Posted on: Sunday, August 5, 2001

'Nightline' to shed light on issues in gay community

By Peter Johnson
USA Today

ABC's "Nightline" will spend five days this fall examining the lives of gay men and lesbians in America.

To kick off the series in September, anchor Ted Koppel goes to the nation's only gay and lesbian retirement community in Florida, and finds that many residents spent most of their lives trying to live "straight."

"I was astonished to learn just how many retired people were married 15, 20, 25 years, raised children and had grandchildren, only to finally come out in their 40s and 50s," Koppel says.

He says that's because of a stigma against homosexuality and a society that teaches us to "settle down and have children. What seems to be true of so many young people who are gay is that they have nowhere to turn. They perceive themselves as so totally out of step, so they sublimate those feelings of being different and try to be the same."

Despite the media stereotypes that often center on hate crimes and more exhibitionist elements of gay life, Koppel says, "the gay community at large is very dull, as most of us in the heterosexual community are. They live normal, unexciting lives, go to church, to bowling leagues, and they have problems with their jobs that are unrelated to their sexuality. In fact, sex plays a relatively minor role in their lives, as it does for most of us."