Lou Maletta
Lou Maletta | |
|---|---|
 Maletta in 1998 | |
| Born | December 14, 1936 |
| Died | November 2, 2011(aged 74) |
Louis Phillip "Lou" Maletta Jr.(December 14, 1936 – November 2, 2011) was an Americanmedia executiveandLGBT rights activist.Maletta founded theGay Cable Networkin 1982.[1]
Life and career
[edit]Maletta was born inBrooklyn,New York and served in theUnited States Army.After his discharge, he worked as a freelance photographer andtravel agent.Maletta married and had a daughter with his wife before divorcing and coming out as gay. He was with his partner Luke Valenti from 1974 until Maletta's death.
Maletta's start in media came with the showMen and Filmson Manhattan Cable Television'sChannel J,a show that evolved from showing edited gay pornography to covering events important in the community. He was inspired to start Gay Cable Network after seeing the effectsAIDShad on a friend. The network went on to produce original programming, including coverage ofDemocratic National ConventionsandRepublican National Conventionsbetween 1984 and 2000.
Andy Humm,then a GCN correspondent, recounted years afterward that Maletta's wearing of a "spandex, black leather jacket, the Gay Network T-shirt and a cowboy hat" at a backwoods MississippiHardee'swhile en route to the Republican National Convention caught the attention of other patrons, so much so that the place went "deadly silent. I didn’t think we’d get out alive, but perhaps the locals were just too shocked to react.[2]"
Gay Cable Network closed in 2001 upon Maletta's retirement. All 6,100 video tapes of GCN's archive were sold to the New York University's Fales Library for preservation in 2009.
Maletta was also the off-camera voice in aCalvin Kleincampaign pulled in 1995 for racy content which some suggested had overtones of underage pornography.[3]Maletta died ofliver cancerinKingston, New York.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Hevesi, Dennis (November 9, 2011).Lou Maletta, Gay-Television Pioneer, Dies at 74.New York Times
- ^Andy Humm (November 9, 2011)."Lou Maletta, TV Pioneer, Dead at 74".Gay City News.
- ^Musto, Michael (November 5, 2011).Lou Maletta, RIP.ArchivedNovember 7, 2011, at theWayback MachineVillage Voice
- ^Kohler, Will (November 4, 2011).Lou Maletta, Founder Of The Gay Cable Network In 1982 Dies at 74.ArchivedApril 30, 2012, at theWayback MachineBack2Stonewall.com
