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Be sure to check out GLAAD's Blog each week for updates about our latest work to build support for LGBT equality through news, entertainment, and online media.
GLAAD, Scouts for Equality, openly gay Eagle Scout Pascal Tessier, ousted gay Scoutmaster Geoff McGrath, and local Scouts delivered more than 125,000 Change.org petition signatures to the Amazon headquarters in Seattle last week, calling on the company to end its charitable support of the Boy Scouts of America. Amazon, which plainly states it will not contribute to organizations that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, is standing firm in its support of the Boy Scouts, despite the Scouts' ban on openly gay adults. The petition delivery generated national news coverage, drawing critical attention to the Boy Scouts' discriminatory policy, which continues to inflict harm on LGBT families from coast to coast. Read more.
GLAAD received several incident reports about an inaccurate and transphobic segment on a local Rochester radio station, 98.9 'The Buzz', following the city's announcement that it would provide healthcare coverage for transgender city employees. The station took quick action by suspending, and ultimately firing, the hosts Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck, who referred to trans people as "nut jobs." GLAAD connected the station with transgender advocates in Rochester, who went on air to correct the inaccuracies about transgender healthcare that Ray and Beck had promoted. Read more.
Sarah and Ian Hoffman, parents to Sam, a gender non-conforming 12-year-old, and his sister, spoke with GLAAD recently about their new children's book inspired by their family's story, raising a gender non-conforming child and education through storytelling. Jacob's New Dress follows Jacob who wants to wear his favorite dress to school and his parents who work out how to best support him while keeping him safe. Hoffman has previously written about raising Sam and reaction from other parents in Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Huffington Post. Read more.
GLAAD's Spanish-Language Media team was proud to work with New Mexico advocate Vicente Garcia on an op-ed that we successfully pitched to the Advocate. You can read the piece here. In it, Garcia talks about the values his mother taught him and how they translate into his work on immigration reform and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. GLAAD also worked with Lillian Rivera, a graduate of the GLAAD POC Media Institute, on a piece about life as a family, coming out to folks as lesbian moms, and more. Read more.
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