Become a GLAAD Facebook Fan: Win a Chance to Speak with GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios
November 24, 2009
Become a fan of GLAAD’s Official Facebook page at http://www.glaad.org/facebook by Friday December 4th and you could be selected to win a thirty minute phone call with GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios.
This is your chance to have a one-on-one conversation with the leader of the third largest LGBT organization in the U.S. Engage with Jarrett about where the movement is headed and share your thoughts about the role GLAAD should play.
National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to be Observed on Sept. 27
September 25, 2009
The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) alongside the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC) has coordinated the second annual ‘National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day’ which will be observed this Sunday, Sept. 27.
NAPWA is working in close collaboration with companies such as MTV, Facebook, Kenneth Cole and various others on a public education campaign that stresses the importance of regular HIV/AIDS testing.
“The commitment of these companies, combined with the work of partners like NAPWA and CDC, will make a critical difference in the fight to defeat HIV/AIDS,” said John Newsome, Vice President, U.S. Impact Initiative for GBC.
For more information, please visit NAPWA’s National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day page here or the GBC’s press release here.
Related Posts:Catching Up With Ronnie Kroell From Make Me a Supermodel, Part I
July 17, 2009
Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with Ronnie Kroell, the openly gay runner-up from the first season of Bravo’s Make Me a Supermodel. Ronnie, who was a big fan favorite on the show, especially among the gay community, filled us all in on what he’s been up to since the show ended:
On life after Make Me a Supermodel:
After the show I went home to Chicago and spent a month there visiting with my family and friends after three months in a house with little to no communication with the outside world. I wanted to spend some time back home to kind of regroup and figure out what the next steps were. I made the decision to move to New York. I’ve been living here for just about a year. I was in Brooklyn for most of that time but I just recently moved to Manhattan to be closer to my agency and where all of my projects are located. In addition to doing modeling with New York Models, I recently signed with Dino May Management, an acting agency out in LA and they’ve been coaching me and preparing me for kind of doing a crossover and really being a true supermodel essentially because the term really is about being able to model, do some acting, and be a spokesperson.
On Ben and “Bronnie:”
We’re all pretty much still in touch. Honestly, after the show, we’re the only ones that really knew what that experience was like. As far as keeping in touch, I probably keep in touch with Holly, Perry, Casey and Ben the most and most recently I spoke with Ben and he’s living in Tennessee with his wife and doing some modeling down there and helping his wife pursue her musical career and they’ve got a baby on the way! So they’re very excited. I can’t imagine that they’re more than a couple months away from him being a dad!
On season 2 of Make Me a Supermodel:
I was able to watch a few of the episodes. One of my good friends, Nicole Trunfio, is the co-host with Tyson Beckford so I went and I supported her by going to the launch party here in New York for the season. I enjoyed what I saw but I just became pretty busy and didn’t really get to see all the episodes. I’d catch clips here and there online and of course I’ve seen a lot of the models come through New York Models because they’re signing with them and it’s kind of fun. It’s kind of like we’re a family now and they’re wanting to know about our experience on the show and how it compared. They’re constantly asking questions about what happens next because you know, there’s no manual on what happens after reality TV. It’s a real emotional roller coaster and a real high and you’re constantly trying to figure out what’s next and how to make the most out of it. It’s cool to see them and see how they’re handling it now that the show’s finished.
On the Urban Decay Pocket Rocket Manhunt contest:
Friday’s the last day of voting for this fun contest! My friend Julie Carlson randomly emails me and is like, “I’m nominating you to be the next spokesperson for Urban Decay lip gloss” and I was just like “Well, okay. Whatever!” and she was so excited and put my pictures up there. She’s been an incredible support…she’s just amazing. She’s been pushing so hard to keep me in the top 10, which is essentially what I need to do until the end of Friday. I have to be in the top 10 and then the panel of judges at Urban Decay will determine two winners that will be flown to Southern California for a photo shoot and become one of the male models on the actual lip gloss container. It’s been quite a thrill, I’ve been lucky to have a lot of support in the community from places like Facebook, AfterElton and Feast of Fun.
You heard Ronnie! Today’s the last day to vote, so head to the website and show Ronnie your support. And check back next Friday when I post part II of my chat with Ronnie…and this time he brings his mom along!
Related Posts:The Latest on Rockstar Energy Drink
June 30, 2009
Craving an energy drink? Some LGBT family members, friends or colleagues may have told you before to steer clear of Rockstar energy drink due to the beverage company’s alleged connection with fringe anti-gay radio host Michael Savage.
Not familiar with what we’re talking about? Below is a brief recap about the chain of events that sparked this controversy.
