(New York) Joy Behar, Cynthia Nixon and the ABC drama series “Brothers & Sisters” are among this year’s recipients of media awards from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Presented Saturday in New York, winners of the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards also include the NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” …

Ex-Miss California admits to making sex tape

(New York) Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean calls a sex tape she made for an ex-boyfriend several years ago “the biggest mistake of my life.”

Prejean told Fox News on Monday and NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that she shot the X-rated video of herself alone when she was 17 …

‘Survivor’ Hatch says imprisoned because he’s gay

(Newport) “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he believes he was sent to prison because he’s gay, a claim the prosecutors in the case call baseless and delusional.

Hatch, speaking publicly for the first time since being released from prison to home confinement, told NBC’s “Today” …

HBO RANKS HIGHEST IN THIRD ANNUAL “GLAAD NETWORK RESPONSIBILITY INDEX”

ABC Leads Broadcast Networks for Third Year in a Row; NBC and CBS Receive “Failing” Grades for Lack of Inclusion of the LGBT Community

Los Angeles, CA, July 27, 2009 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today released its third annual Network Responsibility Index, a report that maps the quantity, quality and diversity of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on television. Primetime programming on the five broadcast networks was evaluated as well as original primetime programming on 10 of the highest-rated cable networks.

HBO scored the highest rating of the 15 networks evaluated with LGBT characters on shows including True Blood, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Entourage that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of the LGBT community. Of HBO’s 14 original series, 10 included LGBT content and 42 percent of the network’s total programming hours included LGBT representation.

“This year programming was not only inclusive of LGBT people, but networks like HBO are beginning to reflect the broad diversity within our community,” said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD. “With upcoming fall programming and new storylines there is a tremendous opportunity for networks to share the stories of all members of our community including lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as well as LGBT people of color, all groups which continue to be underrepresented across all networks.”

GLAAD reviewed a total of 4,901 hours of primetime programming for inclusion of LGBT characters or issues on the five major networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC) from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009. GLAAD also examined 1,212.5 hours of original primetime programming on 10 highly-rated cable networks. Each hour was reviewed for on-screen LGBT representations. Based on the quantity, overall quality and diversity of these representations, a rating was assigned by GLAAD’s Entertainment Media Program to each network: Excellent, Good, Adequate, or Failing.

Additional findings from the GLAAD Network Responsibility Index:

Good

- HBO and Showtime received grades of Good, with HBO leading with 42 percent of programming hours featuring LGBT representations.

- ABC, with shows including Brothers & Sisters, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty, again received the highest ranking of the five broadcast networks, earning a Good grade with 24 percent of their primetime programming hours including LGBT representations.

- The CW also received a grade of Good, with 20 percent of their primetime programming hours including LGBT representations.

Adequate

- While Fox received an Adequate, rising from last place and a Failing grade in 2008; 11 percent of its programming hours were LGBT-inclusive, yet some of those hours included problematic content.

- Among cable networks evaluated, TNT showed the largest growth, jumping from one percent of LGBT inclusive primetime programming hours last year to 19 percent. FX posted the sharpest decline, dropping 32 percent over the previous season. Both were graded

Failing

- NBC and CBS received Failing grades, for their 8 and 5 percent, respectively, of programming hours with LGBT images. CBS moved down from third place in last year’s GLAAD Network Responsibility Index to last among the five major broadcast networks.

- A&E, Sci Fi and TBS received grades of Failing.

“Television shows that weave our stories into the fabric of the series present richer, more accurate representations and are the kinds of images that help Americans understand and embrace their LGBT family members, friends and neighbors in a more meaningful way,” said Robinson.

The third annual GLAAD Network Responsibility Index was delivered to programming executives at the 15 graded networks, and GLAAD’s Entertainment Media Program will continue discussions with them to advocate for improvements in the quality, quantity and diversity of their LGBT representations.

The Executive Summary of the report can be viewed online at GLAAD.org. A PDF of the full report can also be downloaded at GLAAD.org.

