Archive for May, 2009

Olympic Pride

Posted by

Vancouver  Earlier this year, I promised that I would give regular updates on Cleveland’s bid to host Gay Games IX. Latest news is that we are preparing to host a visit from delegates of the Federation of Gay Games here in Cleveland in late July. We have some exciting events planned, so I will be sure to share photos here.

Now that I have immersed myself in everything related to LGBT sports, I wanted to share a bit more detail on a news item we tweeted for you earlier this month. As we all know, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games are just months away, and Vancouver will serve as the destination for this global showcase of athleticism. Anyone who has watched either the Summer or Winter Olympics knows about the “Olympic Village,” where each country has some sort of venue to showcase not only their culture, but to provide a haven for its athletes. This winter, for the first time in Olympic history, there will be “Pride House,” a place for LGBT athletes to relax, watch events and meet friends. The organizer, GayWhistler, designed Pride House as a safe space for out athletes, coaches, fans and allies to come and essentially be themselves.

As Dean Nelson of GayWhistler put it, the Olympics have a “pretty homophobic structure where being out is not really encouraged." he said. "We're hoping we can be a catalyst and change that perception.”

This is big news in the Olympic community. As Olympic historian Kevin Wamsley commented in the story, the Olympics have traditionally skirted around the issue of sexuality, and have not provided a friendly environment for LGBT athletes in the past. And, at this point, neither the Vancouver Organizing Committee nor the International Olympics Committee are partners in this effort.

I applaud…nay, give a standing ovation… to GayWhistler for creating Pride House. The Olympics bring the world together, and that includes the LGBT community. With so many media outlets expected to descend upon Vancouver, I hope that there will be an opportunity to generate great interest in the LGBT Olympic Athlete and for sponsors and companies to market to the LGBT community. More important, I hope the IOC recognizes and embraces the importance of the LGBT community. Olympic athletes are role models. Let them be Out Role Models.

| May 29th, 2009 1 Comment »
Tags: · · · · · ·

Re:Post – Gay as an Adjective

Posted by

Our Re:Post series is designed to provide an opportunity to highlight our favorite, and sometimes overlooked, posts from the past. Leading up to the start of Pride Month next week, we thought it would be a good time to talk about language again. This topic - what to call us, how to address gay and lesbian communications issues and related considerations – is always a useful one to flag for marketers and others trying to reach our community. We thought that Ivette’s post on the use of the word “gay” as an adjective would be a good one to Re:Post to ensure her sound advice isn’t overlooked in this Pride season. Here’s Ivette’s post from July 18, 2008:

Gay as and Adjective photo On my way into the office this morning, I was listening to a radio station’s morning show. It was a “best of” clips since the normal hosts are vacationing. One of the segments was about one of the radio hosts getting married, and how the rest of the team was trying to get him “primped up” a week prior to the wedding. As one of the DJ’s introduced the clip, the other said, “wait, wasn’t the official term, to ‘gay him up'?”

I changed the station to my other morning show and two of the cast members were talking about their friendship and how long they have known each other, etc., and a third member of the morning show said “you all just go be gay together!”

I didn’t know what to think about it at first. At least the term gay is being used on airwaves and is not forbidden. However at the same time, treating the word that way can lead to the same syndrome as the phrase “hot tranny mess” that Eddy has blogged about before. It can still be offensive, just like the “n-word” for African-Americans. Not too long ago, I also read an article on how popular the term “gay” is among teenagers which explained that teens don’t mean any harm by it. I get that. My siblings use it all the time, “That is SO gay, Oh my God!”

Read more »

| May 27th, 2009 No Comments »
Tags: · ·

Pride, Now

Posted by

Out Front Blog image June is traditionally recognized in the U.S. as “Pride Month” and it’s the time of year when many cities host their annual pride festivals and events. It’s also one of the most popular times of year for marketers to launch new LGBT-focused programs or make gay-themed announcements. For the past two years, we’ve been taking advantage of this “extra” attention on LGBT issues to focus on pride in our blog posts for the month of June. This year is no exception. 

Beginning on Monday, June 1, we’ll add several Pride-focused Q&As to our usual mix of opinion, news and commentary. In these conversations, we’ll take a look at what Pride means now, what companies are doing to engage with our community and what the media climate is like and may be in the future. We’ve lined up an all-star cast of Q&A subjects representing corporate America, LGBT advocacy organizations and LGBT print and online media. Be sure to check out the Out Front Blog all month long to read our conversations with:

We hope these conversations will give you a perspective on what pride means now and what that means for the state of gay and lesbian communications. And we hope you’ll chime in with your thoughts and comments, too.

The Out Front Blog Team (Ben, Peter, Ivette, Laura, Bryan and Michael)

| May 26th, 2009 No Comments »
Tags: · · · ·

The State of LGBT Business

Posted by

J0433139 Each day, we hear the question asked — when will this economic crisis be over? For some of us, we are seeing optimistic growth for our communities and our businesses. For others, we’re just not sure.

Next week, the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will host the annual National Business & Leadership Conference: Out for Business in Seattle, WA. The sixth annual conference gathers LGBT business owners, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and LGBT chamber members for educational and networking opportunities.  And, as he mentioned on Tuesday, our very own Ben Finzel will be there as well.

“For three days, our GSBA members and chamber members from other states, will meet face to face and have opportunities to make business connections with LGBT colleagues and national corporate leaders from across the country to exchange information, increase business skills and act as ambassadors of our beautiful, progressive city”, said Louise Chernin, Greater Seattle Business Association’s Executive Director, in an Echelon article.

Now is the time to be a sponge, to learn from experts who are succeeding and those who are positioning their companies for growth. Opportunities, like this conference hosted by the NGLCC, provide professionals a platform for growth, personally and for their businesses. 

| May 22nd, 2009 No Comments »
Tags: · · ·

Snap Judgment: What Does the “American Idol” Outcome Mean?

Posted by

J0341991 As it does every season, “American Idol” has dominated headlines and online conversations. But, as bloggers at afterelton.com and elsewhere have pointed out, the conversation has been different this year because of the emergence of an “almost openly-gay” finalist. 

Now that finalist has finished second in his quest to become American Idol. Did his perceived sexual orientation have something to do with that finish? If so, what does that mean about the country and about the public’s mood?

As follow-up to yesterday’s Snap Judgment post on “American Idol,” I asked the Out Front Blog team to consider these ideas and then answer the following question:

“What does the outcome of this season’s American Idol mean for gay and lesbian communications?”

Our answers, in alphabetical order by first name, are reprinted below:

Read more »

| May 21st, 2009 2 Comments »
Tags: · · · · · ·

« Older Entries