On Tuesday, January 21st, in the leadup to the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, the GLAAD Media Institute joined The Recording Academy, THE GRAMMY MUSEUM, and The Ally Coalition for an event titled “Music in Action: LGBTQIA+ Voices in Music,” part of the Museum’s GRAMMY Week Community Paneling series.
The day began with a media training session at Blair High School in Pasadena, where Monica Trasandes, GLAAD’s Director of Spanish Language and Latinx Media, spoke to the school’s GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) about utilizing social media and building the students’ brand power as a way to raise awareness for LGBTQ acceptance.
GLAAD took on the important task of teaching a future generation of LGBTQ leaders and allies, teaching them about harnessing the power of new media and digital media in an effort to accelerate acceptance for marginalized communities.
Following the training, a broader audience of students came in for a discussion moderated by Justin D. Joseph from the Recording Academy. The panel was chocked full of power players from the music industry about what it means to be a queer artist working in music today.
Present on the panel were a handful of well-known artists including Justin Tranter, Lauren Jauregui, CHIKA, Carlie Hanson, and Carlos Vera, who spoke about their own experiences expressing their queer identities in the industry. Each of the artists spoke about what it’s like to be queer in the entertainment and music industry, how it has affected their respective careers (if at all), and also what it’s been like to make the choice not to label themselves.