- On April 23, The Bilerico Project Guest Blogger Michael Jones posted a story here about the connection between Rockstar energy drink and Michael Savage. The controversial shock jock is known for his offensive diatribes that has previously put him in hot water with LGBT and immigrant community leaders.
- A week later, attorneys for the beverage company threatened Bilerico with legal action for “factual inaccuracies.” You can read about that here.
- Other websites and blogs were contacted by the Rockstar legal team and threatened for similar reasons including thetruthaboutrockstarenergydrink.com, GaySocialites.com, wiqqaable.com, AlterNet and gaywired.com.
- Bloggers continued to follow the story including Daily Kos and The Consumerist.
- The Rockstar attorneys also contacted Facebook over a few groups criticizing the beverage company, which were subsequently shut down for reasons similar to those listed above. Individual Facebook accounts were also deleted. You can read about that here.
In addition to the threats of impending legal action, a website called truthaboutrockstar.com was set up to counter the claims made about the beverage company and its connection to Michael Savage. It looks very similar to the one created by thetruthaboutrockstarenergydrink.com.
Bilerico Founder & Editor-in-Chief Bil Browning
But now, according to Bilerico, the makers of Rockstar want to extend an olive branch to the LGBT community.
On June 28, Bill Browning of Bilerico wrote:
I can easily say that the company is remorseful for their stupid lawyer’s threatening tactics and wants to make good with the LGBT community.
Look for an announcement next week hopefully.
Please stay tuned for more details. GLAAD will continue to monitor this story and post more information as it becomes available.
Have an update to share with GLAAD? Send me a tweet at @Andy_Marra
Related Posts:GLAAD Reaches Out to Blog That Dehumanizes Transgender People
June 26, 2009
As the result of constituents contacting GLAAD, we have reached out to the site owners of a blog that dehumanizes transgender people and their experiences. Tranny Alert is a website that posts pictures of people who are perceived to be transgender and encourages readers to submit photos of perceived transgender people for the blog to publish and provide commentary. It is unclear whether the site’s subjects have provided consent to have their pictures taken and published in this context.
Lateisha Green
GLAAD has reached out to the blog about the defamatory nature of their content with their problematic language including the words “tranny,” “trannie” and “he/she.” We also expressed our concerns about the potential danger the site’s subjects could face as a result of having their gender identity and gender expression shared without their consent.
Given that transgender people are disproportionately targeted for violence, willfully subjecting them to this kind of online scrutiny could very well put their lives in danger. We need not look far to know how violence disproportionately impacts transgender people. Recent examples include Angie Zapata and Lateisha Green.
A Call to Action against Tranny Alert was started by a Livejournal user named gudbuytjane and it appears to have been quite effective. The blog’s Facebook page has already been taken down.
Tranny Alert remains active on Twitter. Some Twitter users have been tweeting #trannyalertfail to express their alarm and concern for the site’s questionable content.
Initially, @TrannyAlert tweeted the following in response to readers submitting their concerns:
Tranny Alert will be releasing a statement in the next 24 hours regarding the recent backlash.
Later, the blog sent out another tweet about readers concerns:
Wow people really need to get a f*cking sense of humor.
If you would like to share your own concerns about Tranny Alert and their content, you can email them at:
mayday@tranny-alert.com
You can also share your concerns about their problematic language and content with Blogger, the blog service that currently hosts Tranny Alert. You can contact them with your concerns here.
Blogger’s policy specifically states:
Blogger strongly believes in freedom of speech. We believe that having a variety of perspectives is an important part of what makes blogs such an exciting and diverse medium. With that said, there are certain types of content that are not allowed on Blogger. While Blogger values and safeguards political and social commentary, material that promotes hatred toward groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity is not allowed on Blogger.
Please stay tuned for more details. Please check back with us for updates on this developing story.
Have an update to share with GLAAD? Send Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra a Tweet at @andy_marra
Related Posts:MILK Money
December 1, 2008
MILK opened in very limited release over the holiday weekend — only 36 screens — but the Harvey Milk biopic still managed to make it into the Top 10 highest-grossing films within the five-day Thanksgiving frame.
MILK averaged $52,627 per screen, grossing an estimated $1.9 million. Though this may not seem like a lot of money, let’s compare with other films that opened the same day.
The holiday romantic comedy Four Christmases brought in $46.7 million over five days, while the Baz Luhrmann epic Australia earned $20 million. Impressive, right? But if you look closer, those numbers only equal out to $3,310 and $2,642 per screen, respectively.
Now do you have perspective?
Gather your friends to join you when MILK opens wider on Friday! All you have to do is create a MILK Facebook group of 20 or more and receive a MILK Prize Pack, courtesy of Focus Features! Click here for more details.
