Barilla would never use a gay family in ads: Pasta boss

in: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/09/26/21153561.html

Guido Barilla, chairman of the world's leading pasta manufacturer, prompted calls for a consumer boycott on Thursday after telling Italian radio his company would never use a gay family in its advertising.

"I would never do (a commercial) with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role," Barilla, 55, said in an interview with Radio 24 on Wednesday.

Barilla - one of the best known pasta brands around the world - is one of Italy's biggest advertisers, and for many years has used the image of a happy family living in an idealized version of the Italian countryside, with the slogan: "Where there's Barilla, there's home".

In the interview, Barilla said he opposed adoption by gay parents, but was in favour of allowing gay marriage, which is not legal in Italy. His comment about advertising was in response to a direct question about whether he would ever feature a gay family in his company's commercials.

If gays "like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like it then they will not eat it and they will eat another brand," he said.

Aurelio Mancuso, head of gay rights group Equality Italia, said Barilla's comments were an "offensive provocation" and called for a boycott of the company's pasta, sauces and snacks.

"We accept the invitation from the Barilla owner to not eat his pasta," Mancuso said. Many Italians used social media to voice support for a boycott.

Alessandro Zan, a gay member of parliament, said on Twitter: "You can't mess around with consumers, including gay ones."

Barilla issued a statement on Thursday apologising, explaining that he was trying to say "simply that the woman plays a central role in a family."

"Barilla features families in its commercials because it embraces anyone, and they have always been identified with our brand," he said.

Spanish film star Antonio Banderas features in the latest publicity campaign for Barilla's Mulino Bianco cookies and breakfast cakes. They feature him baking biscuits with children and talking to a chicken called Rosita.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2013/09/26/21153561.html

World-traveling lesbians launch campaign to get doc made

in:  http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/world-traveling-lesbians-launch-campaign-get-doc-made220213


San Franciscan couple Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols travelled the world 'in search for the supergays' recording inspiring stories on their popular blog, now they want to get a film made of their experiences

Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols, a lesbian couple from San Francisco, drew thousands of fans to their blog as they travelled the world 'in search for the supergays'.

Now back home, the couple has launched a Kickstarter project to raise the final $30,000 (€22,700) needed to make a documentary about their travels to 16 countries around the world where they heard the inspiring stories of dozens of LGBT people.

'We want to expose people to the global struggle of the LGBT civil rights movement,' said Dazols and Chang.

'And while many documentaries have addressed LGBT issues in developing countries, none have offered an intimate portrait across such a wide-breadth of geographies threaded together by the personal journey of one couple whose own story mirrors that of the global movement.'

After the success of their blog Out & Around, which featured on The Huffington Post and the BBC, Dazols and Chang have teamed up with filmmakers Lauren Fash and Susan Graham (who made the award-winning film Quiet) to make a documentary of their trip.

The film will include Dazols and Chang's interviews with 'supergays' in India, China, Uganda, Chile, Argentina, Cambodia, Kenya, Brazil, Nepal and their own personal struggles with Chang's Evangelical Christian family refusing to accept their relationship.

'We understand how privileged we are as Americans to have the freedom to travel almost anywhere,' Dazols said in an interview with Gay Star News last March. 'After spending a month in Kenya and listening to the fear of people for their personal safety, we had many conversations about asylum and relocation.'

But Dazols added that she saw much to be hopeful about during her travels.

'There is so much positive change happening now,' she said. 'Brazil and Nepal's Supreme Courts have made all inclusive decisions to marriage equality. India recently decriminalized homosexual acts. Cambodia opened their first LGBT center. The momentum of the global gay movement is very fast and we're happy to share stories of this remarkable time.'

The team want to earn the $30,000 by 21 April so they can hire an editor to cut the 120 hours of film from their year of travels to a feature film length, a composer to write the score, a sound designer and a color correction artist.

Watch the trailer for Out & Around here:

http://www.outandaround.com/home/

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/world-traveling-lesbians-launch-campaign-get-doc-made220213

Video: Amazon releases TV advert featuring same-sex married couple

in: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/02/22/video-amazon-releases-tv-advert-featuring-same-sex-married-couple/

Online retailer Amazon, has released a new television advert for its Kindle Paperwhite, which features a gay couple and a straight couple getting along on holiday together.

The advert features a man and a woman on deck chairs, and while she uses a Kindle, the man struggles with a tablet computer.

