Journalist talks on AIDS in media

In celebration of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered Awareness Days, award-winning journalist and author Jesse Greene delivered a talk entitled "Up from Underground: Covering AIDS (and Other Calamities) for The New York Times" Monday at the Castle. Greene has written for the Times since 1991, as well as for Variety, GQ, Premiere and New York magazines. "Tonight Jesse will be talking about how he got to write his way at The New York Times," commented Greene's mother, Sally. Greene taught at the University for 28 years before becoming a family counselor. Greene discussed a September 1996 New York Times Magazine article entitled "Flirting with Suicide," which he described as being representative of "the heartbreaking success of AIDS journalism." "This article, which began as a story of a man's attempt to stay safe, turned into an article about public efforts to change private behavior," he said. Greene noted the initial difficulties encountered in publishing the article, which candidly discussed homosexual issues. The Times, a company that Greene described as being "well-known for its prudishness," would not allow him to mention the sexually explicit name of a homosexual club. And he added that the cover photo for his article was altered -- the earring in the right ear of a man was electronically airbrushed. But despite such setbacks, Greene considers the article to be an important step in bringing gay issues to the forefront of the American consciousness. "For the first time, I was able to tell the whole truth about the gay community -- all of the political incorrectness," Greene said. "Gay people were seen as real people instead of as sketches and approximations." In addition to discussing his recent successes in the literary community, Greene recalled the difficulties he encountered early in his career. When Greene began writing for the Times in 1991, he was told that the word "lesbian" could only be used as an adjective -- not a noun. And in an article about drag queens, his editor did not permit him to use gender-specific pronouns. Greene attributes a turnaround in the Times policy to the "coming out" of one of its star reporters. He said that he is encouraged by the increasing acceptance of gay issues in the mainstream media, adding what he considered to be his primary goal as a reporter for the gay community. "I want to prepare the world for all of us to be happy and comfortable in it," he said.