This panel offers a rare look at the defining moments of the gay rights movement as seen through the eyes of journalists, historians, and media advocates. Panelists discuss these pivotal events; the role the media played in generating visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; and what the media accounts got right and wrong.
Bio
David Carter
David Carter is the author of Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution, the basis for a forthcoming film for the PBS series American Experience. Before writing Stonewall, David was hired by Allen Ginsburg to edit his interviews which were published under the title Spontaneous Mind.
Joan Garry
Joan M. Garry is recognized as one of the most vocal, passionate and effective civil rights leaders in America.
Joan began her career as part of the management team that launched MTV in 1981 and it is that experience that shaped her view that the media profoundly influence the attitudes and opinions of people on nearly every issue.
After fourteen years in cable television, holding a variety of executive positions in strategic planning and new business development, Joan set her sights on the nonprofit sector. With her 1997 appointment as executive director of GLAAD, on of the nation's largest gay rights organizations, Joan realized she had connected her professional experience with her powerful voice. Before she knew it, she was debating Jerry Falwell and Bill O'Reilly on issues that mean something to her family and to families across America.
Joan plays a critical role as a visible media spokesperson and critic. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly featured her on its list of the 100 Most Influential People In Entertainment. Garry's articulate advocacy has been featured across all national news networks, with notable media appearances including NBC's Today; ABC's World News Tonight; PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown; CNBC's Dennis Miller Live; numerous appearances on CNN, CSPAN, MSNBC (including Hardball with Chris Matthews) and Fox News Channel (including The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes).
Andy Humm
Andy Humm has been the host or co-host of Gay USA (or its predecessor on the Gay Cable Network, Pride and Progress) since 1985. Since 1996, he has hosted the show with veteran journalist and activist Ann Northrop. Since September 2001, the show has appeared on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, a weekly review of local, national, and international news and entertainment stories of concern to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities. Gay USA also thoroughly covers news about the AIDS pandemic and other LGBT health news each week. Since 2003, the program is seen nationally through Free Speech TVs feed to satellite services such as the Dish Network.
As a reporter for Gay USA, Andy has covered virtually every major gay and AIDS news story in the last 18 years. He co-anchored GCNs nightly coverage of the Democratic and Republican National conventions in 1988 and also did floor coverage of the 1992 Democratic convention and the 2000 Republican convention.
Rochelle Lefkowitz
Rochelle Lefkowitz is the founder and president of Pro-Media Communications, a bi-coastal communications firm dedicated to social change based in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus is the author of Breaking the Surface, the #1 New York Times best-selling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis. He is also the author of several other books, including Is It a Choice?, Why Suicide?, and Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian & Gay Equal Rights.
Eric graduated from Vassar College in 1980, where he majored in urban studies. In 1984 he received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In October 2003 he received a master's degree in real estate development from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
Eric is a former associate producer for ABC's "Good Morning America" and CBS Morning News. He lives with his partner in New York City.
Kai Wright
Kai Wright is a writer and editor in Brooklyn, NY, whose work explores the politics of sex, race, and health. Kai is senior writer for TheRoot.com and contributes to several publications, ranging from The Nation to ColorLines magazine. He is author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York, as well as two books of African-American history. Kai also writes and edits a series of monographs exploring the AIDS epidemic among African Americans; they are published by the Black AIDS Institute.
Stonewall historian David Carter criticizes the lack of historical coverage of the gay civil rights movement. "Our history, our movement, is not seen as American history," says Carter.
Gay USA co-host Andy Humm criticizes the press for being afraid to report the sexual orientation of gay people. "Gayness is still pretty much the worst thing you can say about anybody in a newspaper," he says. Writer Kai Wright counters that outing someone in print is libel.
Civil-rights movement that advocates equal rights for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. Supporters of gay rights seek to eliminate sodomy laws barring homosexual acts between consenting adults and call for an end to discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, credit, lending, housing, marriage, adoption, public accommodations, and other areas of life. The first group to campaign publicly was founded in Berlin in 1897 by Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935) and had 25 local chapters in Europe by 1922; suppressed by the Nazis, it did not survive World War II. The first U.S. support group, the Mattachine Society, was founded in Los Angeles c. 1950; the Daughters of Bilitis, for lesbians, was founded in San Francisco in 1955. The Dutch Association for the Integration of Homosexuality COC, founded as the COC (Cultuur en Ontspannings Centrum [“Culture and Recreation Center”]) in 1946 and headquartered in Amsterdam, is a prominent European group and the oldest existing gay rights organization. Many date the expansion of the modern gay rights movement to the Stonewall rebellion in New York City in 1969, when a raid by police on a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn provoked a riot by bar patrons. “Stonewall” came to be commemorated annually by the observance of Gay and Lesbian Pride Week in cities around the world. The International Lesbian and Gay Association (founded 1978), headquartered in Brussels, lobbies for human rights and opposes discrimination against homosexuals. Although the movement is strongest in western Europe and North America, gay rights organizations exist in many countries throughout the world. Among the major issues pressed by gay rights advocates in the 1990s and into the 21st century were the passage of hate crime laws and the establishment of legal rights for homosexuals to marry, adopt children, and serve openly in the military.
I agree with you Bashful320, but that brings up an important question...when should you present these issues to kids? I personally do not believe students under 11th grade have developed their own personal identities enough to form opinions. When I was in 9th grade...I was not wise enough to make my own opinions regarding things of that nature.
Evolution, gay rights, war, ect....
I agree with them that we should educate children. I know many people have an issue with this but I feel like its time that we are honest with our kids about those somewhat controversial issues because it is better they know all sides of an issue so they can decide for themselves what they agree with.
"Gayness is still pretty much the worst thing you can say about anybody in a newspaper." - Andy Humm
Uh...pedophilia? As far as I can tell, all it takes is getting accused of that stuff and your career's pretty much over.
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But words - words are not enough! - Klaus Kinski
It's a little slow to get going but if you are interested in the subject it is well worth sticking with to hear the inside track on the LGBT community and their relationship with media
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