When he exclaims that he has finished buying a Kindle online, and says “we should celebrate”, the woman replies: “my husband is bringing me a drink, right now,” to which he responds “so is mine”.

Amazon was among a large number of Washington-based companies which confirmed their support for Referendum 74, the equal marriage bill from last November, by signing up to a newspaper advert.

Prior to that, the billionaire founders of Amazon, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, pledged $2.5 million to the fight for equal marriage rights for gay couples in the US state of Washington last year.

The NY Times said the Bezoses responded to an email from a gay former employee in Amazon.com’s first days asking whether they would donate $100,000 or $200,000 to the cause, similar to amounts donated by Microsoft figures. The response said: “This is right for so many reasons. We’re in for $2.5 million. Jeff & MacKenzie.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/02/22/video-amazon-releases-tv-advert-featuring-same-sex-married-couple/

Lesbian couple's anti bullying song is a hit

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-couples-anti-bullying-song-hit301112





The YouTube video has won an anti-bullying competition

 

 A lesbian couple’s music video to fight bullying has become a hit with YouTube viewers.

The song, produced by singing duo Bria Airb and Chrissy Chambers, tells the story of a young teenager who commits suicide after being bullied.

It was the winning entry in an anti-bullying competition on YouNow. The song will now be recorded in a professional music studio and will be featured on a soundtrack on a currently unannounced film.

The video has hit a note with YouTube viewers, and has received over 12,000 views.

Viewer Chris Webb left a comment saying: ‘Very powerful and emotional song brought tears to my eyes. Bullying must end. Thank you Bria and Chrissy for making this song.’

Another viewer said: ‘This is the most incredible anti-bullying song I have ever heard. Keep up the great work you both do.’

The couple have also written songs about having two mothers, the anti-gay controversy with Chick-Fil-A and former Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Watch the video here:

 

 

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesbian-couples-anti-bullying-song-hit301112

Video made by Chelsea Clinton in support of gay marriage bills was blocked by NBC

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/video-made-chelsea-clinton-support-gay-marriage-bills-was-blocked-nbc221112

Former First Daughter is a special correspondent for the network's news division

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had her ads in support of gay marriage pulled by NBC News.

Buzzfeed.com reports that because Clinton works as a special correspondent for NBC, the network scuttled plans by backers of Washington state's marriage equality bill R-74 to use an ad by Clinton.

The video wasn’t intended for TV broadcast and were apparently to be used as web videos. It was to be used for several different marriage equality campaigns.

Earlier this year, Clinton spoke out against North Carolina's anti-gay Amendment One. The bill, which was passed by voters, bans that state from recognizing civil unions, strip away domestic partner benefits and could eliminate legal protections for all unmarried couples in the state.

'I believe that everyone must stand up for what is right, whenever possible, wherever possible,' Clinton said at the time. 'I also believe that when the civil rights of any one American or group of Americans in one place are questioned, all Americans, everywhere, should care that the answer is the right one. Those are lessons I learned at a young age from my parents and they are guiding principles in my life.'

On 6 November, voters in Washington, Maine and Maryland approved bills that made same-sex marriage legal in their state while Minnesota voters rejected a bill that would have banned such unions.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/video-made-chelsea-clinton-support-gay-marriage-bills-was-blocked-nbc221112

Americans tell their stories for Transgender Awareness Week

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-americans-tell-their-stories-transgender-awareness-week151112



Video campaign hopes to raise awareness of transgender issues in the US






A video campaign featuring prominent trans Americans has been launched to mark Transgender Awareness Week.

The 'I AM: Trans People Speak' videos feature New York Times bestseller Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan and actress Laverne Cox telling their own personal stories.

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) attorney Noah Lewis and performance poet Kit Yan also share their experiences to camera in the campaign which aims to put transgender issues in the spotlight to educate the public and speak to trans youth and adults.

The videos' release by LGBT rights group GLAAD and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition coincides with Transgender Awareness Week.

The US campaign, which started 12 November and runs until 19 November, hopes to raise visibility and awareness of transgender people and issues.

'The stories of everyday transgender Americans remain relatively unheard in both national and LGBT media,' said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.

'These stories will not only empower members of the transgender community who rarely see relatable stories, but also educate Americans everywhere about the fact that the community is a valuable part of the fabric of our culture.

'The campaign will also shine a light on the high level of discrimination that our transgender friends, family and neighbors continue to face in schools, the workplace and in their own communities.'

