Doin' Time with Tyra
Some of you may remember a blog entry about a very last minute trip to Los Angeles earlier this month. It was all very covert, but I got the call today that frees me to share some of the details with you. (note: this is not the BIG news I have for you next Monday; this is just big news.)I went to Los Angeles to be a guest on the Tyra Banks Show.
The show will air on Thursday April 12, 2007 and proves to be quite interesting. In the show Tyra (we are now on a first name basis) looks at some places where lesbians and gays are not safe.One segment will be about the world of sports, specifically basketball Her guest will be John Amaechi a former NBA player who recently came out. Tyra will also look at the world of Hip Hop with some same-gender loving rap artists. Very interesting.
And sandwiched between the two will be a segment about how it is not safe for gays in the church, which of course brings up a conversation about the ex-gay movement. For this segment her guests include, John Smid, the director of the Love in Action (LIA) ex-gay program (which I attended for two years), an LIA staff member and a recent LIAgraduate. These folks will go on first to tell their stories and talk about the LIA ministry.
Then Tyra brings gay Mormon dad, Steven Fales onto the stage along with me. (Steven is the writer and performer of the one-person show, Confessions of a Mormon Boy.) Tyra shows a video of us telling our story, full of scary music and wild screen shots, and then we have a few minutes to talk. We made a great team. I have to say it was great being there with Steven who was so very centered before the show. We then had a great debrief afterwards.
(See here the photo of lovely Steven and little ole me--really I am a tiny person--I forget that)
Honestly I felt quite anxious about this program. Tt was only with the insistence of Sarah, my booking agent, that I did it. I did not know how I would feel being on the set with John Smid, particularly in the rough and tumble world of daytime TV where they love conflict. When the program airs, I'll share a little more about these feelings and the challenges I faced. Overall, I think it will be another opportunity for survivors to share their stories.
Go here to find out where in the US the show airs. For folks in Sweden and the UK and Saudi Arabia (yeah, I know you've been lurking), I am not sure what to tell you. Do you have Tyra in Sweden?
Oh and on the Current TV station, a short independent film about the ex-gay experience has been greenlighted and is airing (about three times a day for the next five weeks). The film juxtaposes interviews with John Smid and me along with excerpts from my play, Doin' Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House. To find out more, click here. A shorter on-line version is still available here.
Labels: ex-gay, Love in Action, media
posted by Peterson Toscano @ 2:51 PM
9 Comments:
I think we should all start guessing what your BIG BIG BIG news is.
Any bets?
Yeah.. I think we got Tyra.. Or atleast there were..
Saw a couple of minuts from it once. Now I have to try to spot it and find when it airs here!
Are you preganant? Is that the news? Is John Amaechi has handsome in person as in print? Spill it!
It's getting quite difficult to keep up on all your national tv appearances -- the hard drive on my tivo is going to wear out from all the constant recording.......
(Not that I'm complaining, because that's awesome!)
-- Tom D.
Yeh, we´ve got Tyra. Her show was on channel 4 before and now I have to find out when it airs again. And of course we do get TopModel. I love Tyra. Mmm.
No Tyra here. :(
Esther
joe, no, I am not pregnant. I live in a very small apartment and I use my uterus for storage.
John Amaechi is a perfect gentleman, and that is all you get.
Tom, you need to come an meet me in person. One cannot trust that we can get a secure line. Plus, I want you to whisper those sweet medical terms in my air.
Anna, OF COURSE you have Top Model in Sweden. IN FACT, the first time I saw that program was in Malmo!
My guess about the BIG NEWS:
Tom Cruise saw you on tv. He was SO MOVED that he:
1) came out (finally);
2) bought the film rights to your life story;
3) and will be starring in the movie, as you.
-- Tom D.
P.S. - You should come down here. It's 85 and sunny. My blood is now too thin to go up nawth.
A great deal of useful information for me!
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