Salon.com > GLAAD

Bill Clinton credits daughter Chelsea for reversing his views on gay marriage

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:26:00 +0000

Former president Bill Clinton, who first signed the Defense of Marriage Act into effect in 1996, has changed his opinion on gay marriage. In March, Clinton wrote an editorial in the Washington Post urging the Supreme Court to overturn the decision, writing, "As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution."

GLAAD acknowledged the former president's evolved views on marriage equality and subsequent activism with its Advocate for Change Award, presented to Clinton over the weekend.

During the speech, Clinton reiterated his desire to overturn DOMA, essentially admitting that it was a mistake to sign the law:
"I want to keep working on this until not only is DOMA no longer the law of the land, but until all people - no matter where they live - can marry the people they love," he said.

Frank Ocean and Oprah Winfrey among GLAAD Media Award nominees

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:24:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- GLAAD has named the film "Cloud Atlas," AMC's reality show "Small Town Security," and the New Yorker magazine among its nominees for the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced on Wednesday 120 nominees in English-language categories and 33 nominees in Spanish-language categories.

Other nominees include the NBC shows "Smash" and "The New Normal," Frank Ocean for his "Channel Orange" album, the magazine People en Espanol, and Oprah Winfrey's interview with Neil Patrick Harris and partner David Burtka.

The awards are meant to recognize and honor media for outstanding images of the gay and lesbian community. The winners will be announced March 16 in New York and at ceremonies in April and May in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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Online:

HTTP://WWW.GLAAD.ORG/MEDIAAWARDS

A hip-hop artist’s career unravels for talking trash

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:26:00 +0000

The rapper Azealia Banks’ social media meltdown last week — culminating in her calling the gay blogger Perez Hilton a “messy faggot” — continues to suffer fallout. This morning brings rumors that Interscope Records has dropped the rapper. Banks has not apologized for her remarks. Indeed, she's amplified them, noting: “A faggot is not a homosexual male. A faggot is any male who acts like a female. There's a BIG difference.” A GLAAD spokesman this morning indicated that she has also ignored attempts from the advocacy firm to make amends for the homophobic slur.

“In this case, it was not a slip of the tongue but a very deliberate statement that she has defended,” said Rich Ferraro, GLAAD’s vice-president of communications. “There’s certainly a trickle-down effect for young people when a celebrity they follow defends the use of words like this. It enables them to use words like that on the playground.”

Study finds rise in gay characters on network TV

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:29:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- The number of gay and bisexual characters on scripted broadcast network TV is at its highest-ever level in the season ahead, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The total on cable television is also going up.

The 17th-annual "Where We Are on TV" report released Friday by GLAAD found that 4.4 percent of actors appearing regularly on prime-time network drama and comedy series during the 2012-13 season will portray lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender characters. This is up from 2.9 percent in 2011, which saw a dip in what had been a growing annual trend.

The study reviewed 97 scripted TV programs scheduled to air in the upcoming season on the broadcast networks, counting a total of 701 series regular characters. The study found that 31 of them are LGBT characters.

ABC has the highest amount with 10 out of 194, or 5.2 percent, of their regular characters identified as LGBT.

After leading last year, Fox ranks second with six LGBT characters out of 118 total series regulars, or 5.1 percent.