Transgender Awareness Week culminates with the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on 20 November, honoring the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

Keep up with Transgender Awareness Week on Twitter by following hashtag #TAW12. Follow the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Twitter with hashtag #TDoR

Watch a selection of the videos below:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-americans-tell-their-stories-transgender-awareness-week151112

Gay film: "Hell Bent" (horror)

For Halloween...

Taiwan Pride promos

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/taiwan-pride-promos221012

The organizers of Saturday’s Taiwan Pride have released heartwarming promotional videos

Taiwan Pride, the biggest pride march in Asia, is on Saturday (27 October) with 50,000 people expected to march through the streets of Taipei. The organizers have released another two promotional videos, in addition to this one released earlier this month.

Do you, Andy… shows Andy, a cute Taiwanese guy, about to propose to his boyfriend of ‘four years eight months and ten days’ before his parents walk into the restaurant, throwing him entirely. The foursome end up eating together and in the end, after much awkwardness on Andy’s part, his parents let him know they accept him and his boyfriend Jeffrey.

The second video Be Yourself shows ordinary Taiwanese people going about their daily business with the message ‘be proud, be happy, be counted, be yourself’ to a catchy soundtrack.

Taiwan has one of the best LGBT rights records in Asia. The first Pride march was in 2003, the same year same-sex marriage legislation was proposed but not passed. This year, two gay men fought to have their union legally recognized by the state and a lesbian couple married in a non-legal binding Buddhist ceremony in August.

If you’re heading to Taipei for Pride, find out what else to do there here.

Watch Do you, Andy… here:

Watch Be Yourself here:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/taiwan-pride-promos221012

Teaser for new gay parenting film released

via: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/teaser-new-gay-parenting-film-released181012


New film Invisible Parents hopes to raise support for the rights of same-sex parents

Invisible Parents

A behind the scenes trailer for a new documentary about same-sex parenting has been released on YouTube.

Invisible Parents is directed by Mike Buonaiuto, who also released a short feature film earlier in the year in support of same-sex marriage.

The teaser, available now online, features behind the scenes footage on the new film along with an interview with Buonaiuto.

The film is supported by organisations such as Pink Parenting and the Network of European LGBT Families Associations (NELFA).

Mike Buonaiuto says ‘In over 80% of Europe, the legal protection of same-sex couples and their children is not recognised in the eyes of the law.

‘With this project we’ve been able to build a team of professionals completely working on a voluntary basis. They believe that if you dedicate yourself to what you are passionate about and your talents, you can actually use those skills to make a difference.’

The whole campaign is designed to be shared on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The film is released on November 5th.

Watch the trailer below:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/teaser-new-gay-parenting-film-released181012

Número de personagens LGBT nos EUA é recorde

in: http://paroutudo.com/2012/10/07/numero-de-personagens-lgbt-nos-eua-e-recorde/


As tevês americanas estão em sintonia com o avanço da cidadania LGBT. A ONG arco-íris Glaad, especializada em mídia, divulgou que há 111 personagens LGBT nas emissoras do país. O maior número encontrado nos últimos oito anos.

A série mais inclusiva que passa na tevê aberta, adivinhe, é “Glee”, com dois gays, duas lésbicas e uma transexual. O título, quando o critério é tevê por assinatura, fica com ‘True Blood”, com seis personagens não-heterossexuais.

O presidente da Glaad, Herndon Graddick, comemora. “Mais e mais americanos tem aceito seus familiares, amigos, colegas de trabalho e conhecidos que são LGBT. E a audiência, ao ver tevê, espera que a tela reflita a diversidade que existe na vida.”

http://paroutudo.com/2012/10/07/numero-de-personagens-lgbt-nos-eua-e-recorde/

LGBT advocate Chaz Bono in Studio Q

in: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Q/Q+on+CBC-TV/ID/2283804178/

Author and activist, born of Sonny and Cher, Chaz Bono is one of the highest profile transgender individuals in our culture today. He joins Jian in Studio Q to talk about transgender issues and the media, as well as his appearance on Degrassi.

 

Anderson Cooper: "I'm gay, always have been, always will be"

in: http://www.samesame.com.au/

Ending years of speculation, one of CNN’s brightest stars has come out as gay, instantly becoming the most prominent openly gay TV journalist ever seen.

