
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170651
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

DEBUT OF `GAY FAIRFAX' SHOW DRAWS FEW UNORGANIZED CRITICS

The debut of Virginia's first cable television program about homosexuality has brought little response to the show's organizers, but opponents vowed Wednesday to keep up efforts to take the program off the air.

"We cannot believe that they could put that type of show on," Richard Enrico, executive director of Citizens Against Pornography, said the May 7 premier showing of "Gay Fairfax" on a local public access cable channel.

The 30-minute program put together by the Fairfax Lesbian and Gay Citizens Association had three parts, including an interview with a writer, another interview with an Army sergeant whose re-enlistment was denied for homosexuality, and a segment on a quilt being designed to honor AIDS victims.

"I don't know what they thought we were going to be showing," said Ralph Karau, a member of the association's board of directors.

"I thought the answering machine would go bonkers" after the program aired, Karau said. Instead, he said, the association received only one phone call.

"It got a lot of press beforehand and it went off pretty much without a hitch," he said. "Those who were brave enough to turn on the TV found out it was probably not what they thought it would be."

The program is designed to help educate people about homosexual life.

But Enrico said using television for such a purpose is like having someone go on the air to advocate the recreational use of drugs.

"Virginia still has sodomy laws," he said. "That's what homosexuals do. Why do we want to encourage, not a lifestyle, but a deathstyle?"

Enrico said he would meet with cable officials to try to get the program canceled. If that doesn't work, he said, cable subscribers might be asked to drop the service in protest.

"We're not going to back off on this," he said. "We're trying to protect people, especially children."

by CNB