WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

GLAAD Snapshots highlight some of the work we are doing in communities across the country – from working with local organizations on media training spokespersons to informing media coverage of major issues affecting the LGBT community. Snapshots reflect GLAAD’s program areas – National News, Media Field Strategy, Entertainment Media, Spanish Language Media, Young Adult, Communities of African Descent, Asian Pacific Islander Media, Sports Media, and Religion, Faith & Values. Check back every Monday for the latest updates!

Media Field Strategy: GLAAD Works to Ensure Balanced Coverage of “Ex-Gay” Conference

In anticipation of media coverage of Evergreen International’s annual “ex-gay” conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, GLAAD reached out to religion editors of Utah papers with resources to ensure fair media coverage.

GLAAD proactively pitched survivors of “ex-gay” programs and connected The Salt Lake Tribune with a former board member of Evergreen International, who is now openly gay and planning to marry his partner in October. His story was featured in coverage of the conference.

Media Coverage:
The Salt Lake Tribune – September 19, 2008
“Evergreen International: LDS Church stance on gay marriage matches gospel principle”
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10508739

Entertainment Media: GLAAD Gets Offensive Interview Removed from Popular Entertainment Site

Joe Francis, CEO and founder of Girls Gone Wild!, was recently interviewed by popular gossip news site E! Online. When the subject of Lindsay Lohan and girlfriend Samantha Ronson came up, Francis made derogatory comments about Ronson and their relationship. GLAAD met with E! Online to express our concerns about the offensive video and it was removed.

National News: GLAAD Educates Nationally Syndicated Columnist on Defamatory Language

GLAAD reached out to nationally syndicated columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman after reading her September 13 column which used defamatory language in reference to transgender women. GLAAD educated Lokeman using the GLAAD Media Resource Guide and Lokeman contacted her syndicate company and her hometown paper, The Kansas City Star, to eliminate the defamatory language. The column “Sisterhood of the Mocking Malamutes,” is now corrected.

MEDIA COVERAGE:
Syndicated – September 13, 2008
“Sisterhood of the Mocking Malamutes”
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2008/09/16/opinions/national_columnists/doc48cef623921d5839651590.txt

Media Field Strategy: GLAAD Works on “Ex-Gay” Workshop

A coalition of organizations sponsored a workshop highlighting inaccuracies of the “ex-gay” movement and Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out” Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. GLAAD provided support that including counsel on media strategy, development of press materials and identification of appropriate spokespeople. Speakers included Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out, along with local clergy and medical professionals.

Sports Media: GLAAD Meets with Society of Professional Journalists

GLAAD attended the Society of Professional Journalists Convention- the annual conference for one of the oldest journalist organizations. GLAAD spoke with journalists individually and distributed GLAAD’s Media Reference Guide, which promotes LGBT stories that are fair, accurate and inclusive. GLAAD also discussed ways the Society of Professional Journalists can be more inclusive of LGBT media coverage and journalists with the SPJ Diversity Committee.

Sports Media: GLAAD and New York Liberty Team Up

GLAAD hosted a VIP reception prior to the New York Liberty’s final WNBA home game of the 2008 season. The event included special appearances by Liberty legend Kym Hampton and Kate McKinnon of LOGO’s The Big Gay Sketch Show.

More than 60 people attended the reception where GLAAD Board Member Laurie Perper, GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano and the Director of Sports Media spoke on GLAAD’s mission and successes that the Sports Media Program has achieved. 

GLAAD: GLAAD Announces Contest for 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards

GLAAD announced a contest for viewers of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards airing on Bravo on Monday, September 29 at 6 pm ET/PT and on Thursday, October 2 at 2 am. The annual award show honoring the media for fair, accurate and inclusive representations of LGBT people brought together some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Janet Jackson, Jennifer Beals, cast members from Ugly Betty, Candis Cayne, and Kathy Griffin.

Viewers of the upcoming GLAAD Media Awards broadcasts on Bravo can review trivia questions about the ceremony prior to the airings at the GLAAD Media Awards Contest site and submit answers by e-mailing MediaAwardsContest@glaad.org.  One viewer who correctly answers three of the five questions will win a VisitBritain prize package that includes:

• Two round trip business class tickets from New York to London courtesy of American Airlines.
• Four nights accommodation at The Montague on the Gardens Hotel in London’s Bloomsbury District courtesy of Red Carnation Hotels that includes full English breakfast and complimentary afternoon tea.
• Two tickets to The Sound of Music at the Palladium theater courtesy of the Really Useful Theatre Company.
• A shopping spree at Harvey Nichols with a value of £500.
• Two tickets for a “discovery flight” on the British Airways London Eye.

GLAAD also announced dates of the 20th anniversary of the GLAAD Media Awards. Awards will be handed out in New York City on March 28, 2009 at the Marriott Marquis, in Los Angeles on April 18 at the Nokia Theatre; in San Francisco on May 9 at the San Francisco Hilton, and in South Florida on May 16 at the Eden Roc Resort.