“The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud,” Anderson Cooper wrote to the Daily Beast blog writer Andrew Sullivan, who is a long-standing close friend of the 45-year-old anchorman.

“Even though my job puts me in the public eye, I have tried to maintain some level of privacy in my life,” he explains of his reluctance to come out earlier. “Part of that has been for purely personal reasons. I think most people want some privacy for themselves and the people they are close to.”

But: “I’ve also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible. There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand.”

Rumours about Cooper’s sexuality have been rife for years – even before he came out, Out magazine put him on their list of influential LGBT Americans, and he’s even been a gay magazine coverboy before.

Among the many celebrities to welcome Cooper out of the closet in recent hours has been comedian Kathy Griffin, who posted this picture of the two mates together. Her caption read: “Here I am with my friend Anderson Cooper who I’m so proud of.”




http://www.samesame.com.au/

German footballers kiss in anti-homophobia poster

in: http://www.towleroad.com/



Outsports reports on a German campaign fighting homophobia in sports with this poster and caption: “Would you also beat up your favorite player for this?”



http://www.towleroad.com/

Transgender beauty queen Jenna Talackova to get her own reality show

in: http://www.theprovince.com/

Transgendered contestant Jenna Talackova takes part in Miss Universe Canada competition wearing her evening gown in Toronto May 17, 2012. Talackova was originally disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada contest because she was not a "naturally born female". Talackova 23, who underwent gender reassignment surgery when she was 19, was then reinstated to the Canadian competition last by businessman Donald Trump, who owns the Miss Universe organization.

Photograph by: Mark Blinch , Reuters

Shaw Media is stepping back from comments suggesting it plans to air a reality show about transgender beauty queen Jenna Talackova.

Programming boss Barbara Williams said Wednesday morning the broadcaster had picked up a reality show about the leggy Vancouver blond.

But later in the afternoon, a Shaw spokeswoman said Williams "misinterpreted" a reporter's question and that such a show "is not part of Lifetime's channel lineup and has not been commissioned by the network."

Talackova made headlines around the world when she was initially prohibited from competing in the Miss Universe Canada pageant because she was born a man.

Pageant boss Donald Trump ultimately allowed Talackova to compete in the Toronto pageant earlier this month, where she was cut after making the top 12.

Talackova has said her future goals included modelling for Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated.

The misunderstanding about the reality show arose at Shaw's news conference to reveal its fall and winter lineup.

A clip of Talackova was included in a montage of upcoming programming. When a reporter asked if a reality show about the beauty queen was headed to Lifetime, Williams answered "yes."

A spokeswoman said the clip of Talackova was actually from a news program. Williams could not be reached for comment.

She brought cameras backstage with her to the Miss Universe Canada pageant on May 19, when she became the first transgender person to seek the crown.

http://www.theprovince.com/

Facebook to Receive GLAAD Award for LGBT Efforts

in: http://mashable.com/2012/06/02/facebook-glaad-award/

Facebook will be the first social media company honored at the GLAAD Media Awards, hosted annually by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Representatives from Facebook will accept a Special Recognition Award at tonight’s event, held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis in California.

This will be the 23rd Annual Media Awards for the notable lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, recognizing fair and inclusive representations of the LGBT community in television, journalism, music and more.

GLAAD announced in March that Facebook would receive the award, citing the social media company’s efforts against bullying as well as the inclusion of various options — such as relationship statuses — for LGBT users of the social network.

Throughout the past two years, Facebook has taken many initiatives to promote and enable LGBT rights and equality. The company worked with GLAAD in October 2010 to monitor a memorial page for LGBT youth after users posted violent anti-gay images and comments. It also launched the Network of Support, a panel of five leading LGBT advocacy organizations with MTV’s A Thin Line campaign to help Facebook address LGBT issues.

More recently, Facebook launched the Stop Bullying: Speak Up campaign with Time Warner, which empowers students, teachers and parents to help prevent bullying. The campaign just launched across Latin America this week. Facebook also added Help Center content that provides guidance on how users can help an LGBT person who has posted suicidal content.

“Facebook has set the bar high for ensuring LGBT people have a safe space to connect with friends and family,” said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick in a statement on Thursday. “GLAAD is pleased to present this award to Facebook in recognition of its efforts to make their platform welcoming to everyone.”

