The Homosexual Parade That Wasn't on TV

In a June New York Post column, Ray Kerrison noticed an odd phenomenon in local television coverage of the recent parade of homosexuals in New York. Every network had stories and pictures of the parade, but none of them reported what really happened.

He wrote that the yearly parade is vulgar, violent, and anti-Catholic and yet every year, the city's TV stations send out their cameras, producers, and reporters—and they all come back with glowing accounts. With almost conspiratorial censorship, all six stations automatically delete the lewdness, nudity, profanity, and blasphemy that are the intrinsic ingredients of the parade.

“They block out the dirty placards, the insulting banners, the violent, anti-religious themes. Instead, they present the parade as a fun festival, rich in color, pageantry, and pride. The distortion is a criminal abuse of truth.”

“The TV propagandists were at it again Sunday night after the 29th parade down Fifth Avenue.” He quoted WNBC (Channel 4): “They're celebrating with pride and parades, a rainbow of flags, floats, and festivities… They kicked off in high style … and remained spectacular to its end.”

The WABC (Channel 7) reporter announced excitedly: “It was a wild and fun afternoon … a fun affair.”

Kerrison continued: “None of them told of the reported half-dozen men who were stark naked except for their green condoms. None told of the bare-breasted women prancing down the avenue. None showed the lurid excesses of the drag queens and cross-dressers.” Or the ridiculing of the Pope, religious sisters, priests, and saints.

“None find it offensive that this essentially obscene promenade starts at 52nd Street so it will pass the front doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral and dishonor the religion it represents.”

Of Marriage and Movie Stars

Why do movies seem so antagonistic to marriage at times? Perhaps it's because the denizens of Hollywood have such awful marriages—despite a few notable exceptions.

That is one conclusion a June 26 Philadelphia Daily News article, “On Hollywood's sea of matrimony, 10 years is one long cruise,” might suggest.

Calling 10 and a half years “a pretty good run for a Hollywood marriage,” the report said it is the extended length—not the recent end—of the marriage of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore that should draw attention.

The report pointed out that, recently, Drew Barrymore ended her marriage after seven weeks, Christie Brinkley ended her third marriage after seven months, and Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett ended theirs after 21 months.

“But there are star pairings who have stuck it out even longer. What do you think were the secrets of their success?” The report lists these exceptions to the Hollywood rule:

• Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward have been together 40 years.

• Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft have been married 34 years.

• Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews have been married 29 years.

• Ronald and Nancy Reagan have been married for 45 years.