Last spring, media watchdog GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) came under criticism for its policy barring gay media outlets from submitting work for consideration in the annual GLAAD awards.
In a letter to the organization, Here! Networks’ Stephen Macias said: “We believe that all gay media companies should be allowed to submit work for consideration. That collective group of LGBT voices in print and online journalism, radio, television, Telco, podcasts, and videocasts are quite literally changing the world. The New Gay Media has grown, matured and in many cases is taking the lead on groundbreaking points of view, yet GLAAD remains entrenched in old ‘mainstream’ thinking.”
“Effective immediately, GLAAD is opening its call for entries and will be accepting submissions for the GLAAD Media Awards on a year-round basis from this point forward. The second change enacted at the Board’s June 2007 meeting is the decision that LGBT media images appearing in media created by and for the LGBT community are now eligible to compete for nomination in the existing categories.”
The Huffington Post’s Gabriel Rotello adds: “GLAAD’s president Neil Giuliano told me his group will accept these submissions in the existing categories, inviting the gay media to compete head-on with the mainstream media rather than in some ‘gays-only’ category. That’s as it should be. The LGBT media have come of age. When it comes to covering the wide spectrum of gay life, gay outlets can, and do, compete with the mainstream media in the breadth of their coverage and programming. They also struggle, and often succeed, in competing with the mainstream media in terms of excellence, despite having a lot less money.”
