Transcripts

MICHEAL SMITH: This is it. We're going to go for it.

SPEAKER 1: Standby.

MARISA HELMS: Michael Smith is taping the third episode of his new cable-access talk show in Saint Cloud.

MICHEAL SMITH: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Kinpride, an interactive talk show about homosexuality. You can visit the Kinpride website--

MARISA HELMS: A few weeks ago, Smith brought Kinpride to the airwaves of Central Minnesota. He wants the show and its website to become an educational resource and virtual meeting place for Central Minnesota's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or GLBTQ community. On this night, Smith is interviewing two guests from the local chapter of PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. PFLAG's Warren Bradbury says a show like Kinpride might help people in Stearns County move away from a don't ask, don't tell way of thinking.

WARREN BRADBURRY: That's really been the standard throughout communities, smaller communities, especially in Minnesota. In many cases, folks have understood that their neighbor may be gay or lesbian and just said, we're not going to ask. We're not going to tell. But more and more gay and lesbian people are saying, we'd like to be more comfortable in who we are, and we'd like you to be more comfortable with who we are, too.

MARISA HELMS: Host, Michael Smith, who is gay, has lived in Saint Cloud with his partner for eight years and recognizes this don't ask, don't tell mentality as just another shade of homophobia.

MICHEAL SMITH: There's a lot of homophobia out there, and I think that, if someone were to watch the show, they might have tuned into it and get a perception of what is this. Or are trying to recruit me? Are they trying to promote homosexuality? Are they trying to-- you know, whatever it is.

MARISA HELMS: Though, Smith has a pioneering spirit and wants to be a positive voice, he's also careful to reassure people that Kinpride is not, as he says, a recruiting tool.

MICHEAL SMITH: I quite honestly don't understand homophobia because I'm gay. But, on the other hand, I grew up gay, but I acted the straight life. And none of my friends, even if they thought I was gay, never were afraid of it. But there's people from the small towns and so forth that don't have that perception that would think that a gay person, if you come out to them, you're coming on to them. So using that type of thing, I thought, OK, I'm doing the show. I'm not recruiting. I'm educating.

SCOTT FEARING: In many ways, it depresses me and bothers me that we have to so often couch our work in some ways with terms like, you know, we're not here to recruit. It's absolutely ridiculous.

MARISA HELMS: Scott Fearing is statewide community organizer for OutFront Minnesota, a gay advocacy organization. He travels around the state to help gay individuals and support groups organize toward equal rights and greater acceptance. Fearing says he's heard anecdotes about gay men and lesbians faced with housing and job discrimination in Saint Cloud. He says the problem of homophobia, not just in Central Minnesota but throughout the state, is based on ignorance and a lack of understanding. Fearing praises Michael Smith for airing Kinpride and is optimistic about the show's potential to build some bridges.

SCOTT FEARING: Research has shown and it's been proven time and time again is that the best way to move someone beyond their issues of hatred and their fear is for them to meet and to talk to and get to know a real live gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender person to understand the humanity behind it.

MARISA HELMS: Saint Cloud is the heart of what's considered to be the most Catholic region of Minnesota. The Saint Cloud Diocese plays a prominent role in the lives of thousands of Central Minnesota Catholics through community programs and services. Christine Codden is Director of the Diocese Family Life Bureau, which helps parishioners with issues dealing with family, marriage, and sexuality.

Codden says Catholic doctrine calls everyone to chastity except a man and a woman who are married to each other. So, though homosexuals are accepted by the Catholic Church as living, thinking human beings, the church teaches, if you happen to be born gay, you must remain chaste your entire life. The Family Life Bureau counsels gay parishioners on how to grapple with their sexuality, which as Catholics will always be at odds with their faith.

While the diocese Chris Codden agrees education about homosexuality is needed in the Saint Cloud area, she wouldn't yet recommend Kinpride to parishioners. Having just seen a few of the programs, Codden is still figuring out what the show is all about.

CHRISTINE CODDEN: I don't think they've really aligned themselves with where they're coming from. You know, what are they promoting? Is it the lifestyle-- a gay lesbian lifestyle? Is that what they're promoting or is it support and helping with homophobia, you know, that we can get that behind us? And, I mean, I'm all for those kind of things. But if it's for advocating a gay lifestyle, I would be concerned with that. So I haven't seen a lot of that yet. I don't know where it's going.

MARISA HELMS: Another of Codden's concerns is the show's time slot 4:00 PM Tuesday afternoons, just as kids are coming home from school. But Kinpride's Michael Smith disagrees. His show would be harmful to young people in any way.

MICHEAL SMITH: I think it would be a good thing for a kid to watch it. Again, going back to the recruiting thing or promoting, it's not a promotional tool. It's not a recruiting tool. It's just there. I remember, quite honestly, going to a couple counseling things when I was 16 wanting to do that, and I saw a receptionist there who knew a friend of mine and I left. I struggled. And, you know what? If there's somebody out there, some kid who may question it, this might be a great show for him to understand that, hey, I'm not a freak.

MARISA HELMS: Though no anti-gay incidents have been reported to the Saint Cloud Office of Human Rights this year, there is a general consensus that gay and lesbian residents of the city find they're not fully accepted. Kinpride may turn out to be the kind of introduction to gay life many Central Minnesotans need to understand a lifestyle different from their own. Kinpride comes to the airwaves at an interesting time. In just a couple of months, Saint Cloud State University will host a national conference for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people called Making Waves Into the New Millennium. In Collegeville, I'm Marisa Helms, Minnesota Public Radio.