The Best and Worst of National News” is a monthly publication that provides GLAAD's constituents and friends with an overview of recent praiseworthy and problematic print, television and radio coverage of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The report encompasses stories from the national media as well as from major regional news outlets, and provides synopses, analyses and contact information so constituents can contact news outlets with messages of appreciation or concern.
In four segments aired throughout May, CNN Newsroom shared the personal accounts of same-sex couples in the pursuit of marriage equality. In response to the May 26 California Supreme Court ruling to uphold Proposition 8, CNN Newsroom featured the stories of two same-sex couples, as well as the daughter of a married lesbian couple. CNN Newsroom also interviewed San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders – who opposed Proposition 8 – after his daughter Lisa Sanders revealed to him that she is a lesbian. In telling the personal stories of same-sex couples, CNN humanized the marriage dialogue and concretely illustrated the harm that comes from denying marriage protections to loving and committed same-sex couples.
WATCH THE CLIPS:CNN Newsroom – “Lesbian Couple Lobby Lawmaker” May 15, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELS87-bnbN0
CNN Newsroom – “California Upholds Gay Marriage Ban” May 26, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHuguL8m5bU
CNN Newsroom – “Supporting Same-Sex Marriage” May 30, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjq4Ds61HfA
CNN Newsroom – “Still Married in California” May 30, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DypTCSOE3I
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to contact CNN and thank them for sharing the personal stories of same-sex couples which served to humanize marriage protections and reduce the fear and intolerance directed toward loving and committed same-sex couples.
CONTACT:CNN Newsroomhttp://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?92
In a heart-wrenching May 19 article titled “Kept from a Dying Partner’s Bedside,” TheNew York Times’ Tara Parker-Pope shared the tragic story of Janice Langbehn and her partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond, who collapsed while vacationing in Florida and later died in a Miami hospital. Langbehn was denied visitation rights while her partner lay dying, even being told by a hospital staff member that Langbehn was in an “antigay city and state.” Langbehn’s tragic story revealed just one of the numerous legal protections denied to same-sex couples and simultaneously humanized the effects of the injustices that LGBT people experience. The Times revealed to its readers the harsh adversities same-sex couples must shoulder in life or death situations.
READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/health/19well.html?
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to contact Tara Parker-Pope of The New York Times and thank her for sharing the story of Janice Langbehn and her late partner, Lisa Pond, and for turning a spotlight on the excruciating circumstances same-sex couples often face during life-threatening situations.
CONTACT: Tara Parker-Pope – The New York Timestpp@nytimes.com
Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, extensively rebuked the U.S. military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) law in seven different programs aired in May. Maddow profiled U.S. Army National Guard Lieutenant Dan Choi, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, and Army Second Lieutenant Sandy Tsao, all of whom have been notified that they are being discharged from the armed forces because of their sexual orientation. Maddow and her guests condemned the anti-LGBT policy and urged President Obama to honor his campaign promise to repeal DADT. Maddow’s attention to openly gay and lesbian service members in the military emphasized the immense harm posed to our national security and our troops because of the costly DADT law.
WATCH THE CLIPS:The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) May 26, 2009 – “Sen. Boxer on Prop 8”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oX3dhKe5ro
May 21, 2009 – “Ask vs. Won’t Tell”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhzbvL65gb8
May 19, 2009 – “Right to Serve”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLq9hsDhqSQ
May 12, 2009 – “Pride and Prejudice”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzuRrVzjMAk
May 11, 2009 – “Right to Serve”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2czCU8svos
May 7, 2009 – “A Soldier’s Story”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzkMB1IXXRg&feature=channel_page
May 4, 2009 – “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ekX-oMh3AA&feature=channel_page
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to contact TheRachel Maddow Show and thank the program for devoting significant airtime in the month of May to reveal the dangerous gaps Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell creates in our military’s ability to defend our nation by prohibiting LGBT military personnel, like officers Dan Choi, Victor Fehrenbach, and Sandy Tsao, from serving in the armed forces.
CONTACT: Rachel Maddowrachel@msnbc.com
The New York Times published three editorials in May strongly supporting the progression of LGBT legislation across the nation and condemning legal setbacks. The New York Times pressed the U.S. Senate to support the Matthew Shepard Act (which would expand federal hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity), applauded Washington D.C. for its decision to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere, and criticized the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8. As the second most widely circulated newspaper in America, reaching an audience of millions worldwide, The New York Times is a leader in shaping public opinion around the ongoing dialogue about LGBT issues.
READ THE ARTICLES:The New York Times – May 5, 2009 “EDITORIAL: Matthew Shepard Act”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/opinion/06wed3.html
The New York Times – May 8, 2009 “EDITORIAL: ‘This is a Question of Fairness’”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/08fri4.html
The New York Times – May 27, 2009 “EDITORIAL: A Setback for Equality”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/opinion/27wed2.html
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to contact The New York Times and thank them for publishing editorials that fairly and accurately portray LGBT people, for promoting legislation that protects loving and committed same-sex couples, and for reproaching the CA Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8.
CONTACT:The New York Timesoped@nytimes.com
On his May 11 program, Bill O’Reilly scoffed at marriage protections for same-sex couples, comparing those protections to polygamy asking, “if you okay gay marriage then you have to do plural marriage... how can you deny [polygamy] under equal protection of the law?” Then, in the very same segment O’Reilly mocked the California State Senate’s passage of ‘Harvey Milk Day’, a state holiday that would honor slain LGBT activist Harvey Milk. O’Reilly derided the iconic LGBT leader by implying that California will begin to celebrate any public figure so long as he or she is gay: “California wants to mainstream gays… if Reagan were gay, we’d have two days.” O’Reilly’s mockery of LGBT historical figures and same-sex couples dehumanizes them and only serves to perpetuate the marginalization and mistreatment of our community.
WATCH THE CLIP:The O’Reilly Factor (Fox News Channel) May 11, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pzh8jXIgZM
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD urges you to contact Bill O’Reilly and call on him to stop his offensive, defamatory characterization of marriage for same-sex couples and dismissive contempt of openly gay historical figures like Harvey Milk.
CONTACT: Bill O’Reillyoreilly@foxnews.com
On the May 5 edition of Fox News Channel’s Hannity and the May 6 FOX News: America’s Newsroom program, hosts Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly along with commentator Rep. Steve King (R-IA)misrepresented and mischaracterized federal hate crimes legislation that would expand existing federal hate crimes law (which currently covers actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin and religion) to include violent crimes based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and/or disability.
Hannity, Kelly and Rep. King misled viewers by falsely claiming that being gay is synonymous with items that are classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as “paraphilias.” This false claim is the latest in a long history of attempts by anti-gay activists and media personalities to perpetuate the pernicious myth that being gay is a psychiatric disorder and that gay people are a danger to society.
WATCH THE CLIP:Hannity May 5, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDHjgb9W24&feature=channel_page
America’s Newsroom Clip May 6, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12iUvMi_0W4
TAKE ACTION: GLAAD encourages you to write FOX News and demand that the network put an end to its promotion of dishonest scare tactics designed to perpetuate fears and misconceptions about LGBT people.
CONTACT:
Hannityhannity@foxnews.com
America’s Newsroomamericasnewsroom@foxnews.com
©2010 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation