ticles on the subject specifically in its relation to gays and lesbians, but it wasn't the only big story. In this decade the newsweeklies ran 19 articles concerning allegations or revelations that some prominent individual--a tennis star, a general, a Senate leader--was gay or lesbian. More than half these stories were unfounded. Here's how the newsweeklies reported three of the stories. In 1981, Billie Jean King's former secretary and lover filed a suit, alleging that the tennis star owed her palimony. In response to questions from reporters, King called a press conference and stated that she had indeed had a relationship with the woman filing the suit. Time reported that King "admitted" a lesbian relationship, Newsweek reported that King "confessed" a lesbian relationship and headlined the story, "Billie Jean's Odd Match." Time reported that the lawsuit sent off "shock waves of publicity" and added: "The biggest shock of all was that King ... admitted having a lesbian affair." In 1984, Time and Newsweek over the course of five articles reported, first, that a West German general and NATO deputy commander had been dismissed because he was "a homosexual and a security risk"; next, that the general's homosexuality was subject to doubt; and, finally, that his homosexuality had been disproved and he was restored to his post. In reporting that the general was not a homosexual or a security risk, as previously thought, Time referred to him as a "victim of mistaken identity." Newsweek called him the "most mud-spattered officer." Finally, in 1989, the newsweeklies reported that Republicans had "smeared" the new democratic Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, by strongly implying that he was a homosexual. Both articles--Time's ran a full page, Newsweek's two pages--observed that Foley was not, in fact, a homosexual. Indeed, they framed the stories around outrage that Republican N...
