Volume , Number 0
There are no articles.
CommentaryThere are no articles.
CultureThere are no articles.
Features
Consumer Organizing
David Swanson
LOVE ME, I’M A LIBERAL
Paul Street
WolfieWatch
Michael Smith
Hotel Satire
Lydia Sargent
Conservatism
Don Monkerud
Central America
Alex Modotti
Interview
Pierre Loiselle
Voting Rights
Eva Kuras
Nuggets from the Nut House
Edward Herman
Media
Loie Hayes
Working Poor
Amy Depaul
Gay & Lesbian Notes
Michael Bronski
Interview
Dennis Bernstein
Farmworkers
Ricky Baldwin
Health
Eleanor Bader
Zaps
There are no articles.
NOTE: Z Magazine subscribers and sustainers have access to all Z Magazine articles here and in the archive. The latest Z Magazine articles available to everyone are listed in the Free Articles box at the top of the table of contents, and are starred in the list below. Questions? e-mail Z Magazine Online.
Not So GLAAD Anymore
O n January 23, 2005 Joan Garry, the executive director of Gay and Lesbian Advocates Against Defamation (GLAAD), announced that she will be leaving her post after an eight year tenure. Garry—who came to GLAAD after 16 years in the entertainment industry—brought a new spin to what had started as a grassroots activist group in 1985 to combat negative images of gay people in the news media.
Activists
such as Jewelle Gomez, Joan Nestle, and Vito Russo intended GLAAD
to be a rabble-rousing watchdog group that would rally community
response to biased, explicitly anti-gay news reporting. Over the
years, however, GLAAD has evolved into a national organization operating
annually on $7 million with a political agenda that is murky at
best—at worst, it is dangerous to free speech, artistic expression,
and the interests of LGBT people.
Under Garry’s leadership, GLAAD has become far more involved in promoting and attacking “good” and “bad” images of queers in the entertainment industry. Given Garry’s background, this shouldn’t be a surprise. She was vice president of business operations for Showtime. Before that she helped launch MTV. As director of business development for MTV Networks she established new channels and helped create the annual MTV Video Music Awards. Thanks to Garry’s experience and vision, GLAAD is one of the most visible LGBT advocacy organiz- ations in the country.
So what’s the problem? We can’t expect grassroots groups from the mid-1980s to stay stuck in a 20-year-old political and economic mind-set. But GLAAD has essentially become an arm of the entertainment industry. Sure, it’s an arm that is “promoting”—whatever that actually means—positive images of LGBT people, but it’s removed itself from the outsider position of commenting on the media to an insider position of working with the people who produce those images.
This collaborative relationship has proved problematic on many levels. On one hand, GLAAD— mostly through its highly profitable annual award dinners in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York—congratulates people, television shows, and newspapers for promoting positive images of gay people. These can range from the sublime—this year’s nominees for Outstanding Newspaper Columnists, Patrick Moore (Los Angeles Times , Newsday ) and Frank Rich (the New York Times )—to the idiotic: Oliver Stone’s Alexander , which was nominated as Outstanding Film of the Year, apparently because its protagonist was bisexual. (GLAAD doesn’t seem to care that Alexander was one of the first proto-fascists with a murderous desire to dominate the world and subject all other cultures to his.)
But along with praise for the “outstanding” productions and people, GLAAD also tries to bury the bad ones, and this is where other problems arise. It is one thing for GLAAD—or any group—to criticize newspapers, magazines, and television news shows for presenting one-sided and homophobic information. But GLAAD has actively lobbied to have some shows —such as Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s and Mike Savage’s—taken off the air and has called for boycotts of such artists as Eminem.
Further, in 2002 GLAAD pressured the Game Show Network to remove a 1972 episode of the “Match Game” because, in a moment of game show stupidity, guests Dick Gautier (Hymie from “Get Smart”) and his wife, Barbara, answered host Gene Rayburn’s question, “Doris just got married and found out her husband was a ‘blank,’” with “fag.” Later that year GLAAD decided that Kevin Smith’s comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was homophobic. Scott Seomin, GLAAD’s entertainment-media director, wrote that he was “overwhelmed by the potential negative impact for the film with what we would assume is a large share of its target audience: teen and young adult males.” He added that GLAAD “will be public and aggressive in our condemnation and will provide substantiation for our opinions.”
