AN INSTITUTE OF CHANGE
THREE DECADES
OF CHANGE
GLAAD has learned a lot since its founding in 1985 about the media’s role in changing hearts and minds. GLAAD demonstrated not only media’s powerful influence—impacting how people treat others, how they vote, and their daily decisions—but our own authoritative potential to lead the conversation, reshape the narrative, and ultimately, change the culture.
Now it’s time to share that experience more widely, giving people the tools they need to break barriers, champion acceptance, and amplify media impact in today’s culture.
– SARAH KATE ELLIS, PRESIDENT & CEO, GLAAD
WHAT
WE DO
The GLAAD Media Institute enables people to build the core skills and techniques that effectuate positive cultural change. This is accomplished through three pillars:
TRAINING
Spokesperson and media engagement education for effective storytelling
CONSULTING
Serving industries, corporations, and organizations positioned to take a stand for justice
RESEARCH
Fielding studies, evaluating data, and developing metrics to strengthen our mission and drive action
IMPACT
A nationwide network of 20,000 LGBTQ and allied students, activists, and spokespeople who can move hearts and minds in national and local media markets
Accurate, inclusive stories and messages in media outlets that increase and enhance representation of LGBTQ people
More educated film, TV show, and video game creators to produce compelling, entertaining LGBTQ characters that do not reinforce common stereotypes
Improved reporting and understanding of LGBTQ people and non-discrimination policies by national and local publications and media outlets
A database of research and resources including media guides on best practices, fair and accurate reporting, opposition materials, and responsibility indexes
ACTIVATE
NAVIGATE
AND INITIATE
SOCIAL CHANGE
Nothing is more powerful than the personal stories that humanize our community.
Moving hearts and minds involves so much more than just supporting social justice. It requires the skills to uncover, hone, and communicate your narrative. It demands a keen understanding of your audience and the complexities of today’s media machine. It calls for dedicated follow-up to ensure that your message goes the distance, stays on-target, and is being leveraged and amplified consistently across multiple media platforms.
Using the best practices, tools, and techniques we’ve perfected over the past 30 years, the GLAAD Media Institute turns education into armor for today’s culture war—transforming individuals into compelling storytellers, media-savvy navigators, and mighty ambassadors whose voices break through the noise and incite real change.
Confirmed Training
- Check back soon for 2025 training dates
Taught by GLAAD Media Institute Experts
CONSULTING:
WE MEAN BUSINESS
Using the best practices, tools, and techniques we’ve perfected over the past 30 years, the GLAAD Media Institute turns education into armor for today’s culture war—transforming individuals into compelling storytellers, media-savvy navigators, and mighty ambassadors whose voices break through the noise and incite real change.
Advising
We work with businesses on how to make smart, researched decisions before launching new products, services, and marketing campaigns.
Coaching
We train corporate spokespeople to use best practices on message-making and narrative development.”
Behind-the-Scenes
We work with the television, film, and video game industries to ensure casting reflects the new realities of this generation, and that LGBTQ character presence is authentic.
Training
We train newsrooms and journalists on appropriate current terminology, and how to report on critical issues including hate crimes, nondiscrimination laws, marriage equality, and HIV.
RESEARCH
You can’t move what you can’t measure.
The more we know and understand about the state of acceptance, the more effectively GLAAD can fulfill its mission.
GLAAD currently publishes several reports yearly. Since 2014, we’ve partnered with the Harris Poll to track nationwide sentiments and comfortability surrounding the LGBTQ community, sharing the results in the Accelerating Acceptance report. Other key resources include the Where We Are on TV report analyzing diversity across broadcast and cable networks and streaming services, and the GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI), a road map toward increasing fair, accurate, and inclusive LGBTQ representation in film.
As the GLAAD Media Institute builds a new network of ambassadors nationwide, our ability to collect data at a granular level will improve. With an expanded, enhancedability to field custom research that best meets the needs of our clients and audience, our goal is to create a more robust, proactive research arm that can undergird and inform more impactful work across communities…and beyond.
In 2013, GLAAD launched its first Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) to measure lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) inclusion in mainstream film after proving the efficacy of our studies and work in television to move the needle on diverse, authentic LGBTQ storytelling. In just ten short years, I’m proud…
Introduction from Sarah Kate Ellis Since 2020, GLAAD, in partnership with the Gilead COMPASS initiative, has been tracking the State of HIV Stigma in the United States, asking key questions each year about Americans’ attitudes and knowledge of HIV, and the stigma that exists around the virus and people living…
Una guía detallada en español sobre las normas de los medios de comunicación para una cobertura más precisa y respetuosa de la comunidad trans en el periodismo.
The GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters in films released by seven major motion picture studios during the 2021 calendar year. GLAAD researched films release by Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, United Artists Releasing, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner
This report brings an academic and personal voice of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had to-date on the fight to end the HIV epidemic, while also providing recommendations/ needs from people at community based organizations (CBOs) who serve and support the community. We underscore the disruption in access to HIV prevention and care services due to mitigation measures imposed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which will have implications for many years to come. We also highlight innovation to HIV service delivery that provided an important bridge between healthcare professionals and clients in an unprecedented time. Our recommendations will help sustain the fight against HIV in the United States in the midst of this pandemic, and future health emergencies.
Una guía de 11 páginas para ayudar a los escritores, productoras y líderes de cadenas y estudios a encontrar el camino para crear historias que sean divertidas o dramáticas, complejas y convincentes, totalmente atrapantes e inclusivas
An 11-page guide available in both English and Spanish to help writers, producers and network and studio leaders find a way forward toward creating stories that are funny or dramatic, complex and compelling, totally binge-worthy and also LGBTQ inclusive.
The second annual Social Media Safety Index (SMSI), a report on LGBTQ user safety across five major social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. The 2022 SMSI introduces a Platform Scorecard developed by GLAAD in partnership with Ranking Digital Rights and Goodwin Simon Strategic Research. The Platform Scorecard utilizes…
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EARLY PARTNERS
