to sexual orientation. She explained, however, that his voting record is not supportive civil rights for other gay men and lesbians.

At issue in Bono's debate with Jerry Falwell, a fundamentalist Baptist preacher from Lynchberg, Virginia, was Falwell's current call for a "Christian" boycott against corporations that plan to advertise on the April 30th showing of the now-famous TV sit-com, Ellen. Without yet seeing the program, Falwell is, nevertheless, opposed to its being shown to the public. He has announced that several major firms--including Chrysler, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson-- intend to withdraw advertising support for the April 30 episode whereon Ellen Morgan (played by Ellen DeGeneres, who announced April 6 that she is, in fact, a true-life lesbian) will come out of the closet. In the same episode, Oprah Winfrey is scheduled to play Ellen's therapist. The sit-com, long a controversy in the making, has generated nationwide interest.

"I think that you'll find," said Falwell, "that the most important thing that has happened is that television writers, television executives-- Michael Eisner, the board chairman of Disney who owns ABC, who is now thinking of even pulling that April 30 program, I'm told, are concerned that the families in America have said, 'Enough is enough is enough."

"Chastity, have you heard that Mr. Eisner might pull that show?" asked Larry King.

"I've heard absolutely nothing about that," replied Bono, "I've been in close contact with both ABC and Touchtone, and everybody there is extremely proud of the work they've done on this episode and looking forward to airing it."

With reference to the J.C. Penney Company's statement that it would not support the show, Bono said, "I think the J.C. Penney (statement) was very interesting because up until this point no advertisers have even seen the episode to be able to make a decision whether or not they will be advertising on it, so I think this whole thing is premature and I think that Mr. Falwell is targeting people that he knows will probably not advertise anyway, on the show, to make it look like a victory, when, in fact, at this point its still very much up in the air who will and who will not be advertising on the show."

" But you agree, Chastity, that Jerry has every right to ask advertisers not to advertise, and that economic boycott is as American as apple pie? If you don't like something, you don't have to buy it?" asked King.

"Right. Just as we have every right to encourage advertisers to stand up for freedom of choice," replied Bono, "and to advertise on the show."

"I don't understand this anti-family (accusation of Falwell's)," continued Bono, "I'm very very family oriented. Gay and lesbian people are parts of families all over this country and we're certainly not against family," she said.

"Chastity," Falwell admonished her, "if gay and lesbians were the only couples in the world...there would be no children in the next generation and as a Christian who believes the Bible and millions who are looking in right now who believe the Bible there can be no question that homosexuality is wrong and that the Old Testament, the New Testament, Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-27......"

"Mr. Falwell," Bono interrupted, "the thing that makes this country so great, and what it was founded on was religious freedom and that's fine that you have those views and that your followers have those views but those are not necessarily the views of Americans at large. This country is about freedom, freedom to choose and freedom to make our own decisions, and I think that its very important that we allow people to see for themselves this April 30th episode and if they're offended or feel like their family shouldn't watch it or its not appropriate for their children, that's fine. But I think we can't censor what people want to see and we can't tell people in this country what they should and shouldn't do. Americans don't like to be told what to do. They like to make their own decisions. So lets encourage people to do that on April 30."