GLBT COMMUNITY MEETS DAILY OKLAHOMAN

A dramatic step toward healing a rift which has long been held to be one of the chief impediments to progress for the GLBT Community in Oklahoma City was taken on Wednesday, April 5, when participants in a new speakers bureau met with Sue Hale, the new executive editor of the Daily Oklahoman. The participants were Karen Parsons, Nathaniel Batchelder, Paul Thompson, and Rob Abiera and their new speakers bureau is Speakers for Gay and Lesbian Issues.

Speakers for Gay and Lesbian Issues was organized with the goal of reaching out to the straight community to facilitate understanding of the realities of being Gay and Lesbian. As part of the effort to get the word out about this new service, it was agreed that the first step should be to attempt to arrange a meeting with Hale. Sue Hale, a thirty-year veteran of the Daily Oklahoman, was chosen to be the successor to Stan Tiner, who left the Daily Oklahoman after several months of working to remold the paper into a more progressive, contemporary medium which would more accurately reflect the diversity of Oklahoma City. Tiner had been hired after separate reports in major academic journals concurred in labeling the Daily Oklahoman "the worst newspaper in America".

After a period of wondering about what sort of ideology Sue Hale subscribed to personally, reports began to surface of Hale's interest in "social justice" issues. And, though homophobic diatribes continued to frequently grace the editorial page - still under the firm control of Patrick McGuigan - the rest of the paper was showing signs of neutrality, if not being outright Gay-friendly.

One place where the paper was showing signs of openness towards the GLBT Community was the movie reviews. Kathryn Jenson White had come from the Oklahoma Gazette and had always been of decidedly liberal persuasion. It did not take long after Tiner's departure to see that she would continue to be so, and when two GLBT-themed Oscar contenders - All About My Mother and Boys Don't Cry - actually showed up in OKC, she made it abundantly clear that she had been completely won over by them and was not about to be shy about saying so in print.

Sympathy towards GLBT issues might be expected from someone like White, but it was definitely a surprise to see the much more conservative Jerry Shottenkirk being taken in by the Madonna-Rupert Everett Next Best Thing (though that didn't stop it from bombing at the box office!).

Surprises were cropping up in the rest of the paper as well, including the business section, which ran an article on domestic partnership policies among Oklahoma companies - including quotes from EQUAL! at Lucent's Karen Parsons - and a profile of local plumbing magnate Jean Prockish (though it didn't mention her lesbianism).

Most striking, however, was a group of articles on local hate crimes in the Sunday, March 20 issue. Most of these articles appeared in the Community section, which was only included in the late edition on Sunday. There, in black and white, was the open assertion that Oklahoma City's Human Rights Commission was abolished by the City Council because they resented having to deal with the issue of Gay Rights, complete with quote by councilmember Jerry Foshee:

"The council is tired of the issue always being brought forward, and the vehicle that is always bringing it forward is the human rights commission," . . . "If the vehicle is bringing you company that you don't want ... then you do away with the vehicle."

While the rest of the paper may have been showing positive signs and giving cause for hope, Parsons, Batchelder, Thompson and Abiera remained mindful that the editorial page remained under the tight control of McGuigan, who continued to direct a rain of terror upon the GLBT Community. They were aware that a previous attempt to open a dialog with the Daily Oklahoman had been a disaster. McGuigan and editorial writer J.E. McReynolds had agreed to meet with GLBT activists, including Karen Parsons and Paul Barby, who were shocked, when they arrived at the editorial offices of the Daily Oklahoman, to find a "counselor" from First Stone Ministries, who immediately attempted to "convert" them from homosexuality! They had been ambushed!

It was with these things in mind, then, that Parsons, Batchelder, Thompson and Abiera arrived at the Daily Oklahoman building. At the agreed-upon time, they were ushered to the eighth floor, were Sue's cheerful assistant led them to her office, which contained a small conference room where they were made comfortable with offers of coffee and soft drinks. After a short wait while she wrapped up a staff meeting, Sue entered. She seemed to be relaxed and comfortable, far from confrontational. She was gracious and courteous, and seemed to be geniunely interested in the group's reasons for meeting with her, and concerned that she would be able to help the group achieve it's objective of getting publicity for Speakers for Gay and Lesbian Issues. The meeting turned out to be very substantive. In addition to getting publicity for Speakers for Gay and Lesbian Issues, it was hoped that this meeting would provide a new opportunity for opening a dialog between the Daily Oklahoman and the GLBT Community of Oklahoma City. Sue provided a perfect opportunity by asking many questions about GLBT issues. The representatives of Speakers for Gay and Lesbian Issues returned the favor by noting the positive trend in the paper's coverage of GLBT issues. Sue revealed that those changes had come at a price: while the articles on hate crimes had generated both positive and negative responses from readers, some of the negative responses had been vicious and involved actual threats. But, Sue said, she was not going to let that stop her from cotinuing to cover controversial issues. She said that when a story generates strong reactions on both sides, she knows she's doing her job right.

After leaving the meeting, Parsons, Batchelder, Thompson and Abiera stopped in the lobby of the Daily Oklahoman building and talked about what had just happened. They all agreed that the meeting had been a positive one, and that, no matter what happened next, at least they had taken the first step.