So how did GLAAD proceed? They told Smith that he, and the film’s releasing company, should make a sizable donation—they suggested $200,000—to the Matthew Shepard Foundation to which GLAAD, and several of its longtime staff people, have close ties. The implication was that GLADD would then not publicize their dislike of the film. Smith subsequently donated $10,000 (Mirimax passed) and GLAAD went forward with its criticism of the movie. Seomin was quoted in the August 3 issue of Entertainment Weekly , saying of the movie: “I’ve never seen something so horrific.”
The entire incident was pathetically absurd and incredibly injurious to GLAAD’s integrity. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is no more homophobic than any episode of “South Park” and many episodes of “Queer as Folk” (which regularly gets nominated for GLAAD Outstanding Television Series award). In addition, the idea that GLAAD would actually try and shake down —extort is the correct word— money from an independent filmmaker is not just shocking, but illegal, immoral, and antithetical to the basic precepts of the gay liberation movement and fundamental freedoms of speech and expression.
The Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back incident exposes the heart of the problem. What is offensive and defamatory to gay people? Who makes these decisions and who enforces them? GLAAD cannot define what’s offensive, which isn’t surprising since neither can the U.S. Supreme Court. But common sense would be useful. Does saying “fag” on a 1972 episode of “Match Game” mean that the episode has to be banned from television reruns 30 years later? Why is the film South Park Uncut —which features a love affair between Satan and Saddam Hussein—not offensive and the silly stoner comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is? The answer, of course, is that it all depends on who is asking, who is looking, who is part of the discussion and who is left out. GLAAD created this problem when it decided to go into the entertainment business. Judging the accuracy of a news report is much different than judging art. GLAAD can deal with these issues by getting out of show business and back into watchdog media commentary.
G LAAD’s original mission was to target inaccuracies and inequities in mainstream media. Implicit in this was the mission to support alternative and independent gay and lesbian media and art. It was obvious to GLAAD’s founders that any representations and depictions of GLBT people that appeared in the mainstream—no matter how positive and even complex—were going to be, by their nature, a product of commercialism and consumerism. Like the Black Power movement and the Women’s Movement before them, the early Gay Liberation Movement knew that it was incumbent on them to create new, more honest images and art from inside the GLBT experience. From 1969 gay and lesbian artists, writers, activists, publishers, producers, and directors did just that. These efforts not only gave birth to a wide array of wonderful and great art, but also created a social context within which mainstream production and promotion of books, movies, television, plays, and whatever about gay people lives could also flourish. This has continued—with ups and down, often buffeted by economics and movements of social change —for more than 30 years.
But GLAAD isn’t interested in any of this. Given the choice between praising a well written article about gay families in the mainstream press or the gay and lesbian press, they will always choose the first. Hell, it seems like they will always choose giving an award to a straight person over giving one to a gay person. Sure, this is their mission. But isn’t giving awards to “Queer Eye For the Straight Guy” or “The L Word” for their “positive” gay and lesbian images (a debatable case in any event) and not paying attention to what gay and lesbian artists do, just sort of, well, insulting. In past years GLAAD— smarting under criticism about this—has done a little more in recognizing non-mainstream gay and lesbian art and talent. But they haven’t done much. After all, it would certainly be more difficult to raise big bucks at a fundraiser to support your $7 million a year budget by giving awards to off-Broadway lesbian playwrights or gay male folk-song writers than by having them sponsored by HBO and Showtime.
This is not to say that “Queer as Folk” and “Will and Grace” aren’t fun (well, sometimes) and certainly they are culturally important—more people watch “The L Word” than attend lesbian theater off-Broadway. But a single-minded focus on praising mainstream companies who make billions producing mostly junk, a very small percentage of which address GLBT concerns, seems not just misguided, but downright wrong.
Michael Bronski is a teacher, activist, and writer. His latest book is Pulp Friction.
Z Magazine Archive
Announcements
LABOR - May 1 is May Day. Workers of the world will celebrate the 124th anniversary of International Worker’s Day. Born out of a call for an 8-hour workday in the United States, this day is an opportunity for all workers to show their solidarity with one another, as well as to renew the call for labor rights.FARM CONFERENCE - The Farm Conference on Community and Sustainability will be held May 24-26 in Summertown, TN, in partnership with the Fellowship of Intentional Communities. Tour green homes, see sustainable food production, learn about solar installations, alternative education, midwifery, and more.
