Wear Purple Today to Show Support for LGBT Youth

We're all familiar with the rainbow banner that has become the international symbol for the LGBT community, but few of us remember that each color has a specific meaning: Red for Life, Orange for Healing, Yellow for Sunlight, Green for Nature, Blue for Serenity and Violet/Purple for Spirit.

GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has taken up the cause started by a teenager to call attention to and honor those teens who felt so hopeless after suffering unrelenting bullying that they took their own lives. GLAAD explains it this way on their site:

WHAT IS SPIRIT DAY?

The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, is a simple one, not dissimilar to the idea of "Spirit Week" held in many high schools, and can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together.

Spirit Day honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it's also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them.

Purple symbolizes 'spirit' on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.

As one of the event's Facebook pages says: "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple."

Wearing purple on October 20 is a simple way to show the world that you stand by these courageous young people and a simple way to stand UP to the bullies. Remember those lives we've tragically lost, and show your solidarity with those who are still fighting. 'Go Purple' today!

WEAR PURPLE ON OCTOBER 20 FOR SPIRIT DAY [GLAAD]

GLAAD has a devised an application you can use to change you Twitter and FaceBook profile picture to purple as a show of support. You can visit the site here.

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• Painting the Town Purple to Raise Awareness About LGBT Bullying & Suicide (chicagonow.com)
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Dear GLAAD, Enough with the mock outrage, already!

GLAAD is up in arms with mock outrage over a lesbian couple in Texas whose daughter was booted out of her church school. Jill and Tracy Harrison are kicking up a fuss because they enrolled their child in an Episcopal Church school only to have that child thrown out once the church realized on Parents' Night that the mom named Tracy was in fact a mom, not a dad.

St. Vincent's Church of Bedford, Tx. is one of those that split from the Episcopal mother ship in 2008 over the ordination of openly gay Bishop Eugene Robinson. Even the slightest bit of research would have turned this up. Now these women are subjecting their daughter to a media shit-storm over this case of highly predictable bigotry. Honestly folks, even Helen Keller would have seen this coming. This is so irresponsible that I just don't have the words to express my disgust with these two.

Tag this one "GLAAD FAIL!"

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Today Show to Allow Gay Couples in Wedding Contest

NBC's The Today Show caved in to pressure from the LGBT community and GLAAD over their decision not to allow gays and lesbians to participate in the Modern Day Wedding contest. The prize is a big fancy-schmancy wedding in New York, paid for by the peacock network.

The "straights only" policy was first made public by the blog, Good As You, which caught the attention of GLAAD, who called on Today to open the contest to same-sex couples. Online petitions and e-mail campaigns were launched, which made the suits at NBC sit up and take notice.

Contest organizers (and a lot of us as well) were under the mistaken impression that same-sex marriage was illegal in New York State. GLAAD pointed out that although New York cannot legally issue licenses to same-sex couples, the state does recognize those licenses issued in states where same-sex marriage is legal and therefore, for couples with such a  license, a ceremony can legally take place. Confused yet?

Today Show producers posted the following on its website yesterday:

Over the past few days TODAY has received a considerable response regarding our wedding contest application. The rules stated that eligible couples must be able to be legally married in New York, where we will host the wedding, therefore excluding same-sex couple applicants. Our intent was not to be discriminatory or exclusive. In 2005 when the wedding took place outside of New York, the application process was open to same-sex couples. We have listened to every voicemail and read every email. We take this feedback seriously, and we will change our application process. TODAY is a longtime supporter of the LGBT community, and GLAAD considers us an ally. We are committed to keeping those relationships strong and positive. We have opened up the application process to same-sex couples, and will extend the deadline to Monday, July 12. Moving forward, we ensure that our future wedding contests will be inclusive of all couples.

GLAAD said in a statement yesterday afternoon:

Following a meeting between GLAAD and NBC executives, NBC announced that after listening to community concerns it will open the contest to same-sex couples and extend the submission deadline until Monday, July 12. Couples now have until then to apply.  Finalists will be announced later this year and the wedding takes place live on the Today Show this October.

We’re thrilled that Today Show's ‘Modern Wedding Contest’ now recognizes what most fair-minded Americans have already concluded - a wedding celebrates love and commitment, whether the spouses are straight or gay. NBC heard the thousands of viewers who contacted them and they have moved to make their contest a truly modern wedding where any couple can share their story. NBC is living up to its own high standard of fairness and for this, we applaud them.  We encourage qualified same-sex couples to submit their applications before Monday, July 12 and we look forward to next year when same-sex couples will have the ability to apply to the contest from the beginning.

 Interested couples can submit their applications via the Today Show FaceBook page.

