Snapshots of Our Work provides you with weekly updates on the work of GLAAD in its different programmatic areas.
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In the wake of President Obama’s call to repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ during his State of the Union address, GLAAD worked with Photographer Jeff Sheng to promote Sheng’s new photobook, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Volume I. The book is the first-ever portrait series to feature closeted military personnel currently serving under federal law that mandates the discharge of gay men and lesbians in the United States armed forces. GLAAD is working with national media to raise awareness about the book to mainstream news outlets to highlight the concrete harms that burden brave men and women who serve their country but are forced to lie about who they are.
MEDIA COVERAGE:The Los Angeles Times – February 2, 2010“’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Photography Project Continues as Military Leaders Mull Lifting Gay Ban”
GLAAD was on the ground at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival to raise awareness for the films with LGBT content and by LGBT filmmakers. This year GLAAD partnered with the Sundance Institute as an Institute Associate and produced cineGLAAD, a series of panels on LGBT film topics. cineGLAAD’s three panels focused on: best practices for promoting an LGBT film with leading entertainment industry publicists, the film 8: the Mormon Proposition with the cast of the film and the future of queer cinema with Academy Award winning directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.By inviting media and entertainment industry professionals to the panels, GLAAD aimed to help bring these important LGBT stories to wider audiences. Contracorriente (Undertow), from out director Javier Fuentes-León, received the World Cinema Audience Award – Dramatic at the end of the festival and received a distribution agreement from Wolfe Video. The film tells the story of a Peruvian fisherman who has a passionate affair with a handsome artist.
See additional highlights from cineGLAAD.
View videos from panels and exclusive interviews.
GLAAD co-sponsored and provided strategic planning and media assistance to launch the first American Prayer Hour at the National Press Club followed by events in 17 cities to raise the share the stories of faith leaders who are asking for Uganda and the world to decriminalize LGBT people.
The Washington, D.C. launch included Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church and Moses, a gay Ugandan man who is seeking asylum in the US, who had to speak with a bag over his head to avoid retribution under the proposed law in Uganda that includes the death penalty for gays and an extradition clause for gay Ugandans anywhere in the world.
The American Prayer Hour was an alternative to The National Prayer Breakfast, which gained notoriety for its links to Ugandan MP David Bahati, who sponsored the anti-gay bill. President Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast and, with urging from coalitions such as the American Prayer Hour, Obama called the proposed anti-gay law in Uganda “odious” and “unconscionable.”
The New York Times, MSNBC, USA Today, Religion News Service, Wall Street Journal, Christian Post, bloggers and LGBT media covered American Prayer Hour events, reaching diverse audiences across the United States.
GLAAD collaborated on the American Prayer Hour with the Human Rights Campaign, The Taskforce, the National Black Justice Coalition, Metropolitan Community Church, PFLAG, Progressive Christians Uniting, Truth Wins Out, Two Spirit Press Room, Arcus and Haas Jr. to convene American Prayer Hour gatherings, with key events in Washington, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Berkeley, Dallas, Boston, Anchorage, and Atlanta.
RELATED MEDIA: MSNBC Rachel Maddow – February 4, 2010“Standing up for gay civil rights”
The New York Times – February 3, 2010“National Prayer Breakfast draws controversy”
USA Today – February 4, 2010“Obama wades into prayer politics with Tim Tebow, ‘Family’”
Wall Street Journal – February 5, 2010“Photos of the Week”
Religion News Service – February 2, 1010“Gay groups pressure Obama over prayer breakfast”
Associated Baptist Press – February 4, 2010“Obama, Clinton at prayer breakfast denounce Ugandan anti-gay proposal”
Christian Post – February 3, 2010“Religious left form alternative to Nat’l Prayer Breakfast”
Towleroad – February 5, 2010“Gay Ugandan launches LGBT response to ‘National Prayer Breakfast’
GLAAD’s Programs team attended the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change conference. The Programs staff met with local organizations to discuss how to partner on media trainings in the coming years. GLAAD also conducted a New Media Training Institute with the Gill Foundation and Gill Action. LGBT advocates and organizations explored best practices to utilize digital media and online community-building strategies to enhance their organizations' engagement of constituents, public education and advocacy goals. GLAAD, together with the Gill Foundation and Gill Action coordinated scholarships for organizational representatives to attend.
GLAAD and The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) traveled to New Mexico to train faith leaders to speak in support for a domestic partnership bill—HB 21—being decided upon by the state legislature. Hosted by Equality New Mexico, the training prepared those leaders to speak during a community meeting about the bill. That meeting was attended by over 50 community leaders including two state senators and a house representative.
Towleroad, AfterElton, Bay Area Reporter and Advocate.com report on GLAAD’s call for CBS to increase LGBT inclusion.
Passport and FH Out Front discuss GLAAD’s spotlight on LGBT inclusive Academy Award nominees.
After it was announced that CBS rejected an ad with gay content for the Super Bowl because it did not meet advertising standards, GLAAD released a statement calling attention to the apparent double standard. GLAAD is now calling on network executives in entertainment, news, advertising and diversity to meet with our Programs team in an effort to advocate for greater inclusion of LGBT people on the network. Last year CBS received a failing rating on GLAAD’s Network Responsibility Index.
