LGBT Issues & History

Paul Rudnick is an essayist, novelist, and playwright. His latest play on off-Broadway is a comedy called "Jeffrey," about a man who swears off love and sex because of his fear of AIDS. Rudnick also wrote the Broadway play, "I Hate Hamlet," about John Barrymore's ghost. He writes a column in "Premiere," called "If You Ask Me," in which he adopts the voice of a quintessential Jewish mother who critiques movie stars' personal lives.

The world of New York drag queens was captured on film long before "Paris Is Burning." In 1968, a movie called "The Queen" documented the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant. The film was a sensation in New York City; it was even shown at the Cannes Film Festival. This month "The Queen" has been revived for a short run at New York's Film Forum. Terry talks with Jack Doroshow also known as Sabrina, the organizer and mistress of ceremonies of the 1968 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Pageant.

Writer Allan Berube wrote the book, "Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women In World War II." He spent ten years interviewing gay and lesbian veterans, searching out wartime letters, and consulting newly declassified government documents. He found that hundreds of thousands of gays entered the military despite a procedure for screening out homosexuals. Terry will talk with him about the ban on gays in the military and the hearings going on now, and whether it should be repealed.

NPR correspondent and writer Frank Browning. He has a new book about gay culture, "The Culture of Desire: Paradox and Perversity in Gay Lives Today."

Civil Rights attorney Chai Feldblum, visiting professor, Georgetown University Law Center. She was also former legislative counsel to the AIDS and Lesbian and Gay Rights projects of the ACLU. She's talks about recent legislation and court decisions that support or curtail gay rights.

Lesbian, feminist comic Kate Clinton. Last night she hosted a gay ball in Washington D.C., celebrating the inauguration. She tackles social taboos and politics without putdowns, name-calling, or abusive behavior. Her subjects include menstruation, men-bashing, and people in wheelchairs. She's been doing comedy since the early 1980s. Before that she was a high school English teacher.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon are the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, an early lesbian organization. They started the group in the 1950s before the rise of the gay liberation movement. Shortly after, they began publishing "The Ladder," the first Lesbian-themed magazine. Their landmark book, "Lesbian/Woman," published in 1972 has been updated. The two have also been a couple for 39 years.

Kramer is considered the "voice of articulate rage," railing against the government for its indifference to AIDS. His plays include, "The Normal Heart," and the new "The Destiny of Me."Kramer founded the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) and the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). Terry will talk with him about being a writer, an activist, and a person with HIV.

Preston is quickly emerging as a voice for gay writing; his work is being archived in many universities for new gay and lesbian studies departments. He has edited many anthologies including "Hometowns" and "Safe Sex." He is a former editor of "The Advocate," and occasionally writes for "Harper's" and "Interview." Preston also writes and defends gay pornography. He recently finished editing "A member of the Family: Gay Men Write About Their Families."

Kalin wrote, directed and co-produced the new movie,"Swoon." It explores the lives of "thrill killers" Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. They were Jewish and homosexual; the film looks at how anti-semitism and homophobia figured into their 1920s trial. "Swoon" is Kalin's first feature film. He worked for three years as a producer for AIDSFILMS and is a founding member of the AIDS activist collective Gran Fury.