Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Pulse ALL HECHE, ALL THE TIME
2001-09-12

This article shared 1193 times since Wed Sep 12, 2001
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Anne Heche was everywhere on the TV airwaves last week, promoting her autobiography, Call Me Crazy, which ended the week at No. 6 on the Bestsellers list. Heche's book details her own memories of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, starting when she was an infant. Her father died of AIDS when Heche was just 13, and her brother allegedly killed himself in a car crash three months later.

Heche's sisters and mother deny the abuse existed, and one sister said if it did occur, her mother certainly did not know about it.

The Barbara Walters 20/20 report Sept. 5 was most revealing. However, many could not help but wonder if this new chapter in Anne's life seems just too well-scripted. She married her boyfriend earlier this month, and announced to Barbara that she is three months pregnant. She said she was insane for the first 31 years of her life, and now she is suddenly cured.

Heche has also had to answer questions about comments she made that sex with Ellen DeGeneres was the best she'd had. She clarifies that it was up to that point in her life...that certainly she's not comparing it to her husband. Heche, 32, and Coleman "Coley" Laffoon, 27, were married days before the 20/20 interview ran on ABC.

Anne, who also called herself "Celestia," and believed she was a spokesperson for God on earth, was quite cavalier in most of her interviews...though at times she did get emotional. It just all seemed like such an act.

Having read about half of her book so far, I feel very moved if her stories are true. But it seems quite removed from the Anne Heche we see on TV. In fact, the reading of her story is at least somewhat more believable than the watching of her on TV.

USA Today reported: "The actress says she was insane during her three-year relationship with DeGeneres, which ended last year. She says she regained her sanity about a year ago, after she was found wandering in Fresno, Calif., in a confused state, shortly after her breakup with DeGeneres."

The timing of Heche's coming-out-of-abuse tale certainly was the worst of it. Shouldn't this have been the week Ellen DeGeneres was on the airwaves promoting her Sunday hosting of the Emmy Awards, and the debut of her CBS sitcom next Monday, Sept. 17? This was Ellen's time for the limelight, and Anne could not wait to distract the media. Anne herself is now in development with Warner Bros. for a TV show for next fall. Maybe it will air opposite Ellen's.

Heche's father, Donald, was a choir director in a Baptist church. She said he began sexually abusing her when she was still a toddler and that she contracted herpes from him.

Oscar night 1997, Heche says, "I saw the most ravishing woman I had ever seen in my life standing across the room. Her name was Ellen DeGeneres. She was radiating. I think at certain times in people's lives you just radiate an energy and a glow of fabulousness. And that was her. I had never seen anybody so lit up." They slept together that night. "Up until that point, that was the best sex I'd ever had," says Heche of her first same-sex sexual experience. "I felt cared for...I felt free to express a part of me that I had not been able to express with a man. I felt sensuous and sexual in a way I hadn't before."

One year ago, here's what Anne said happened: "I was told to go to a place where I would meet a spaceship. I was told in order to get on the spaceship that I would have to take a hit of Ecstasy. Fresno was the culmination of a journey and a world that I thought I needed to escape to in order to find love."

Heche met her new husband while working on a documentary about Ellen. She denies that the new relationship caused the breakup. "How do you put into a sentence why you break up with somebody? We had gotten to the point where we were not happy together anymore. We had become isolated from the world, together."

Heche says she does not label herself straight, gay or bisexual, and Laffoon is also as open-minded. "He's an extraordinary guy. He's one of the few people I've ever met who actually embraces the same notion about sexuality that I do...which is that you love who you love. You fall in love with a person, not a sex. I would never limit myself to saying I would be with a man or a woman."

What does it all mean? Well, the LGBT community is certainly strong enough to survive this media frenzy. Some in the media want to see the message as Anne was "cured" of her craziness at the same time she was cured of her lesbianism. Even Anne does not view her story that way. So her's is just one more story...in the end, hopefully GLBTs see her case as one of tragedy and abuse, not a "cure" for homosexuality. Who knows, in a few years, maybe she'll re-write this story and say this was all just a dream she had.