Brittany McMillan, the high school student who founded Spirit Day, will present the Special Recognition Award. Facebook was among leading companies that participated in Spirit Day on Oct. 20, 2011, encouraging employees to turn their Facebook profile pictures purple and wear the color to show support for LGBT youth.

Andrew Noyes, Facebook’s manager of public policy and communications, will accept the award on behalf of the company with Sara Sperling, head of diversity and inclusion. Noyes, who acts as the liaison between Facebook and LGBT groups, was influential in launching the Network of Support.

Although Facebook’s higher-up executives will not be in attendance, a recorded thank-you video from Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg will be played at the awards.

http://mashable.com/2012/06/02/facebook-glaad-award/

Trans Representation in the Media

in:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emerson-whitney/trans-media_b_1031747.html

Last night, I slouched in the center row of a mostly empty theatre while a gaggle of teen queers passed around a fuzzy microphone, reflecting on the importance of the Gay-Straight Alliance at their local high schools.

A teen with flamingo-pink leggings and immaculate eye makeup stood to address the crowd. "I don't know if you guys watch TV," they said, "but you've probably heard of Chaz Bono."

The audience cooed.

"Most of the things I've found online about him are ugly and bigoted and awful. People call Chaz 'she,' and people call Chaz 'it.' Chaz is not an 'it.' Chaz is a man. When is this going to stop?" the high schooler begged. "I am a transgender person. And the things I hear about transgender people and read about us in the news hurt. Treatment of gay and lesbian people have changed a lot, but respect for transgender people is really far behind."

This young-adult queer very clearly articulated to a room full of dumfounded adults how they are failed by consistently negative and uninformed media coverage of trans and gender-variant people. I couldn't help but hang my head.

I am a thread -- albeit tiny -- in the current media fabric. I work as a professional reporter and writer, and I am also a flaming gay, glitter-loving transgender person.

Last week, I was disgusted by the media's response to coverage of Tammy Lobel, an 11-year-old transgender girl who was recently featured in a CNN article titled "Transgender kids: Painful quest to be who they are." The article detailed the use of hormone blockers as part of "gender identity disorder" treatment for some underage kids.

Fox News in particular -- no surprise there -- launched an attack on Tammy's parents, who are, coincidently, lesbian-identified and therefore, according to Fox, are making Tammy into their own image of sapphic femininity. The article screamed of "child abuse."

But Fox News is only the most obvious media specter. An overwhelming majority of news media have fallen short of earnest reportage by sticking with transgender story headlines that read like: sex, hate crime, job discrimination, sex, death, jail, sex, suicide, porn, child abuse, sex, sex.

And unfortunately, using "it" as a pronoun for trans people is not at all uncommon. Recently, in an episode of the USA Network show Psyche, a main character proclaimed, "Forget about her, or him, or it -- if it's transgender." (Screen shots here.)

Last February, GLADD published an article titled "Ignorance of Transgender Issues Apparent in Media" after a now-infamous Saturday Night Live skit that openly mocked trans women on hormones.

"The media's main problem -- and its biggest responsibility -- both come from the fact that it delivers the vast majority of the messages the public receives about what it actually means to be transgender," wrote Aaron McQuade, GLAAD's Deputy Director of News and Field Media. "The simple fact is that an overwhelming majority of Americans simply don't know any transgender people. According to a study we commissioned in 2008, only eight percent of Americans said they knew someone who was transgender."

And maybe even more troubling is the percentage of actual trans people behind the making of news -- just in case you weren't sure, it's jaw-droppingly low.

As a budding reporter, the only reference point I had for a writer like me was that of a Los Angeles Times sports correspondent who came out as trans and then, horrifically, committed suicide.

Because of sheer oversaturation, I imagine that someday we will move away from the trans narrative that is now so familiar to us: a white, privileged person is "trapped in the wrong body." Questions about genital status and other bodily changes related to hormone therapy ensue. Followed by an inevitable over-sexualization, sideshow-esque curiosity, or hopeful period of normalization.

I welcome a new news, a positive, inclusive, varied account of trans people within a larger conversation of race, gender, and class.

As a trans person, I do not readily fit the description of those most often portrayed. My gender identity is androgynous. My preferred pronoun is "he," with a masculinity that is most closely related that of Shakespearian fairies -- fluid and slight. I am bookish, fay and a glam-rock fanatic.

