Arts & Entertainment
‘In the Life’ celebrates 20 years
Groundbreaking TV series receives $1 million gift to mark anniversary
Maria and Brian Singer of Laurel, Md., and their children Lucas and Jackie, one of the families featured in ‘Becoming Me.’ (Photo courtesy of Brian and Maria Singer.)
The groundbreaking television series “In the Life” received an impressive gift for its 20th anniversary celebration — a $1 million donation from board co-chair and New York philanthropist Henry van Ameringen. This timely award gives the organization a chance to celebrate its milestone while planning for the next 20 years.
The media-shy Ameringen writes movingly about the importance of “In the Life” in a blog entry for the Huffington Post. The 82-year-old activist remembers growing up in a time when “the absence of images reflecting real gay life made it easy for people to assume we were everything bad that was said about us.” This was exacerbated when the AIDS epidemic struck the gay community in the 1980s and Ameringen, like many other LGBT activists, became politicized.
“Staying on the sidelines was impossible,” he writes. “The government was doing absolutely nothing to halt the spread of this disease nor help those who were suffering. AIDS was seen as a ‘gay disease,’ and with so few positive portrayals of gays in the media, and far fewer gay people being out at the time, most Americans believed all the stereotypes they had heard about us.”
However, the premiere of “In the Life” in 1992 contributed to the change in the media and political landscape. Ameringen notes, “The simple fact that there was a television program, airing on public television stations around the country, that represented LGBT people in such a genuine and accurate manner was stunning.” Veteran media expert and activist Cathy Renna says, “‘In the Life’ has become the ‘60 Minutes’ of LGBT journalism” and credits the show for creating a large and diverse audience for LGBT stories.
Michelle Kristel, executive director of In the Life Media, says that quality and content have been the key to the program’s longevity.
“In the early days,” she says, “we led from a place of novelty and uniqueness. When we were first broadcast in 1992, you just didn’t have out, proud gay and lesbian people on television. We were pioneers. But what has sustained us is the quality of our content and the fact that we are telling stories about real people and the critical issues facing our community.”
Philanthropist Henry van Ameringen gave $1 million to ‘In the Life,’ which has been described as the ’60 Minutes’ of LGBT news. (Photo courtesy Renna Communications)
The celebration of the show’s anniversary is already underway. The 20th season kicked off with a red carpet gala and an October 2011 episode that looked back at the history of the show. Kristel explains that “In the Life” began as a variety show hosted by lesbian comedian Kate Clinton, but that over time it evolved into a behind-the-desk news show with in-the-field reporting before assuming the short-form documentary format it has today. Over time, the award-winning show has also developed a robust online presence with web exclusives that supplement its television programming.
Kristel says the staff had a blast putting together the retrospective show. “It’s always fun for us to look at the old tapes. We had a lot of fun putting it together and taking in the depth and breadth of all that we’ve done over the years.” The anniversary celebration will culminate in the annual June Pride Brunch where supporters can “eat, drink and be merry” while watching New York’s Pride Parade from the windows of “In the Life’s” studios on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
When asked about the importance of the show, Kristel points out that the impact of the series goes beyond its television and online audiences. For example, this month’s episode, “Becoming Me,” which chronicles the lives of families dealing with transgender and non-gender-conforming children, is already becoming a resource for educators, parenting groups like PFLAG and social service agencies. Kristel says, “The show is a beautiful articulation of what we do really well, which is to take an issue and tell personal stories that relate to the issue and that make it tangible for our audiences. We worked on this piece for nine months and we were able to go in-depth with the eight families we interviewed and really understand their journeys.”
Kristel also cites the impact of the show on legislators and policy-makers. The two-part episode on HIV criminalization educated viewers about a little-known fact. “Very few people,” Kristel points out, “realize that in many places you can go to prison for attempted murder for having consensual sex if you are HIV-positive.” The first part of the episode, “Legalizing Stigma,” which aired in December 2010, was shown at the first-ever congressional hearing on HIV stigmatization and led to the introduction of legislation to rescind those laws. The second part, “Perpetuating Stigma,” which aired in February 2011, was shown at this year’s United Nations AIDS conference in Oslo and was referenced as a resource in the Oslo Declaration.
In addition, the celebrated web exclusive “Injustice at Every Turn” brought to life a report on transgender discrimination that was produced by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “The report was devastating,” Kristel said. “I read the report and I thought ‘people need to know about the profound levels of discrimination that transgender people are facing.’ But the fact of the matter is that very few people are going to read a report like that, so we produced a video that put a human face on these issues. That video was presented at the U.S. Department of Labor as a way of informing the department about discrimination in the workplace. This is one of the things we do well, to take an issue and put a human face on it and use it to move people to have a better understanding of the lives that people are living and the ways that people are impacted by social injustice and discrimination.”
