‘Stop the Church’ to Be Part of KCET Special

Los Angeles public-television station KCET will air the short film, “Stop the Church”--which the Public Broadcasting Service pulled from its schedule last week--as part of a documentary about the controversy surrounding the program.

“The differences of opinion on this have created a story in itself that is larger than just the film, and we want to produce a program that looks at the controversy,” said Barbara Goen, KCET vice president for public information.

“Stop the Church,” which chronicles the planning and execution of a demonstration by the AIDS activist group, ACTUP, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, had been scheduled to run Aug. 27 on PBS as part of the opinion-oriented program, “P.O.V.” But after an executive at a local public television station complained, PBS withdrew the film, saying that it ridiculed the Catholic church and was therefore not acceptable for airing.

KCET is the only public station thus far to buck PBS’ decision.

“The program will involve a little bit of background about the controversy, a screening of ‘Stop the Church’ and then a panel discussion,” Goen said. A representative of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will likely be included in the discussion, as will as-yet unnamed members of gay rights and AIDS activist organizations.

Richard Jennings, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, commended the station for showing the program, but said a planned demonstration by gay rights and AIDS activists at KCET to protest the PBS decision will still take place.

“They think it defuses (controversial programming) to have a discussion period afterwards, but we’re delighted they’re showing it,” Jennings said.

The group, along with ACTUP and the gay activist group Queer Nation, has called off plans to jam the station’s pledge lines on Thursday with calls urging KCET to air “Stop the Church.”

Goen said KCET’s “Stop the Church” documentary will probably air in September or October.