From: Alex Forbes [write@summitlake.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 6:28 PM
To: askfox@foxinc.com
Subject: FW: [GLAADAlert] 11/22/00 GLAADAlert

Ally McBeal: Art and Tastelessness
Dear Ask Fox,

I'm writing about the Ally McBeal episodes featuring Cindy, whom Fox cast as a gentle, likeable transgendered person. The forwarded letter (below) from GLAAD, to its members, is included primarily for context, not to inundate Fox with them.

Although I am a gay person, when I and my partner watched the "I can't date anyone who has a penis" episode, our take was negative on a broader front than GLAAD's. What we saw primarily was a kind, thoughtful person being treated hurtfully in a social and personal situation. She was transgendered, but she might instead have been overweight, or of a different or mixed race or ethnic background.

We saw Cindy as being punished not just for differences of sexual orientation, which by itself is unacceptable, but because Mark fell in love with her best and most endearing human qualities. The demeanor of the show regulars toward Cindy was surprisingly immature, unthinking, and unpleasantly awkward. The inexplicable contrast between sensitive acting and shocking hurtfulness was never resolved, leaving an empty feeling that the show betrayed both viewers and its own standards of quality.

The central point taken: it's supposed to be acceptably funny when people who are uncomfortable with differences in others behave badly, "insensitively", and even rudely for no other reason than to validate their own personal insecurities.

I have mixed feelings about the show anyway. Although some of the acting is top-notch, and the humor can be outrageously funny, the show's drive to be outrageous, for difference's sake alone, has in the past often been an embarrassing contrast to the rest of the show. This show was a particularly egregious example.

GLAAD is correct that the show promoted an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of sexual minorities. If there was a school of thinking that these episodes realistically show some of the inane and thoughtless ways people react to sexual (or other) minorities, the show failed in this respect too. All Fox needs to ask is: "What if this character were Black or Asian; would that be acceptable?"

To our thinking, the show failed, most of all, because it ended up glamorizing pointlessly cruel and hurtful behavior. As GLAAD pointed out, there was no last-minute "save" of a bad situation, no redeeming merit to this dramatic contrivance.

Please don't reply that this comment doesn't go to David E. Kelley, but to Fox. Thanks, but that's not our problem; we don't work for Fox. If you can forward this to someone within Fox who cares whether one of its most popular shows may be alienating far more viewers than Fox intended it to, we've done our job.

When a popular show that aspires to quality issues deliberately takes hurtful potshots at transgendered persons, it crosses a line of unacceptability that could otherwise distinguish it from the merely uninformed and lowbrow.

In the future, when Fox decides to exploit the "humor" in other differences among viewers, such as learning disabilities or neuromotor handicaps, we think the urge to change the channel should overcome any remaining natural curiosity we may have, about just how Fox chooses to handle those situations.

Sincerely,

Alex Forbes
Editor, La Parola Online
http://www.summitlake.com/LA_PAROLA/index.shtml

-----Original Message-----
From: warren@glaad.org [mailto:warren@glaad.org]On Behalf Of Gay &
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 11:59 AM
To: Multiple recipients of GLAAD_Alert - Sent by
Subject: [GLAADAlert] 11/22/00 GLAADAlert

November 22, 2000

The GLAADAlert is the bi-weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation

Ally McBeal defames transgender people

Ally McBeal, David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-winning comedy, featured a
male-to-female transgender character in a three-part story arc that aired
on Oct. 30, Nov. 6 and Nov. 13. Cindy, a transgender woman, hires Ally's
law firm to sue her place of employment because she does not want to take a
mandatory physical. Cindy has not had sex-reassignment surgery and does not
want her transgender identity revealed at work. After winning her lawsuit,
Cindy becomes involved with Mark, a lawyer in Ally's firm who does not know
that Cindy is transgender.

GLAAD was encouraged by the setup for the third episode of the storyline.
Although Mark reacts insensitively after learning that Cindy was not always
a woman, he realizes that he loves her and wants to continue the
relationship, saying, "I can't see you as anything but a woman." However,
the final episode in the storyline was offensive and defamatory. Mark
backtracks, saying that he considers Cindy "aberrant," and that he could
"never be sexual with her."

Cindy was a well-written, multi-dimensional character. However, she was
surrounded by situations and commentary that were so offensive, they
completely overwhelmed any positive impact her character might have made.
Bigoted comments by every regular character on the show went unchallenged,
and every character ended the storyline as transphobic as they began. (Nell
hysterically claimed that Mark's relationship was a "circus act" that was
"embarrassing for the entire firm." Fish gargled and used mouth spray
because a transgender person kissed him. Cage called Cindy "it.")

GLAAD has written a letter to Kelley requesting a meeting to discuss the
manner in which Ally McBeal portrays lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people. Please contact David E. Kelley and urge him to meet with GLAAD, and
to create fair, accurate and inclusive stories about transgender people -
instead of simply exploiting them for ratings during sweeps.

Contact: David E. Kelley, David E. Kelley Productions, 1600 Rosecrans Ave.,
Building 4B, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.

You may also register your comments and opinions with Fox Television at
askfox@foxinc.com. Please note that this comment does not go to David E.
Kelley but to Fox Television.

The official Ally McBeal website has a message board where the show is
discussed. If you wish to participate in the discussion about the
Mark/Cindy storyline, you may go to
http://www.allymcbeal.com/unisex/index.htm

_________________________________________

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Against Defamation.

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