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Call to Action: Today Show's Wedding Contest Discriminates Against Gays and Lesbians

NBC's Today Show is doing another one of its over the top "win a free wedding" contests, called "Modern Day Wedding" and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is calling them out on their "straights only" policy. GLAAD contacted the Today Show and questioned them about their application listing only bride and groom as possible entrants.

The response GLAAD received from the longest running morning show said, “For the TODAY show wedding, the couple must be able to be legally married in New York, which is where the wedding will take place." Here is GLAAD's response, as posted on its website:

This is not a valid argument since New York State legally recognizes same-sex marriages licensed in other states. Same-sex couples can now legally obtain marriage licenses in Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington D.C. NBC is mistakenly equating the marriage license with the wedding celebration. Same-sex weddings are entirely legal in New York State.  As long as the marriage license is conferred upon the same-sex couple by another state, New York State recognizes the marriage as a fully valid and legal one. NBC’s exclusion of same-sex couples from its contest is not motivated by the law, but bias against these couples.

The Today Show is awarding a wedding celebration, not a marriage license.  If a same-sex couple won the contest, producers and the winning couple could easily work together to ensure that the couple properly obtained and complied with the requirements of a marriage license in one of the license-conferring jurisdictions. The full wedding celebration would then take place on the Today Show.  Given these legal realities, GLAAD has urged NBC to amend its contest rules and allow same-sex couples to apply.

You can take action and strike a blow for fairness and equality by contacting NBC and demanding that the Today Show demonstrates just how modern it is by opening the "Modern Day Wedding" contest to same-sex couples. Change.org, which first broke the story, has set up an on line petition demanding that Today allow same-sex couple to compete just as they have done in Today's past contest, "Hometown Wedding".

Or, you can contact the following NBC executives directly by e-mail and demand that they change this discriminatory contest rule immediately:

Jim Bell, Executive Producer
NBC Today Show
(212) 664-4602
today@nbc.com
jim.bell@nbcuni.com

Lauren Kapp, Senior Vice President, NBC News Marketing & Communications
NBC Television Network
(212) 664-4444
lauren.kapp@nbcuni.com

William Bartlett, Corporate Communications Senior Vice-President
NBC Television Network
(212) 664-4444
william.bartlett@nbcuni.com

Kathy Kelly-Brown, Corporate Communications Senior Vice-President
NBC Television Network
(212) 664-4444
kathy.kelly-brown@nbcuni.com

Megan Kopf, Corporate Communications Manager
NBC Television Network
(212) 664-4444
megan.kopf@nbcuni.com

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Don't Get Mad, Get GLAAD

Media watchdog the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which recently gave failing grades to most of network TV for their lack of LGBT characters and story lines, posts a daily list of recommended viewing of TV shows with positive depictions of the queer community.

Who knew?

While I (and the rest of us) appreciate the work this group has done over the years to foster a more accepting environment for LGBT people, they really need to get a better publicist. You can rage against the machine all you want, GLADD, but it doesn't help if nobody knows you doing it!

Wait a minute. That sounds a lot like what I do. :-/

So here's a list of GLAAD's recommended viewing for Tuesday, August 25, 2009:

8:00 pm Hell’s Kitchen, FOX (1 hr) NEW
Gordon Ramsey is back and this time he has a new crew behind him. Mainly, season two-winner, lesbian Heather West as his new sous chef. Maybe she can give lesbian contestant Tennille a few pointers on how to deal with Ramsey’s outbursts.

8:30 pm Ruby & the Rockits, ABC Family (30 min) NEW
Ruby, an up can coming young rock stars, gets new bass player, Nils, who she soon falls for. But sorry Ruby, your bassist has a secret!

9:00 pm Big Brother, CBS (1 hr) NEW
Tonight will determine who has the Power of Veto. Let’s see if Kevin can win it on behalf of gay roommates everywhere!

10:00 pm Flipping Out, Bravo (1 hr) NEW
Jeff Lewis and crew are back for a third season, but with the economy in the toilet, flipping houses isn’t such a lucrative option. Maybe they can take a page from Zoila’s book and clean them? Yeah, right! Better watch and see what happens!

10:00 pm Addicted to Beauty, Oxygen (1 hr) NEW
If you needed one more reason to fear cosmetic surgery and medi-spas here it is. Watch as these catty six work and play together all while trying to take care of customers needs.

I'm especially intrigued by "Ruby and the Rockits", featuring ex-Partridge turned Las Vegas cheese ball, David Cassidy as a middle-aged man who finds out he has a teen-aged daughter who wants to be the next Miley Cyrus. (That's right, shoot for the stars, kid.) This show should be a lesson to all of us about the dangers of unprotected sex.

I haven't watched this one yet, but it may be worth a visit just to see if Cassidy will be wearing his signature ruffled puffy-shirt and red velour vest with matching bell-bottoms.