Hollywood Sends a Sign of Support : Leaders: An update on first anniversary of the industry AIDS anti-discrimination group draws an ‘impressive’ crowd.

By Hollywood standards, it was a small-scale event. But appearances belied the show of support given Monday evening for Hollywood Supports, the year-old organization formed to combat discrimination against persons with AIDS, as well as gays and lesbians in the entertainment business.

Former Fox Inc. chairman Barry Diller and MCA Inc. president Sidney Sheinberg, the two industry leaders who organized Hollywood Supports, had called on their peers to show up at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel for a first anniversary update on the organization’s goals and achievements. And show up, they did.

The point being, as Diller and Sheinberg noted, to illustrate the range of support from an industry that often has been the target of criticism for its handling of the AIDS issue on screen and off, as well as for instances of discrimination against homosexuals.

Hollywood Supports, in fact, was founded in the aftermath of the AIDS-related death of actor Brad Davis, who, in a letter made public posthumously, was critical of the AIDS-phobia he feared had he made his diagnosis known to prospective employers. This year, after the AIDS-related death of actor Anthony Perkins, his widow also expressed Perkins’ fear of never working in Hollywood again if his illness had been revealed.

In remarks to the gathering, Diller called the 123 members of Hollywood Supports’ board “an extraordinarily impressive cross-section of the most senior people in the entertainment and communications industry. Its very being signals clearly to every person who works in this industry that leadership is engaged in support in this AIDS fight. And I believe this is half the battle.”

Diller said the board has been joined recently by Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, HBO’s Michael Fuchs, Fox Inc. owner Rupert Murdoch, agent Sandy Gallin, Elton John, Jonathan Demme, producer-agent Bernie Brillstein, Viacom’s Sumner Redstone, producer Steven Spielberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Among those attending were Columbia Pictures’ Mark Canton; television producers Steven Bochco and Aaron Spelling; actors Edward James Olmos, Bruce Davison and Richard Dreyfuss; Katzenberg; director John Landis; NBC’s Warren Littlefield; writer Paul Monette; agents Michael Ovitz and Jim Wyatt; film producers Joe Roth and Larry Gordon; CBS’ Jeff Sagansky; producer and AIDS Project Los Angeles chairman Steve Tisch; Directors Guild president Arthur Hiller and Screen Actors Guild president Barry Gordon.

“One of the problems that AIDS and HIV-positive people have had is that we went through a period of time when no one mentioned the illness,”’ Sheinberg said in remarks prior to the meeting. “Then we went through a period of time when it seemed only to be the concern of the gay community. . . . I think the fact that we’ve gotten as many people from as many political stripes and as many diverse perspectives on the board, says a lot.”

Both Diller and Sheinberg acknowledged the AIDS-related criticisms of Hollywood. Comments that Hollywood Supports is nothing more than “lip service” have appeared from time to time in the gay press. Other critics have said that the proof of Hollywood’s commitment will be in the product it puts forth.

Currently, there are only three continuing gay characters on national TV, and one of the actors, Doug Savant of “Melrose Place,” attended the event.

For the rare gay character on TV, Savant said, “sexuality has been their defining trait. . . . I am proud to play a character of uncommon dignity . . . not solely defined by sexual identity.” Savant said the audience response he has received has been “overwhelmingly supportive.”

Also speaking was Chad Lowe, an actor in TV’s “Life Goes On,” who plays a heterosexual infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. He said the character’s condition has progressed to full-blown AIDS. “It’s helped me to confront my own stereotypes and fears.”

Feature film representations of gays often have been stereotypical. The first major studio film about AIDS, after more than a decade of the epidemic, is only now in production: Demme’s “Philadelphia” for TriStar Pictures.

“Nothing is enough,” Diller said. “The problem is that when people make the accusation that (Hollywood) is not doing enough . . . the only thing that I can say in response is that I think this (Hollywood Supports) is good work.” Supported by a $100,000 annual grant from the industry’s Permanent Charities Committee, among others, Hollywood Supports set up shop at Sunset Boulevard offices with a goal of providing educational services to businesses.

Those attending got a sample of an “AIDS in the Workplace Seminar,” which, according to executive director Richard Jennings, can be scheduled by companies. The seminars dramatize and examine AIDS concerns, and issues of homophobia. Established also is an industry helpline that deals with insurance issues.

Sheinberg said Hollywood Supports has pushed companies and guilds to adopt sexual orientation non-discrimination policies and to train supervisors in diversity. Since the founding, several major firms have extended health benefits to couples of the same sex. He said a goal is to adopt insurance policies within the industry that are AIDS aware.