GLAAD Award Over AT&T Flap?
There is a lot of anger being directed at GLAAD by several gay blogs, over the group's collaboration with communications giant AT&T regarding its moves at the Federal Communications Commission. Towleroad shares vital background info and a reply from GLAAD, that is well worth reading in full:
Check out the (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) GLAAD's bizarre letter (below) to the FCC on behalf of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger.
Among the odd arguments in the letter linking LGBT rights to 4G coverage:
First, there is the need to expand access so that each of us can have affordable, effective means of communication. As representatives of communities that historically have felt the sting of discrimination, we are acutely sensitive when certain segments of our nation are not able to participate fully in something that the majority takes for granted. We salute President Obama’s vision of an America in which everyone has high-speed access capable of meeting the demands of distance learning and telehealth programs. ...
The LGBT community has a longstanding commitment to all forms of social justice. That is why we look at the deployment of faster wireless Internet options not only from financial and technological viewpoints but also in terms of how this improves society. ...
My understanding of this latest GLAAD controversy is that the Astroturf, slaves to its corporate sponsors and Democratic Party friendly organization is again using its resources for highly questionable advocacy.
If the organization was committed to respectfully engaging the community with town hall meetings to take direct questions from ordinary gay folks, the AT&T matter would get a good, public airing. However, as GLAAD is not accountable and transparent to the community, unless you count rubber chicken galas, don't hold your breath waiting for GLAAD leader Jarrett Barrios to appear at a public forum.
All this leads me to a rhetorical question. Should Joe Jervis, winner of GLAAD's outstanding gay blog award this year for his work at JoeMyGod, return the award and remove the GLAAD icon shown above, heralding the honor from his site?
The answer, without question, is a resounding no. Let's get brutally honest here, folks. GLAAD is not answerable to the community and returning a dubious award will have no impact on the group shilling for some of its many corporate partners.
Can anyone show me proof that GLAAD in the past decade has changed its core structure or way of operating because of grassroots or blogger anger? I don't count issuing numerous and confusing releases about Adam Lambert and an act of gay affection on network TV, as a fundamental change at GLAAD.
The gays would greatly benefit if GLAAD was dismantled and its many executives and staffers went to work, officially, for the Democratic Party or corporate America. It's a worthless drain on the community.
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