The 14^th Annual GLAAD Where We Are On TV report on diversity will be issued in September 2009. This analysis will examine LGBT inclusion as well as the gender and race/ethnicity of all scripted characters scheduled to appear during the 2009-2010 season.

About GLAAD

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.

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Nunn: Probably time to review gays in military policy

Sam Nunn, a former Democratic senator from Georgia, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that it’s “probably time” to review the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy concerning gay people in the military.

Nunn, a conservative Democract who was one of his party’s experts in military matters, was a key advisor to President Barack Obama during the transition.

See what Nunn had to say:

Nunn: Probably time to review gays in military policy

Seattle Post Intelligencer

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Cracks in the System: Iran There and Gay Rights Here

Originally published on June 18, 2009 by Yo Mama For Obama

This post will be a continuation of my last one, dealing with the people’s insurgency in Iran and the fight for equal rights here in America.

yomamaforobama’s diary :: ::

No surprise: it is being reported that Ayatollah Khamenei’s rival Mullah, Rafsanjani, will be supporting the massive protest in Iran today. Quite frankly, this election dispute is a contest, a personal power struggle, between the two Ayatollahs. Whether we have Ahmadinejad or Mousavi as figurehead Presidents is almost immaterial. Their ideology and politics are essentially the same, although Ahmadinejad’s incendiary fervor is definitely off the deep end. Their underlying beliefs, both national and international, are identical. It is the Mullahs who rule Iran. The people’s protests must move from election fraud to throwing out the corrupt clerics who rule Iran.

Dan Rather was on MSNBC yesterday, and he was not very optimistic about the outcome of this Iran uprising. He said that similar to this uprising, the Czech revolt of 1956, the Chinese attempt at protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and the attempted battle for freedom in Burma in 2007 were all crushed by their respective governments. Included in these assaults on the protesters were serious, and successful, attempts to quash any media reports of the protests plus the government’s retaliatory responses. True: in 1956, we did not have the internet, cell phones or Twitter. Basically the same holds true for 1989. Nonetheless, the media were thrown out of those countries and thus any reports of the events were not forthcoming. So is Iran trying to play that same game today. Not only have reporters been warned off covering the disputed elections, but Iran has cut off most access to the internet and cell phones. But long live Twitter: they can not shut off that service. Not yet. Our very own State Department has requested, and been granted, that Twitter defer their shutdown for maintenance scheduled for this week so that the world can have some access to the events in Iran. As Hillary Clinton said recently, and I paraphrase, “I don’t know a Twitter from a Tweeter, but Twitter has been a window to the world as to what is going on in Iran.” In the New York Times today, Op-Ed contributor, Nicholas Kristof equates “tweets” as the bullets of modern warfare.

See Cracks in the System: Iran There and Gay Rights Here

Daily Kos

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Former Miss California blames firing on gay comment

(Los Angeles) Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean says she lost her crown because of a comment she made about gay marriage and not because she had been skipping appearances.

Prejean told Matt Lauer on NBC’S “Today” show Friday that she “absolutely” had been dethroned because of the comment, when she …

Barney Frank Pulls Plug On CNBC: “This Interview Is Over!”

Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a vocal critic of Wall Street pay, appeared on CNBC this morning to talk about what should be done to limit executive compensation. Let’s just say it didn’t go well. Frank stormed off the set after exchanging heated words with CNBC’s host.
“It seems to be that you’re dealing with a model that no longer works,” CNBC’s host said of Frank’s proposed executive pay rules, which would give shareholders much greater control over compensation.
Then things escalated. After Frank said, “May I respond sir?” several times, the interview devolved into a mini-shouting match, and not much was settled. See Barney Frank Pulls Plug On CNBC: “This Interview Is Over!”

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White Supremacist Opens Fire @ At Holocaust Museum In D.C.

A gunman NBC News describes as a White Supremacist exchanged fire with security guards inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday. U.S. Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser said the gunman walked into the museum with what he described as a “long gun.” The gunman and a security guard were shot. Both were taken to the hospital, but the extent of their injuries wasn’t immediately known. But of course the govenrment was wrong to warn us about right wing terrorists.