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Gay, Lesbian Advertising to Launch in Media Owned by People of Color
By Yoji Cole
May 11, 2007
In an attempt to encourage positive images of gays and lesbians of color in communities of color, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is launching advertising campaigns in black-owned, Latino-owned and Asian-American-owned newspapers and Internet sites.
GLAAD will first advertise in black-owned media running print advertisements for two to four weeks in The New York Amsterdam News, The New York Beacon, Los Angeles Sentinel, Chicago Defender, Oakland Post, Atlanta Inquirer and Dallas Weekly—newspapers with a combined weekly circulation of more than 1 million. Internet ads also will run for one month.
"Visibility is key in communities of African descent because what you see are stereotypes that make it difficult for people to come out and for their parents to accept them being gay, lesbian, bisexual and trangendered," said Katina Parker, GLAAD's people-of-color media strategist for communities of African descent.
GLAAD's advertising campaign was created following a donation. Parker would not say who donated the funds or how much was donated. She said the funds were intended to create awareness in communities of color of gay and lesbian people of color and the issues they face.
Jasmyne Cannick, a Los Angeles-based black journalist and activist who helped launch the Washington, D.C.-based National Black Justice Coalition that advocates for black gay and lesbian people, applauds GLAAD's effort. Advertising in media owned by people of color will help highlight gay and lesbian issues in communities of color.
"[GLAAD] is trying to figure out a way they can show their concern for African Americans and that they're working with the African-American community, and one way to do that is to place ads in their newspapers," says Cannick. "To continue to have the dialogue we're already having within the community, blacks must see black gay folks. A lot of black people equate being gay with being white."
Parker, too, hopes that GLAAD's advertising campaign sheds light on black gay and lesbian lives and issues. The black community is stereotyped as being less open than the mainstream community when it comes to gay and lesbian issues. Parker, however, does not agree with that stereotype and says it exists because the media always turns to the sectors of the black community that object to same-sex couples rather than interviewing the sectors of the black community that are accepting.
"In communities of African descent, there are sectors, churches and people who have the ear of the media and make it their priority to create negative messages about black gay and lesbian people," says Parker. "But the actual experience of [being a black gay or lesbian] is not ... any more controversial than it is in any other community."
Parker said all the media outlets contacted were eager to participate in the advertising campaign. Many newspapers also wrote stories about the campaign.
"I'm encouraged by their willingness and eagerness to run the ad and do stories about the campaign," said Parker. "And in the past [black newspapers] have been very responsive about covering different black GLBT issues."
Communities of color simply need to see more GLBT people in the media who look like them, Parker adds.
"I'm here to create hope and opportunity for black GLBT people who want to see themselves portrayed in the media in an accurate way," said Parker.
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