Contact: Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com; http://www.thefarmcommunity.com/.
PALESTINE - The Conference of the Palestinian Shatat in North American will be held June 3-5 in Vancouver. The conference will examine the future of the Palestinian liberation movement.
Contact: palestinianconference@gmail.com; http://www.palestinianconference.org/.
LABOR - The Pacific Northwest Labor History Association’s 45th annual conference will be held May 3-5, in Portland, OR. This year’s theme is Labor Under Attack: Learning from the Past and Preparing for the Future. A call for presentations, workshops and papers is currently underway.
Contact: PNLHA, 27920 68th Ave. East, Graham, WA 98338; 206-406-2604; PNLHA1@aol.com; http://www3.telus.net.
MARIJUANA - On the first Saturday of May marijuana legalization activists will hold informational and educational events, rallies and marches in over 300 cities around the world.
Contact:http://globalcannabismarch.com/.
ECONOMICS - The Union For Radical Political Economics will hold its 39th annual conference May 9-11 in New York City.
Contact: http://www.ramapo.edu/eea/2013/.
RECLAIM THE DREAM - The 2013 Poor People’s Campaign & March from Baltimore to Washington D.C. will be May 11. Communities, schools and unions interested in participating are encouraged to contact the Baltimore People’s Assembly.
Contact: 410-500-2168; 410-218-4835; BaltimorePeoplesAssembly@gmail.com; Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Baltimore and the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly, 2011 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218.
MOTHER’S DAY - The 17th Annual Mother’s Day Walk For Peace will be May 12th, in Dorchester, MA. The walk began in 1996 for families who had lost children to violence. The day has become a way for thousands of people to financially support the work of the Louis Brown Peace Institute.
Contact: http://www.ldbpeaceinstitute.org/; http://mothersdaywalk4peace.org/.
NATO 5 - An International Week of Solidarity with the NATO 5 has been called for May 16-21. Supports call on supporters to raise awareness of the NATO 5 and support funds for the defendants on the one-year anniversary of their preemptive arrests.
Contact: nato5solidarity@gmail.com; https://nato5support.wordpress.com.
MOUNTAINTOP - The 2013 Mountain Justice Summer Activist Training Camp will be held May 19-27 in Damascus, VA. It will be a week of workshops, field trips to view Mountain Top Removal coal mines, direct actions, and service project.
Contact: http://rampscampaign.org/.
FEMINIST SCI-FI - The feminist science fiction convention WisCon 37 is scheduled for May 24-27 in Madison, WI.
Contact: WisCon, ? SF3, PO Box 1624, Madison, WI 53701; concom37@wiscon.info; http://www.wiscon.info/.
ANARCHY FEST - A month-long Festival of Anarchy is scheduled for May in Montreal. The festival includes The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair (May 19-20).
Contact: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/; http://www.radicalmontreal.com/.
LABOR - The International Labor Rights Forum will present: Down the Supply Chain, Driving Corporate Accountability, on May 22 in Washington, DC. The Labor Rights Awards Ceremony and Reception will honor pioneers in supply chain worker organizing, working solidarity and international labor rights policy.
Contact: http://laborrights.org/.
MULTICULTURE - The 26th annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) will take place May 28-June 1, in New Orleans.
Contact: SWCHRS, 3200 Marshall Avenue, Suite 290, Norman, OK 73072; 405-325-3694; ncore@ou.edu; www.ncore.ou.edu.
MEDIA - The 2013 Alliance for Community Media Annual Conference will be held May 29-31, in San Francisco, CA. Participants will include educators, community leaders, media professionals, journalists, nonprofit leaders, policymakers and students.
Contact: http://www.allcommunitymedia.org/.
RADIO - The 38th Annual Community Radio Conference is schedule for May 29-June 1, in San Francisco, CA, with discussions and workshops.
Contact: 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004; 202-756-2268; comments@nfcb.org; http://www.nfcb.org/.
BRADLEY MANNING - On June 1, a rally will be held at Fort Meade in support of Bradley Manning.
Contact: http://www.bradleymanning.org.
BIKES - Bikes Not Bombs is holding its 24th annual Bike-A-Thon and Green Roots Festival in Boston, MA on June 3, with several bike rides scheduled, music, exhibitors and more.