Kristel is quick to point out that “In the Life” also produces some fun stories as well. A recent episode profiled the late Sam Steward, a sexual renegade, writer and pornographer. With a hearty chuckle, Kristel relates that “he started life as an English professor, but found that the life of an academic didn’t suit him particularly well. He left that to become a writer of erotica and a tattoo artist. Along the way, he documented, in some detail, his sexual escapades. He had a wooden card catalog that he called “The Stud File” with little cards and descriptions of everybody that he ever had sex with and with pertinent details about their physiques and their skills.”
Ameringen’s gift comes at a critical time for In the Life Media, allowing the organization to continue to deliver stories that document the lives of LGBT people and to explore the issues that affect them. About $100,000 of the donation will be used to match new and increased contributions. The balance will offer the organization a valuable opportunity to invest in its future.
Kristel says, “The media landscape has changed radically since we were first broadcast, not only in the way media is produced, but also the way that people consume media. What has remained constant is the power of media to shape the national dialogue. So we will be using this gift to make an assessment of the organization. We will be investing in digital initiatives that will allow us to not only improve our tools for engagement with our viewers but to give our viewers the tools to help us advance equality for LGBT people.”
“In the Life” airs locally on WETA and WMPB and programs can be seen at itlmedia.org/.
Celebrity News
Why Michelle Visage needs you to get ‘PrEP Wise’
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ judge speaks about new ViiV Healthcare campaign
If you ask an LGBTQ person what Michelle Visage is known for, you’re likely to get a few similar answers. Most people will say that they know her as the co-judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” with the woman serving looks (and scathing critiques) for more than a decade on this seminal program. Others may bring up her time awing audiences on the West End, or her initial star turn in the hit girl group Seduction. There are a few answers you may get when asking about Michelle Visage, but there’s one part of the performer’s career that not enough people bring up today: her advocacy.
Before the record deals and hit TV shows, Michelle Visage was a tough teenager from New Jersey. A girl who knew she was meant for fame but was still figuring out how to get there. Eventually, the search for stardom brought her to 1980s New York, a thriving home of queer nightlife that taught Visage how her voice could be used to fight against hatred. And while she flexes that skill every day as a fierce advocate, she’s excited to be louder than ever through ViiV Healthcare’s new ‘PrEP Wisdom Campaign.’
Michelle Visage sat down with the Los Angeles Blade to discuss this campaign and how it feels to speak up about this important issue. But before we could get to the present, she stressed that if people wanted to know about her current work, they first had to understand how it all began.
Visage detailed her youth in New Jersey, her no-nonsense parents, and the many times she snuck into nightclubs hoping to be ‘discovered.’ It was in these clubs that she found the thriving ballroom scene of 1980s New York, saying, “I felt like Dorothy [from the ‘Wizard of Oz’] when she clicked her heels! [Except] Dorothy clicked her heels three times, and she ended up in Kansas — I ended up on Christopher Street with 30 or 40 of the weirdest, craziest looking misfits I’d ever seen in my life.” Michelle smiled widely as she remembered those early moments. “I was like, ‘Oh my god … I think I found my people.”
“I met Willie Ninja and Caesar Ninja Valentino, and they took me in as one of their own and started teaching me how to vogue. And that’s how life began for me in the ballroom!” She began to walk as a member of the House of Valentino — specifically Face, Body, and Femme Vogue — and found a second home amidst this thriving subculture of marginalized artists. “When I didn’t have anybody or a group or a clique to speak of, the queer scene in New York City took me in as one of theirs — and I became ‘Michelle Magnifique.’”
Through this community, Visage got to see the birth of our modern LGBTQ rights movement — as well as just how much the AIDS crisis would come to terrorize these people she’d begun to call her family.
“Because I was so deep in this scene, I was affected greatly by the AIDS crisis and the lack of any kind of support from anything around us,“ said Michelle, speaking candidly about her many days spent at the bedsides of those suffering from this disease, acting as a source of comfort for folks whose blood family had abandoned them long ago. “I was standing by their side and holding their hand and being with them … I didn’t know what I was doing. But I knew that I needed to show up, and I knew that I needed to be there.”
Even when her career took Michelle from New York, she always carried those memories of standing by community members when nobody else would. This, when paired with her massive singing and acting talents, is what made her one of pop culture’s staunchest advocates for LGBTQ rights in the 90s and early 2000s. This earned her a massive queer following, and today, it’s what makes her the perfect partner for ViiV’s new PrEP Wisdom Campaign.
