OTHER MOTHERS and Queers on TV Movies

37:40) elkay 13-OCT-93 10:27

ok, this doesn't quite go here, but i didn't feel it merited a new item, either.

i stayed home from work yesterday (strep throat, boo hoo), and i caught this after school special on cbs called OTHER MOTHERS. It starred Meredith Baxter and Joanna Cassidy as a lesbian couple with a teenage son. they had raised him together, since the boy was 2 years old. now he has just entered high school, where he has made the varsity basketball team. it was only an hour long, so it didn't really explore the issues that carefully, but i was truly fascinated by it.

it had the kid coming up against all kinds of barriers once the coach and the parents of the other kids on the basketball team found out. then the mothers went to the guidance counselor to see if she would help them out by "paving the way" for them. they said once people knew them then everything would be ok. the guidance counselor said that it was not the schools place to "condone alternative lifestyles." then the kid went through a whole rejection thing where he told his mother and his other mother that they should keep out of his life, that he was sick of being different, etc. finally, in the end he decided to "tough it out," and told his mothers that they should continue to be involved in the basketball booster club, and fight whatever fight they needed to. also, he would not quit the team, even though the coach was trying to force him to. he would "spend the year sitting on the bench" if that's what it took.

the last shot was of him sitting on the bench, the mother's sitting in the bleachers looking so proud, and one of the homophobic guys on the team smiling when the kid told him to "go out there and kill them" right as the game was beginning. ah, isn't life wonderful.

simplicity aside, i was really surprised to see an after school special about this topic. and it was fairly gay-positive. it certainly wasn't perfect, but overall i was more than happy to see it.

did anyone else catch it? any reactions?

37:41) Evil Twin 13-OCT-93 19:17

I saw the first 15 minutes of it, and then I had to go to an interview. All this time being unemployed and watching bad t.v., and then comes something that is worth my while, and I have to go. I was completely flabbergasted that it was an after school special. Thrilled, actually.

Just curious-did the two every hug or kiss?

37:42) elkay 13-OCT-93 19:31

are you kidding? of course not. although at one point Joanna Cassidy did rub Meredith Baxter's shoulder supportively. drool drool.


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