Contact: Bikes Not Bombs, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-522-0222; mail@bikesnotbombs.org; www.bikesnotbombs.org.
LEFT FORUM - The 2013 Left Forum will be held June 7-9, at Pace University in New York City.
Contact: 365 Fifth Avenue, CUNY Graduated Center, ? Sociology Dept., New York, NY 10016; http://www.leftforum.org/.
VEGAN FEST - Mad City Vegan Fest will be held in Madison, WI, June 8. The annual event features food, speakers, and exhibitors.
Contact: 122 State Street, Suite 405 B, Madison, WI 53701; madcityveganfest@gmail.com; http://veganfest.org/.
ADC CONFERENCE - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) holds its annual conference June 13-16, in Washington, DC, with panel discussions and workshops on civil rights, media and other topics.
Contact: 1990 M Street, Suite 610, Washington, DC, 20036; 202-244-2990; convention@adc.org http://convention.adc.org/.
CUBA/SOCIALISM - A Cuban-North American Dialog on Socialist Renewal and Global Capitalist Crisis will be held in Havana, Cuba, June 16-30. There will be a 5 day Seminar at University of Havana, plus visits to a cooperative, urban garden, community development project, social research centers, and educational & medical institutions.
Contact: cuba@globaljusticecenter.org; http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/.
NETROOTS - The 8th Annual Netroots Nation conference will take place June 20-23 in San Jose, CA. The event features panels, trainings, networking, screenings, and keynotes.
Contact: 164 Robles Way, #276, Vallejo, CA 94591; registration@netrootsnation.org; http://www.netrootsnation.org/.
MEDIA - The 15th annual Allied Media Conference will be held June 20-23, in Detroit.
Contact: 4126 Third Street, Detroit, MI 48201; http://alliedmedia.org/.
GRASSROOTS - The United We Stand Festival will be hosted by Free & Equal, June 22 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The festival aims to reform the electoral process throughout the U.S.
Contact: http://freeandequal.org/.
SOCIALISM - The Socialism 2013 Conference is scheduled for June 27-30 in Chicago, featuring talks and panel discussions.
Contact: info@socialismconference.org; http://www.socialismconference.org.
LITERACY - The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) will hold its conference July 12-13 in Los Angeles under the heading, Intersections: Teaching and Learning Across Media.
Contact: 10 Laurel Hill Drive, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003; http://namle.net/conference/.
IWW - The North American Work People’s College will take place July 12-16 at Mesaba Co-op Park in northern Minnesota. The event will bring together Wobblies from branches across the continent to learn new skills and build One Big Union.
Contact: http://workpeoplescollege.org/.
PEACESTOCK - On July 13th, the 11th Annual Peacestock: A Gathering for Peace, will take place at Windbeam Farm in Hager City, WI. The event is a mixture of music, speakers and community for peace. Sponsored by Veterans for Peace.
Contact: Bill Habedank, 1913 Grandview Ave., Red Wing, MN 55066; 651-388-7733; billhabedank@yahoo.com; http://www.peacestockvfp.org.
CHILDREN’S DEFENSE - July 15-19, join clergy, seminarians, Christian educators, young adult leaders and other faith-based advocates for children at CDF Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee, for five days of spiritual renewal, networking, movement building workshops, and continuing education about the urgent needs of children at the 19th annual Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry.
Contact: cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org; http://www.childrensdefense.org.
ACTIVIST CAMP - Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp will have sessions in July and August in Ben Lomond, CA; Portland, OR; Charlton, MA. YEA Camp is designed for activists 12-17 years old who want to make a difference in the world.
Contact: info@yeacamp.org; http://yeacamp.org/.
LA RAZA - The annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Conference is scheduled for July 18-19 in New Orleans, with workshops, presentations and panel discussions.
Contact: NCLR Headquarters Office, Raul Yzaguirre Building, 1126 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036; 202-785-1670; www.nclr.org.
LABOR - The Eastern Conference For Workplace Democracy: Growing Our Cooperatives, Growing Our Communities, will be held at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, July 26-28.
Contact: info@east.usworker.coop; http://east.usworker.coop/.
