A project of the Manship School of Mass Communication, LSU
Ellen Page comes out
By Sam Frizell
(Feb. 15, 2014 | Time Entertainment) - Ellen Page, the Oscar-nominated star of Juno, has come out as gay.
At a Las Vegas conference Friday held by the Human Rights Campaign to support L.G.B.T. youth, Page told an audience straightforwardly, “I’m here today because I am gay.” Read more
Kansas Bill would allow businesses to discriminate against same-gender couples
By Albert Lin
(Feb. 24, 2014 | DiversityInc.) - Kansas’ House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that gives any person the right to refuse service to someone based on the person’s “sincerely held” religious beliefs—essentially allowing people to discriminate against same-gender couples. Read more
NFL's first openly gay player? Missouri draft prospect comes out
By Matt Pearce
(Feb. 9, 2014 | Los Angeles Times) - Three months before the NFL draft, star Missouri football player Michael Sam has publicly come out as gay, raising the possibility that the league may soon have its first openly gay player. Read more
American Idol: First openly LGBT contestant
By Albert Lin
(Feb. 20, 2014 | DiversityInc.) - American Idol has had its share of LGBT finalists before—notably, Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken and Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert—but on Wednesday the show welcomed the first openly LGBT contestant into its Top 30. M.K. Nobilette, a 20-year-old from San Francisco, revealed that she is a lesbian during her segment of the show. Read more
Inside the love story that brought down DOMA
By Stephanie Fairyington
(Feb. 14, 2014 | The Atlantic) - In 2007, New Yorkers Edie Windsor, 77, and Thea Spyer, 75, made plans to travel to Toronto, Canada, so they could be legally married after four decades together. When one of the wedding organizers introduced them to renowned documentarians and longtime partners Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdottir, the filmmaking duo quickly realized that they’d found their next project. Read more
Sochi Mayor says the city has no LGBT people
By Albert Lin
(Feb. 7, 2014 | DiversityInc.) - The Sochi Olympics open on Feb. 7, and Russia’s position on LGBT people has been made clear. However, Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov took the government ban on the promotion of “nontraditional” sexuality to minors to an interesting place when he declared in a BBC interview that his city has an LGBT population of zero. Read more
Justice sought for murdered trans woman
(Feb. 4, 2014 | Voices of NY via Gay City News) - Six months after the assault and subsequent death of Islan Nettles, a transgender woman from Harlem, no one has been charged with her murder, leaving family members and LGBT activists exasperated. A group of sympathizers gathered outside NYPD headquarters in downtown Manhattan on January 30, hoping to call attention to the police department’s handling of Nettle’s case. Read more
Russian editor fined for breaking 'gay propaganda' law
By Roy Greenslade
(Feb. 1, 2014 | Greenslade Blog) - A Russian court has fined a newspaper editor for publishing an interview with a gay school teacher who was quoted as saying "homosexuality is normal." Read more
Fallon Fox: The mistakes that media makes when covering "trans people"
By Fallon Fox
(Jan. 22, 2014 | Time Ideas) -
Dear journalists and editors,
I know that you are watching everything I post. So, pay attention. The ”Dr. V’s Magical Putter” story is an example of what not to do. I just heard about this today and it just about made me vomit. It unfortunately highlights the ignorance, lack of empathy, and exploitation of trans people.
Read more
Gay marriage around the world
(December 19, 2013 | Source: Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project) - A growing number of governments around the world are considering whether to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages. More than a dozen countries currently have national laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry, mostly in Europe and the Americas. In two other countries, including the United States, some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to wed, while others do not. Read more
GLAAD media reference guide - Transgender glossary of terms
Click here to access the guide.
Attorney General Holder: Same-sex marriages in Utah legal under federal law
By Sari Horwitz
(Jan. 10 | Washington Post) - Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. intervened in the legal battle over gay marriage in Utah on Friday and announced that same-sex marriages that took place in Utah are considered legal under federal law even though state officials will not recognize those unions. Read more
Desegregation payments to end in Little Rock schools
By Chris Hoenig
(Source: DiversityInc.) - Candea and Sam Aarons are irate after discovering a racial slur written on their valet ticket after picking up their car in an Atlanta suburb. Read more
Health care access for coverage for GLBTQs in the U.S.
