PLAY’S DEFENDERS DECRY ‘GAY BASHING’ BY AGENCY
Michael Kearns--director of a play cited by the Federal Communications Commission last Thursday as “patently offensive” when broadcast over KPFK-FM--has decried the government’s action as “gay bashing” and an “example of homophobia” at the FCC.
The director of Robert Chesley’s “Jerker” was joined at a news conference at the Celebration Theatre on Monday by actor David Stebbins and other gay-rights activists.
The FCC has referred the Aug. 31, 1986, broadcast to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. The play on gay love and AIDS, which contained graphic depictions of sex acts, carried a warning on its content, the station said. The commission’s move was part of a series of actions tightening its control over broadcast content and “indecent” programming.
An official of the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said that the rights group will defend nonprofit radio station KPFK-FM if the station is charged with broadcasting obscene programming.
ACLU executive Duncan Donovan said the FCC crackdown on the station’s broadcast of the play was a “dreadful infringement on the First Amendment.”
Donovan said the ACLU “will do what we can to help” if the government pursues a case against KPFK.
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