Media Trail
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

Showtime orders series with gay content

AfterElton.com reports that Showtime announced July 18 the cable network ordered pilots for two series with significant gay content at the Television Critics Association conference in Los Angeles.

The first announced was the tentatively titled dark comedy “Nurse Jackie,” starring Edie Falco as an iconoclastic, opinionated, self-medicating nurse in New York City.

The show also features Haaz Sleiman playing Maurice, a gay Muslim who is one of Jackie’s coworkers and best friends.

“The United States of Tara” stars Toni Collette as Tara, a suburban mother suffering from multiple personality disorder. Her various personalities impact her husband and children, including her out teenag son, in a variety of ways.

Lesbians still lesbians

Yahoo News reports a Greek court has dismissed a request by residents of the Aegean island of Lesbos to ban the use of the word lesbian to describe gay women.

Three residents of Lesbos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Sappho whose love poems inspired the term lesbian, brought a case in June arguing the use of the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.

In the July 18 decision, the Athens court said the word did not define the identity of the residents of the island. It also said it could be validly used by gay groups in Greece and abroad.

The court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay court fees of $366.

Politician creates antigay comic

ABCNews.go.com reports a politician in Oklahoma is using a homophobic comic book to lampoon his opponents in his reelection campaign.

Brent Rinehart, an Oklahoma County Commissioner, created the comic book and planned to send it to Republicans in his district.

The 16-page comic features Satan, angels, toga-wearing gay people and depictions of public officials discussing “anal sodomy” and “Pedifiles.”

In one panel, Satan is depicted holding a pitchfork, saying, “If [only] I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal!”

Though the book’s content has been widely condemned, Rinehart is unrepentant, misspellings aside.

“I’m proud of it,” he said. “It’s a novel way to tell a story about the last three-and-a-half years. It’s informative, entertaining and a good read.”

— Larry Nichols