Eliot was right, April really is the cruelest month. We can't remember a time when there was more global unrest compounded by more natural disasters. The nightly news looks like a Hollywood disaster flick more often than not. What's more, we've become dangerously inured to it all. News that a few million tons of radioactive water have been dumped into the sea off Japan at Fukushima barely raises an eyebrow. News that yet another Middle Eastern/North African nation is in violent foment only makes us want to change channels. Not to another news network, but to TMZ, Inside Edition or maybe just The Simpsons, syndicated shows in competition with the evening newscasts.
But avoiding the news is not the answer. That is, after all, what led to the government nearly shutting down on April 8. Ignoring the obvious, the crucial, the painful doesn't work. Changing channels is not an answer. More news, not less, is what we need on the tube. More real news, that is.
It was easier for everyone (voters, legislators, the President) to ignore the very real issues of the budget until the literal 11th hour than to get a budget passed back in October, when it was due. Yet as we watched the breaking news just before Midnight on April 8, everyone was very pleased with themselves. The entirely too soft-spoken Harry Reid had finally raised his voice earlier in the day in defense of women's lives – several months late, one might argue, but still, he did it, and in front of as many TV cameras as he could find when the Republicans made it clear that de-funding Planned Parenthood was essential to their budget. The Republicans didn't get what they wanted on that score, at least not for now. But anyone who thinks the budget agreement was a coup hasn't been watching the news, before the announcement or after.
Queers may think that this deficit-slashing mayhem in Washington is beside the point for them – after all, Republicans, Democrats and this President have made it clear that queers are like undocumented workers in this country: free to pay taxes, but not eligible for the same rights as anyone else.
All the news networks have been keenly focused on what will be impacted in the budget-slashing, but we have to laud ABC on their reportage, most especially Nightline and World News Now (or as we like to call it, the Terrifying Middle of the Night News) for laying out just what's at stake, and how much of it will affect us directly.
How long has the queer community fought for AIDS research, which is now, along with cancer research and myriad clinical trials, on life support? What about that Planned Parenthood deal? Remember, this all comes up for review again in September, when a new budget is determined. PP delivers HIV/AIDS and other STD testing for millions of women and their partners nationwide. Think that isn't important to us? Think local AIDS/HIV funding won't be impacted by the federal budget cuts? Think again. We are so very expendable.
Speaking of pain and suffering, have our warplanes killed more of the Libyan rebels than Kaddafy supporters yet? Just wondering. We seem to be getting right down to the Afghanistanization of the Libyan conflict. This Week's Christiane Amanpour queried, "Shouldn't we know by now who the rebels are, what they stand for, and who their leaders are?" No answer from the Administration. But since Amanpour has covered more wars and conflicts than almost any other reporter in journalism today, at least she's asking the question. At $100 million a day thus far in the Libyan conflict, it's definitely a question to be asked.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been squeezing as much face-time as possible out of every network, and all have been ready to oblige. Trump is like the Charlie Sheen of politics, unfiltered and crazy. Memo to Trump: even the Republicans have given up on the Obama-isn't-a-citizen meme. And if you think John McCain wouldn't have been talking about that every day of the election campaign if it had been true, you're as clueless as your hair. Even Glenn Beck has dropped the birther rhetoric.
Speaking of Beck, he's off the tube. Fox canceled his show April 7. Word is, Beck's rhetoric was too extreme for the network. Yes, for Fox. Take that in for a moment.
Beck isn't the only face leaving the small screen. Katie Couric has decided not to renew with CBS News, leaving less than five years after becoming the first woman solo anchor on an evening newscast. We're sorry to see Couric go. She faced major criticism for failing to pull CBS' ratings out of the toilet, but remember that it was Dan Rather who put the ratings there. We're not sure why more people watch Brian Williams than Couric; we know he's taller, but they're both sitting. Seriously, why can't Couric get respect? She single-handedly crashed Sarah Palin's run for the vice presidency. She's also done some very serious reporting, most especially in Afghanistan, the war everyone wants to forget.
Through the windshield
Meanwhile, over at prime time, we are still reeling from seeing Callie (fabulous Sara Ramirez) go through a windshield on Grey's Anatomy seconds after Arizona (almost-as-fabulous Jessica Capshaw) asked Callie to marry her. This plot move made us crazy, but resulted in one of the most searing scenes in TV history for queers. Callie is pregnant with Mark's baby. An accidental pregnancy, since Callie fell back into BFF comfort sex with Mark when Arizona left her to go to Africa and save dying babies but wouldn't have a baby with Callie. But now the baby is a reality, and Arizona and Mark are trying to be the other parents with Callie. Then the accident.
Last week's episode, in which everyone tried to save the lives of Callie and her premature baby, used the device of music to get Callie (and us) through a gut-wrenching hour. Ramirez is a Tony Award-winning actress whose musical talents are impressive. So there was singing, which we thought we would hate, but which we actually loved. And there were Arizona and Mark arguing about both the baby and Callie's care. Arizona, a world-renowned pediatric specialist, is telling Mark what could happen if the baby is delivered now. She tells him, "You're basically a sperm donor. This is me and this is Callie, and we're together." Then Mark screams, "You say. You don't get a say. This is my family, this is my baby, I'm the father. You're not anything. You're nothing. Nothing." Hankies all around, please.
Later, as she sits by Callie's bedside (who's nearly died several times, and the baby has had to be delivered via emergency C-section), Arizona says, "Mark's kinda right, you know. I'm nothing. I mean legally, I'm no one. Which is kinda crazy, because I feel like your wife, I feel like your baby's mom. So, can you just live? Can you live for me?"
This searingly emotional TV may be too much for some, and may have needed to be softened with all the music, but for us, it was Greek tragedy, replete with the requisite chorus. Truths are told on this show every week. Is it the best show on TV? Not really: it doesn't have the snappy writing of Castle, or the political insight of The Good Wife. It doesn't have the grandeur of The Borgias or the Good v. Evil of Justified . But what Grey's Anatomy has done over its many seasons is tell stories about the ways in which life and death interpose themselves into our lives. It's a show created by a black woman in white male Hollywood that has remained one of the top-rated shows over many cast changes and controversies. In Callie and Arizona, we have real lesbians struggling with real lesbian issues. Arizona is 100% lesbian, Callie wavers on the bisexual spectrum but wants a life with Arizona more than anything. Now all of that is at risk, and a man who is not part of their partnership gets to make decisions for them both. Just like real life.
At episode's end, Callie woke up from her coma. And said yes. It doesn't always happen that way. But for now, this show makes us feel like lesbians have a chance against the straight monolith. For that alone, it's important to stay tuned.