By Usha Ranji
(Jan. 8, 2013 | Kaiser Family Foundation) - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals often face challenges and barriers to accessing needed health services and, as a result, can experience worse health outcomes. Read more
NFL player: LGBT advocacy got me fired
By Chris Hoenig
(Jan. 8, 2014 | ) - Chris Kluwe’s eight-year career as punter for the Minnesota Vikings ended pretty suddenly. And, according to him, it’s because he’s an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. Read more
'I can’t be gay in northeast Louisiana.’ A ULM student’s powerful message to Phil Robertson
By Anonymous (Posted by Robert Mann on BobMannBlog.Com)
(Dec. 28, 2013) - Bob Mann recently wrote a post from the perspective of a young lesbian girl that really painted an accurate picture of LGBTQ life in Ouachita Parish. But I couldn’t share it on my Facebook. Read more
Robert Mann: Does she know it will get better? She won't hear it from the Duck Commander
(Dec. 27, 2013 | NOLA.COM) - Somewhere in Ouachita Parish, just a few miles from the rural home of Phil Robertson of A&E's "Duck Dynasty" fame, lives a teenage girl. As she drives about town, she probably spots signs sprouting in neighbors' yards. They proclaim, "Freedom of Speech. I support Phil Robertson." Read More
Duck Dynasty star: Homosexuality ‘Is Just Not Logical’
By Albert Lin
(Dec. 23, 2013 | DiversityInc.) - Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson is the latest public figure to find himself at the center of controversy after a host of anti-gay remarks attributed to him in a GQ magazine profile. Read more
Related article:
Isn’t It Good Enough to Love Everyone But Not Approve of the Gay ‘Lifestyle’?
(Source: DiversityInc's Ask the White Guy)
For gay athletes, the U.S. isn’t much more tolerant than Russia
By Avery Stone
(Dec. 27, 2013 | The Washington Post) - As teenage hockey players, my teammates and I were girls obsessed with a tale of American triumph on the ice: The 2004 movie “Miracle,” about the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team defeating the Soviet Union, played on repeat in our parents’ cars as they drove us to games. Read more \
Using Internet and social media data to estimate how many American men are gay
By Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
(Dec. 7, 2013 | The New York Times) - WHAT percent of American men are gay? This question is notoriously difficult to answer. Historical estimates range from about 2 percent to 10 percent. Read more
Merchandise uses Olympics principles against Russian anti-gay laws
By Stuart Elliott
(Dec. 2, 2013 | The New York Times) - One of the mainstays of the Olympics is the myriad examples of branded merchandise that are sold to support the Games, not to mention burnish the images of official sponsors. The supporters of an effort to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens of Russia, where the Winter Games are to be held in February, are adapting that marketing tactic with a line of protest merchandise to be sold by American Apparel and promoted by athletes. Read more
Koa Beck: I'm neither straight nor white, but I'm frequently mistaken for both -- and it's taught me a lot about privilege
By Koa Beck
(Dec. 8, 2013 | Salon) - I first became aware of my passing as a young child confronted with standardized testing. My second grade teacher had walked us through where to write our names in capital letters and what bubbles to fill in for our sex, our birth date and ethnicity. But in the days before “biracial” or “multiracial” or “choose two or more of the following,” I was confronted with rigid boxes of “white” or “black” – a space that my white father and black-Italian mother had navigated for some time. Read more
Salon: Alec Baldwin’s homophobic rage
By Daniel D'Addario
( Nov. 15, 2013 | Salon.com) - The actor and MSNBC talk show host Alec Baldwin’s anger issues are well-known at this point — no one can reasonably be surprised at his outbursts at the paparazzi who follow him or his self-serving, self-pitying interviews about his hope to leave the entertainment industry despite the fact that he hasn’t yet. Read more
Journalist's Resource: The size of the LGBT population and the magnitude of anti-gay sentiment
By By Alexandra Raphel
(Nov. 13, 2013 | Journalist's Resource) - In the months following the June 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down key parts of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, states have continued to take measures to legalize same-sex marriage, most recently Illinois and Hawaii. Read more
Illinois Gov. will sign marriage equality bill Nov. 20
By Trudy Ring
(Nov. 7, 2013 | Advocate.Com) - Illinois governor Pat Quinn plans to give LGBT residents a little something extra to be grateful for this Thanksgiving — he’s set November 20, eight days before the holiday, as the date he’ll sign the state’s marriage equality bill, which the legislature passed this week. Read more
Related Story
Boehner sees ‘no basis or no need’ for ENDA
In historic first, Senate approves ENDA
By Sunnivie Brydum
(Nov. 7, 2013 | Advocate.Com) - For the first time in history, the U.S. Senate has approved a bill that would outlaw discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Read more