WOMEN/LYNNE STEWART- Radical Women is asking for support letters and cards to be sent to Lynne Stewart. Stewart is a civil rights attorney and political prisoner who is currently in jail. She has breast cancer and authorities have denied her request for transfer from her Texas prison to the New York City hospital where she received medical attention during a prior bout of breast cancer. Send messages and cards to: Lynne Stewart 53504-054, Federal Medical Center Carswell, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth, TX 76127.
Contact: 747 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109; 415-864-1278; RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com; http://lynnestewart.org/; http://www.radicalwomen.org/.
HAITI/WOMEN - Haiti’s government is considering a legal reform measure that would prohibit and punish all sexual assault, including marital rape. MADRE and the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict are launching a petition to raise international support for this push to address violence against women in Haiti.
Contact: 121 West 27th Street, #301, New York, NY 10001; 212-627-0444; madre@madre.org; http://www.madre.org.
SYRIA/MIDDLE EAST - The Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is currently seeking funds to assist more than 200,000 refugees fleeing violence in Syria.
Contact: https://www.mecaforpeace.org.
FOLK FESTIVAL - The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival will be held August 2-4, in the Berkshires, NY.
Contact: http://www.falconridgefolk.com/; falcridge@aol.com.
WAR RESISTERS - The War Resisters League will hold its 90th anniversary conference, Revolutionary Nonviolence: Building Bridges Across Generations and Communities, August 1-4, at Georgetown University. The event will focus on the U.S.’ long history of antimilitarism.
Contact: 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012; 212-228-0450; wrl@warresisters.org; http://www.warresisters.org.
POPULAR ECONOMICS - The Center for Popular Economics is holding its 2013 Summer Institute August 4-9 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. No background in economics is needed for this intensive training. This year’s theme is, The Care Economy: Building a Just Economy with a Heart.
Contact: Center for Popular Economics, PO Box 785 Amherst, MA 01004; 413-545-0743; programs@populareconomics.org; www.populareconomics.org.
VETERANS - Veterans for Peace is holding the 28th annual convention August 6-11 in Madison, WI. This year’s theme is, Power To The Peaceful.
Contact: http://www.vfpnationalconvention.org/.
DEMOCRACY - The Democracy Convention will take place August 7-11 in Madison, WI. The convention brings together nine conferences including topics such as media, education, defense, race, environment and others.
Contact: https://democracyconvention.org/.
MEN - The 38th National Conference on Men & Masculinity: Forging Justice: Creating Safe, Equal and Accountable Communities, presented in partnership with HAVEN, will be held in Detroit, MI, August 8-10.
Contact: ccardinal@haven-oakland.org; http://www.nomas.org/.
OCCUPY - An Occupy National Gathering will be held in Kalamazoo, MI, August 21-25.
Contact: natgat2013@gmail.com; http://occupynationalgathering.net/.
COMMUNITIES - The Communities Conference is a networking and learning opportunity for co-operative or communal lifestyles, with workshops, events and entertainment; scheduled for August 30-September 2 at the Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, Virginia.
Contact: http://www.communitiesconference.org/.
LABOR DAY - The 29th annual Bread and Roses Festival, a celebration of the ethnic diversity and labor history of Lawrence, MA, will be held September 2, in honor of the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. There will be music, dance, poetry, drama, ethnic food, historical demonstrations, walking & trolley tours.
Contact: PO Box 1137, Lawrence, MA 01842; 978-794-1655; http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org/.
OCCUPY WALL STREET - September 17 is the two-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Events are planned in New York City and worldwide.
Contact: http://occupywallst.org/.
TEACHERS - The 13th Annual Conference, “Teaching for Social Justice: The Politics of Pedagogy,” will be held October 12 in San Francisco, CA. The free event features workshops, resources, and free childcare.
Contact: 415-676-7844; teachers4socialjustice@yahoo.com; http://www.t4sj.org/.
HAITI - International Action, which brings clean water and chlorinators to Haiti, seeks office space capable of housing up to six people and their office equipment.
Contact: Zach Bremer, Zbrehmer@haitiwater.org; 202-488-0735; http://www.haitiwater.org/.
MEDIA - The Union for Democratic Communications and Project Censored are sponsoring a joint conference on media democracy, media activism and social justice to be held November 1-3 at the University of San Francisco. Proposals for presentations, workshops and panels from activists and critical scholars are invited.