... Tracy Baim

COMIC STRIP'S GAY

CHARACTER ATTACKED

The Sept. 6-8 nationally syndicated comic strip "For Better or For Worse" reintroduced Lawrence, a gay character who first appeared in 1993. "For Better or For Worse," created by Lynn Johnston in 1979, tells the story of John and Elly Patterson and their children: Michael, Elizabeth and April. The strip, which appears in more than 2,000 papers in 25 countries, won a GLAAD Media Award in 1998 for Outstanding Comic Strip.

In the current story, Michael chooses Lawrence...his childhood best friend...to be the best man at his wedding. The mother of the bride objects to the presence of a gay man at the wedding and says to her daughter, "But Deanna, this is a church!!"

Editors from at least two dozen papers had requested alternate strips from United Media, the strip's syndicator. These strips will not allude to Lawrence's sexual orientation. E-mail glaad@glaad.org for details.

'CHELSEA BOYS' on the air

Film Roman, producer of The Simpsons and King of the Hill, has signed a deal to develop the popular syndicated comic strip Chelsea Boys, created by Glen Hanson and Allan Neuwirth, as the first gay animated TV series.

The strip, currently appearing in magazines, newspapers and websites throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K., including in Windy City Times, revolves around the lives and loves of three gay roommates residing in New York's trendy Chelsea neighborhood.

Hanson ( Spy Groove, Beetlejuice, Daria ) and Neuwirth ( Courage the Cowardly Dog, Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Big Bag ) both have many prior credits as designers, writers and producers of animated television fare. See www.chelseaboys.com .


This article shared 1193 times since Wed Sep 12, 2001
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Thailand parliament passes landmark marriage bill
2024-03-27
On March 27, Thailand's parliament approved a marriage-equality bill by an overwhelmingly large margin—a landmark step that moves one of Asia's most liberal countries closer to legalizing same-sex unions, media ...


Gay News

Chicago alder proposes renaming street after Obama
2024-03-22
Openly gay Black Chicago Ald. Lamont Robinson has proposed renaming Columbus Drive after former U.S. President and city resident Barack Obama, media outlets noted. The street stretches through the Loop from East Grand Avenue to DuSable ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds
2024-03-21
It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman
2024-03-21
Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir
2024-03-18
RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

Oprah, Niecy Nash-Betts honored at GLAAD Media Awards
2024-03-15
Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts were honored at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards that took place in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton on March 14. Winfrey received the Vanguard Award, introduced by iconic Chicago ...


Gay News

UPDATE: Nex Benedict's death ruled a suicide; family responds
2024-03-13
A medical examiner's report concluded that the cause of death of Oklahoma student Nex Benedict (he/they) was suicide, media reports confirmed. Benedict—a 16-year-old transgender student—died Feb. 8, a day after ...


Gay News

House-music festival on Aug. 30-Sept. 1; icons, Idris Elba to be part of it
2024-03-13
The ARC Music Festival—an event celebrating house music—will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Chicago's Union Park, per WGN-TV. This will mark the fourth year that the festival will celebrate the genre at Union Park—less than ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer
2024-03-08
Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret
2024-03-05
Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor
2024-03-01
Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy attacked on social media, allegedly by backers of Burke
2024-02-26
Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy—a supporter of Cook County state's attorney Democratic candidate Clayton Harris III—posted on social media that a backer of Eileen O'Neill Burke, who's running against Harris ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors
2024-02-25
Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic
2024-02-23
At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Chicago Bears hire first woman assistant coach
2024-02-21
The Chicago Bears are hiring Jennifer King as an offensive assistant, according to The Chicago Sun-Times and other media outlets. She will be an assistant running backs coach. King—who will become the first female assistant coach ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.