Earlier in the week, GLAAD released a Call to Action for community members and allies to speak out when CBS allowed the anti-gay group Focus on the Family to advertise during the Super Bowl after having unfairly denied that ability to the LGBT-inclusive United Church of Christ in previous years.
RELATED LINKS:GLAAD Call to Action GLAAD blog post on CBS’s need for an increase in LGBT inclusionGLAAD statement
GLAAD, together with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and over 20 other organizations, placed a full-page ad that ran in the Grammy edition of Variety and placed an open letter to the Recording Academy. The letter called on the Recording Academy President to use telecast to denounce artists who promote or celebrate bias-motivated violence.
The ad came in response to anti-gay reggae singer Buju Banton’s nomination for a Grammy Award in the Best Reggae Album category. Throughout his career, Banton has performed music that glorifies the violent murder of LGBT people, and as recently as three months ago Banton refused to stop performing such music.
GLAAD also issued a Call to Action for community members to tell the Recording Academy that by rewarding artists like Banton, they are turning a blind high to the promotion of hate-based violence. The open letter and Call to Action follow an online petition protesting the nomination that GLAAD launched in December 2009 which has been signed by thousands.
The resulting media coverage of this campaign raised important visibility for Banton’s anti-gay history and puts pressure on music industry players who choose to work with him in the future.
RELATED LINKS: GLAAD Call to Action Open letter which ran Variety
On Jan. 25, GLAAD was alerted to problematic reporting by The Houston Chronicle and KRIV-Fox 26 following the murder of Myra Chanel Ical, a Houston transgender woman who was found slain on Jan. 18. Both The Chronicle and KRIV-Fox 26 used incorrect pronouns in their reports and identified Ical by her birth name rather than her lived name. GLAAD immediately contacted The Houston Chronicle and KRIV-Fox 26 and worked to better educate reporters about fair and accurate coverage. Following GLAAD’s outreach, KRIV-Fox 26 aired a follow-up segment in which the outlet corrected all its previous errors and accurately reported the facts in the case. The Houston Chronicle also published a follow-up story and used correct pronouns as well as the victim’s lived name.
MEDIA COVERAGE:KRIV-Fox 26, Houston“Transgender Community Seeks Answers to Murder” – Jan. 25, 2010
The Houston Chronicle“Mourners pay tribute to Montrose slaying victim” – Jan. 25, 2010
GLAAD is collaborating with the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project to change the hearts of minds of Floridians about adoption by gay parents. Last November, a Miami circuit judge overturned Florida’s unconstitutional law prohibiting gay people from adopting. The State immediately appealed. The three-year public education campaign is designed to help people understand how the adoption ban hurts children and families and to shift public opinion about the issue. GLAAD was in Orlando training 75 people on compelling ways to speak about adoption by sharing their personal stories and how to effectively communicate their story to the media. GLAAD will offer additional trainings on this issue in 2010 in Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale.
GLAAD helped advise The Tyra Show on a January 27 program about transgender children and their families. Working closely with our sister organization, the TransYouth Family Allies GLAAD offered resources and guidance to producers about the importance of fairness and accuracy when discussing issues affecting transgender kids. GLAAD also attended the taping of the show. The program covered the topic well overall, but there was some room for improvement. At some points during her conversation with the children Tyra Banks shifted problematically to focusing on anatomy rather than focusing on stories of life experiences, though it does appear that the show’s producers may have edited out some of the most problematic questions that GLAAD witnessed at the live taping. GLAAD thanks The Tyra Show and its producers for bringing the topic of transgender children to daytime TV in a mostly fair and respectful manner. We hope that this constructive criticism will serve to inform future episodes on transgender-related topics.
RELATED LINK:
“The Tyra Show Features Transgender Children and Their Families”glaadBLOG— January 28, 2010
GLAAD’s Director of Spanish-Language Media recently was part of a panel “When Does Free Speech in the Media Turn Into Hate Speech Triggering Hate Crimes?” Organized by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, the Media Image Coalition and the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, it was held at the Screen Actor’s Guild auditorium and attended by some 60 people. Leaders from the civil right community, including Willis Edwards of the NAACP were also on the panel.
My Latino Voice features GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios
USA Today discusses GLAAD’s work to monitor advertisements
Coverage of GLAAD and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s campaign in protest of the Grammy nomination for anti-gay singer Buju Banton to educate the music industry on anti-gay lyrics: Reuters Los Angeles Times The Wrap E! Online Joe My God Pam’s House Blend Advocate.com Towleroad She Wired Edge Velvet Park Media Gay South Florida Passport Contact Music
Coverage of GLAAD’s statement on CBS’ apparent anti-gay bias in Super Bowl advertising decisions and need for more LGBT inclusion across the network: The New York Times Wall Street Journal Online USA Today Entertainment Weekly Christian Science Monitor Advocate.com Towleroad Pam’s House Blend AfterElton UPI Politics Daily Edge Windy City Times Outsports
Towleroad features a video of Dustin Lance Black at a cineGLAAD panel at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
Access Hollywood reports on GLAAD’s presence at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
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