Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 11:45:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Rex Wockner Subject: MEL GIBSON ANTI-GAY HISTORY

Editors:

In light of all the controversy about Mel Gibson's new film, here's the history from my archives. Rex Wockner

=========================================================== Copyright (c) 1992 Rex Wockner and affiliated publications. ===========================================================

********************************************************** BACKGROUND ARTICLE #1 -- FILED BY REX WOCKNER JANUARY 1992 **********************************************************

MEL GIBSON DENOUNCES GAYS IN SPANISH INTERVIEW by Rex Wockner Outlines News Service (Article filed January 1992)

Heartthrob actor Mel Gibson, asked by one of Spain's leading magazines what he thinks of homosexuals, launched into a tirade against gay men.

"They take it up the ass," Gibson told El Pais as he got out of his chair, bent over and pointed to his butt. "This is only for taking a shit," he said.

Reminded by the interviewer, Koro Castellano, that he worked with gays while studying at the School of Dramatic Arts, Gibson added: "They were good people, kind, I like them. But their thing is not my thing."

Castellano said, "But you were obsessed with the thought that if you were an actor, people would confuse you with one of them."

"Yes," Gibson admitted, "but I did it. I became an actor despite that. But with this look, who's going to think I'm gay? It would be hard to take me for someone like that.

"Do I sound like a homosexual?" he asked. "Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?

"What happens is when you're an actor, they stick that label on you," Gibson said. "I go from playing rugby one week to taking dance classes in black leotards the next. Many of the girls that I met in school took it for granted that I was gay."

Gibson's holds extreme conservative views on other issues.

He has quit the Catholic Church because he believes the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s went too far.

"For 1,950 years [the church] does one thing and then in the 60s, all of a sudden they turn everything inside out and begin to do strange things that go against the rules," he explained to El Pais.

"Everything that had been heresy is no longer heresy, according to the [new] rules. We [Catholics] are being cheated. ... The church has stopped being critical. It has relaxed. I don't believe them, and I have no intention of following their trends.

"It's the church that has abandoned me, not me who has abandoned it," he said.

Like the Catholic Church, Gibson opposes birth control, saying, "God is the only one who knows how many children we should have, and we should be ready to accept them."

The interview appeared in the magazine's Dec. 1 issue.

-- END --

*********************************************************** BACKGROUND ARTICLE #2 -- FILED BY REX WOCKNER FEBRUARY 1992 ***********************************************************

=========================================================== Copyright (c) 1992 Rex Wockner and affiliated publications. ===========================================================

MEL GIBSON REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE TO GAYS by Rex Wockner Outlines News Service (Article filed February 1992)

Actor Mel Gibson, speaking Jan. 21 on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America," refused to apologize to gay men, who he ridiculed late last year in an interview with the Sunday magazine of Spain's largest newspaper, El Pais.

"I don't think there's an apology necessary, and I'm certainly not giving one," Gibson said. "[Those remarks were a response] to a direct question. If someone wants my opinion, I'll give it. What, am I supposed to lie to them?

"The other thing is, it was translated from English to Spanish, back from Spanish to English, then used by [columnist] Liz Smith [who received the story from this reporter] out of context in her article," Gibson said. "It's old news, really old news."

The Spanish-to-English translation was done by this reporter, who speaks Spanish, and by a professional translator who emigrated from Cuba.

The "Good Morning America" interviewer pressed Gibson, "Are you saying to me that you did not make any anti-gay statements at all?"

Gibson responded: "I didn't lie. Put it that way.... Liz Smith seems to be violating my right to have an opinion. I have a right to an opinion."

Robert Bray, spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, was livid at Gibson's new statements.

"And I have a right to respond to Mel Gibson's anti-gay defamation," Bray said. "He can kiss my queer ass. He can't defame gays and then try to wiggle out of it by blaming the translation. And he's not even denying he made the statements. He's saying he has a right to his opinion.

"Gay fans of Mel Gibson need to throw away their 'Mad Max' tapes and stop going to his movies until he stops defaming gay people," All of Mel Gibsons work should be boycotted untill he becomes a man untill he issues an apology to the whole gay community around the world!. Bray said.

In the original interview, in the Dec. 1 issue of the El Pais Sunday magazine, Gibson was directly asked his opinion of homosexuals. He responded, "They take it up the ass."

According to El Pais, he laughed, got up, bent over, pointed to his butt, and continued, "This is only for taking a shit."

("Que les den por el culo." Gibson se rie, se levanta, pone el trasero en pompa y se lo senala. "Esto es solo para hacer caca.")

The interviewer recalled that Gibson previously had expressed fear people would think he is gay because he's an actor. He responded: "With this look, who's going to think I'm gay.

"I don't lend myself to that type of confusion. Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?"

("?Quien va a pensar que con esta pinta soy gay? Yo no me presto a ese tipo de confusiones. ?Sueno como un homosexual? ?Hablo como ellos? ?Me muevo como ellos?")

Gibson also told El Pais that he quit the Catholic Church because it has become too liberal and that, "God is the only one who knows how many children we should have, and we should be ready to accept that."

("Dios es el unico que sabe cuantos hijos debemos tener y debemos estar dispuestos a que vengan.") --END--

Translation assistance: Eduardo Aparicio.

(THE UPSIDE-DOWN QUESTIONS MARKS APPEAR IN SPANISH AT THE BEGINNING OF A QUESTION. IN THIS COMPUTERIZED FILE, THEY APPEAR AS ORDINARY QUESTIONS MARKS. CHANGE THEM.)

***************************************************************** Accent marks: i in Pais, i in rie, o in solo, ~ over n in senala, e in quien, u in unicos, a in cuantos. *****************************************************************

I CHANGED ONE SENTENCE SINCE THE FIRST ARTICLE. THE EARLIER TRANSLATION OF THE SENTENCE WAS A PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR'S RENDERING WHEREAS THIS TIME I OPTED TO GO WITH A LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE SPANISH: "I DON'T LEND MYSELF TO THAT TYPE OF CONFUSION" INSTEAD OF "IT WOULD BE HARD TO TAKE ME FOR SOMEONE LIKE THAT."