“Viiv Healthcare is the only pharmaceutical company solely focused on preventing, treating, and ultimately curing HIV,” Michelle explained. “Their goal is to help end the HIV epidemic for all — and that, to me, is music to my ears.”
It’s a goal that’s only become more important since the company was founded back in 2009. The only large-scale pharmaceutical company focused on ending the HIV epidemic, ViiV, not only fights cultural stigma but also saves thousands of lives daily by connecting folks to the treatment and prevention resources they need. Especially as we’re seeing numerous states — including California — begin to slash HIV funding, their work through campaigns like this one is becoming more important than ever.
“The PrEP Wisdom Campaign, first and foremost, is intended to encourage conversations between people who could benefit from PrEP, and [why they should] talk to their doctors to help determine which injectable PrEP might be right for them,” said Visage. She discussed how the campaign is information-oriented, with ViiV developing easy-to-understand pathways for folks to become more aware of injectable PrEP services as well as general HIV/AIDS-related resources.
“More than 2 million Americans could benefit from PrEP to help prevent HIV [according to the] CDC — yet only 25 percent of them are currently using it!” She understands that there were many things holding people back from getting PrEP, ranging from cultural stigma to discriminatory doctors to a lack of awareness that these resources even exist. But she emphasizes that people cannot let social judgment hold them back from their health and safety! “If you’re not clicking with your health care provider, please find a new one. You don’t have to settle … there are plenty of people to choose from. Plenty of healthcare providers, plenty of doctors who want to work with you, who want to give you the information about PrEP, who want you to be on PrEP so you are protected.”
“Listen, we have come a long way since I started [back in] 1986], and we’ve got so much further to go,” Visage said, reflecting on her lifelong role as an HIV advocate, first as a teenager, and now as an acclaimed performer. But while she may have grown since then, she still carries the commitment to fighting against injustice that the queer community of 80s New York instilled in her. “I will fight forever on this platform. [Discrimination hasn’t] changed, so I don’t plan on changing.”
Michelle Visage knows that change doesn’t happen by being silent — it happens by staying informed and keeping yourself healthy so that you can speak out for what you know is right. In honor of the many lives she fought for in 1980s New York, Visage wants to help as many people as she can today get the PrEP resources they need. And through her new PrEP Wisdom campaign with ViiV, she’s excited to do exactly that.
Hagerstown Hopes held the Hagerstown Pride Festival outside Hub City Brewery on Saturday, May 30.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
You’re all geared up.
You’ve got your best parade-walking shoes, your coolest tee, your most-comfortable shorts, and a rainbow flag to carry. You’re set for Pride, but before you go, try one of these great new books about LGBTQ life and history.
After the parade, where will you end up? A place to talk your experience over, to re-hash things for the next parade? Then you may need “The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces” by Rachel Karp (Beacon Press, $29.95).
Lesbian bars, says Karp, are more than just places to drink. They’re also places to find community, and to organize. For many, she says, they are “sanctuaries,” as they have been for at least a century, and this book introduces you to some of the people who run the establishments, the things they do to support their patrons, and the 100-year-plus bravery that it took to own, run, and enter a lesbian bar.
If you had to name a gay icon, there are probably quite a few who come to mind. So read “Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge” by Harvey Brownstone (ECW Press, $21.95) and add another name to your list.
This memoir, written by Canada’s first openly gay judge, takes readers from Brownstone’s childhood to his life as a lawyer, then to his work within the justice system in Ontario, and beyond, to his current career. This is a surprising, informative book that gives you an idea what gay life is like, north of our uppermost borders, then and now.
Pride is a celebration, an event, but it also demands a peek backwards, and in “The LGBTQ Almanac: 500 Years of Queer Culture in American History” by Deborah G. Felder (Visible Ink Press, $39.95), you’ll get a wide look at the pioneers, allies, policy, and gay life over the course of the last five centuries. Want to know more about religion in the gay community? It’s in here, along with celebrities, presidents, science, business, and more. This is the kind of book that settles bets. It’s one you want to have in any room of your home because it’s comprehensive and perfectly browse-able for all of its 600-plus pages.
And finally, here’s a book to read and think about: “No Fats No Fems: A Guide to Queer Empathy and Unpacking Prejudice” by Max Hovey (HarperOne, $19.99). How do you eliminate hateful, hurtful words, aimed at gay people – by gay people? What kind of stereotypes do we carry, unintentionally? This book takes those things out into the daylight by talking honestly and thoughtfully about them, as well as other issues. It’s a book to have when doubts creep in, when you need a new way of thinking or a different direction, or when you just want something different to read.
And if these great books aren’t enough, head to your favorite bookstore or library and ask for books that you can read before Pride or after. And happy Pride!
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