GLSEN strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
Nickelodeon is forging ahead with more LGBT representations on its kid’s cartoons: A gay married couple appears on this week’s episode of the popular animated series The Loud House.
“Professional sports showing up for LGBT people is one of the biggest cultural developments of the last decade, and really the last five years,” said GLSEN executive director Eliza Byard. “The NBA has been showing up for LGBT youth and for GLSEN for a number of years. Having this be a league-wide initiative, knowing any LGBT fan in the country can choose to celebrate their team and themselves with one of those shirts, that’s a whole new thing.”
The NBA has partnered up with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to create a limited edition line of LGBT Pride shirts.
Each shirt features a different NBA team’s logo done up in rainbow colors and set on a black background. The shirts will be available for two weeks with all proceeds going straight to the GLSEN, which seeks to create safe spaces in schools for LGBT students.
As children, we consumed media with a rabid fervor (save for those kids who weren’t allowed to watch TV/films). This fervor helped build a cultural cache, one that not only helped us bond with children our own age, but would later crystallize into a childhood nostalgia (giving us conversation topics and random memories that we could share with others who had the same experiences). Yet if you were a queer child, childhood television was a means by which you could exercise the foundations of your camp sensibility.
This is a fun list from indiewire for all those 90s kids!
DC Comics made history last week, releasing Midnighter, their 1st comic headlined by a gay male superhero.
(Note: The comic is rather violent, so we recommend caution.)
That said, it is very exciting to see diverse representations of LGBTQ characters throughout media, especially in pioneering roles.
Steve Orlando, the writer, received some criticism for the character not being the best representation of a gay man. However, he says:
I think we’ve moved past the idea that gay people have to be portrayed in only one way. By pulling away from that, we can have characters who can do other things and people can realize they’re not a spokesperson for the entire community.
Just like with Caitlyn Jenner, no one individual can represent a whole group of individuals. However, we can use these stories to start conversations about the diversity within our communities, and raise up the voices of those whose stories aren’t being told.
We were #GLSENproud to honor Ilene Chaiken at the GLSEN Respect Awards this week!
“I’ve been a GLSEN supporter and admirer for years,” she said via phone. “Working with our youth, where we still have such a lot of work to do to make the world safe, it is the most gratifying of all the things that we do. I’m just thrilled to be in a position where we can do something to support the organization and incredibly flattered that they thought I was worthy of being honored.”
#MyVanityFairCover is a trend started by Tumblr user Crystal, who wanted to give more trans individuals access to the platform Caitlyn Jenner has, as well as share the message that #TransIsBeautiful, no matter what that means to you.
“I’ve felt frustrated and useless and overwhelmed by opinions on transgender women and how we’re “supposed” to look if we want to be taken seriously.
But not all of us adhere to those standards. Not all of us want to. Not all of us can. Some of us do, but only out of fear. Some of us do but we aren’t sure why. And whether we fit those standards or not, we’re beautiful, and we all deserve to feel beautiful, and be acknowledged by the world. Admiration and praise for trans women shouldn’t only come if we fit a narrow definition of beauty.”
The templates for the cover are here and here. We love this movement and all of the visibility and representation it offers.
Princess Elena of Avalor, a confident and compassionate teenager in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore, will be introduced in a special episode of Disney Junior’s hit series Sofia the First beginning production now for a 2016 premiere. That exciting story arc will usher in the 2016 launch of the animated series Elena of Avalor, a production of Disney Television Animation. The announcement was made today by Nancy Kanter, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Before we get on with the post, it’s important to note that these are two groups of diverse people who are very unique in many ways! However, in light of the month, (and mainly due to the fact that a lot of the resources available online are for both groups), here is a compilation of resources for Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ people! Other masterposts can be found here (and don’t hesitate to add anything if you have resources to contribute)!
Kumu Hina (a documentary about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture/values within modern Hawaiʻi, told through the lens of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a Native Hawaiian māhū [someone who embodies both a male and female spirit], and an honored and respected kumu [teacher], cultural practitioner, and community leader)
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Before we get on with the post, it’s important to note that these are two groups of diverse people who are very unique in many ways! However, in light of the month, (and mainly due to the fact that a lot of the resources available online are for both groups), here is a compilation of resources for Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ people! Other masterposts can be found here (and don’t hesitate to add anything if you have resources to contribute)!
Kumu Hina (a documentary about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture/values within modern Hawaiʻi, told through the lens of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a Native Hawaiian māhū [someone who embodies both a male and female spirit], and an honored and respected kumu [teacher], cultural practitioner, and community leader)