IRVINE : Video Critical of Gay Community to Air

After nearly a week of arguing between local gay-rights critics and cable officials, a half-hour video lambasting the homosexual community is scheduled to air tonight at 10 on public access television.

The program is to be repeated Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m. on Channel 3 by Community Cablevision in Irvine and parts of Newport Beach and Tustin.

Concerned about having to provide equal time for political programming, cable officials had refused to air the show. But they reversed themselves after consultation with their lawyers and threats of legal action by the sponsor, the Irvine Values Coalition.

The coalition is pushing Measure N on Tuesday’s ballot in Irvine, which would remove from an existing civil rights statute the provision banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Stepping up their campaign in the final week, the pro-N forces also are sending mailers to local Republicans, which feature endorsements from the conservative California Republican Assembly and its local arm, the Greater Irvine Republican Assembly.

The opposition is countering with mailers of its own, and public events are planned for this weekend to try to defeat the measure, which opponents call an invitation to bigotry.

This week’s pro-Measure N video, using newsreel footage and interviews, paints homosexuals as promiscuous and as a threat to traditional morality.

Cable officials had wanted to cut from the video some sections that might be considered offensive but, nonetheless, agreed to air it in its entirety, said Community Cablevision general manager Denise Yaru.

They did succeed in pushing its airing time back to 10 p.m. from 8:30 because of the content, despite objections by the Irvine Values Coalition.