As a reporter, I hope that new media will grow to encompass transgender and gender-variant expressions as varied as my own. Awareness of trans issues is expanding, and we deserve expansive news sources, too -- a news media that opens to a new level of earnest sensitivity and accountability for information they provide about trans/genderqueer people, if only for those teen queers looking for positive, accurate reflections of themselves in the world.

The Best and Worst Trans News Last Week

Best: The Root, "Black and Transgender: A Double Burden"

Worst: Fox News, "Male or Female? Boy Given Drugs So He Can Pick Gender"

LGBT history and the evolution of the media

http://www.dallasvoice.com/lgbt%E2%80%88history-evolution-media-1091355.html

Editor’s note: October is National Gay History Month, and as the month begins, Rare Reporter columnist David Webb takes a look at the role the media — both mainstream and LGBT — has played in preserving our history.

If an LGBT person went into a coma a decade or so ago and came out of it today, they likely wouldn’t be able to believe their eyes when they recovered enough to survey the media landscape.

There was a time not so long ago when gay activists literally had to plead with or rant at editors and reporters at mainstream publications and television stations to get them to cover LGBT events. Even editorial staffs at alternative publications often dismissed political and cultural events in the LGBT community as unimportant to the majority of their audience.

Editors and reporters at traditional media outlets who happened to be members of the LGBT community often steared clear of gay issues to fall in line with the prevailing policies set by the publishers in the newsroom . Often, they were deep in the closet, or if not, just afraid to challenge the status quo.

I know all this to be true because as late as the early 1990s, I was engaged in legendary battles with my straight editor at an alternative publication who only wanted two or three “gay stories” per year. After the first quarter of one year I heard the editor telling another writer that I had already used up the newspaper’s quota for gay stories for the whole year.

This long-standing scarcity of coverage opened the door for the launch of gay newspapers to fill the void and the thirst for information that was coming not only from LGBT people but also straight allies, straight enemies and the non-committed in the gay rights movement.

After about two decades of working for the mainstream media and later at the alternative publication for a few years, I moved to a gay newspaper. Upon hearing about it, my former editor advised me that the job sounded “perfect” for me.

At the gay newspaper, I not only covered LGBT issues, but I also liked to scrutinize and comment on the coverage or lack thereof I observed in mainstream publications. It was, at the time, a dream job for me. I was flabbergasted to learn that no one at the newspaper had obtained a media pass from local law enforcement officials nor received official recognition at local law enforcement public relations departments.

What gay activists and enterprising journalists had come to realize was that straight people were just as interested in what our community was doing as we were. I also realized that elected and appointed public officials, civic and religious leaders, law enforcement officials and most others love media coverage, and the fact that it was a gay publication featuring them didn’t much matter at all.

As a result, gay publications across the country were providing coverage that gay and straight readers couldn’t find anywhere else. And those newspapers were flying out of the racks at the libraries, municipal buildings and on the street in front of the big city newspapers as fast as they disappeared from gay and lesbian nightclubs.

What it amounted to was that gay publications were enjoying a lucrative monopoly on LGBT news and, in the process, helping LGBT communities to grow strong in major urban areas.

It’s amazing how long it took the powers that be at the giant media companies to figure out what was going on, but they eventually did.

I would love to say that a social awakening was responsible for the new enlightened approach to LGBT issues by the mainstream media, but alas, I fear it was more motivated by dollars and cents. Publishers began to realize that those small gay publications were raking in lots of advertising revenue from car dealers, retail stores, real estate agencies and many other businesses where the owners knew LGBT people spent money.

Today, you can hardly turn on the television or pick up a newspaper or magazine without hearing or reading about something related to LGBT news or gay and lesbian celebrities and politicians. When I fired up my laptop today, I received an e-mail from the Huffington Post directing me to a story written by Arianna Huffington announcing new features that included the debut of “HuffPost: Gay Voices,” a page that will compile LGBT news stories together each day for the convenience of the readers.

With the power of the Internet and its capacity for documenting and archiving news stories, information about the LGBT community for both the present and the past will always be at our fingertips, except for those three decades between about 1970 and 2000 when the mainstream media couldn’t be bothered with us because they had no idea what a force we would one day become.

For information about that period of time we are going to have to scour the coverage of gay newspapers and magazines published before the days of the Internet, read fiction and non-fiction published by LGBT writers and encourage older members of our community to share their recollections in written and oral form.

It’s vitally important to the history of our culture that we not lose those stories, and it’s largely thanks to our communities’ own publications that we won’t.