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.
“We won’t settle for anything less than 100% acceptance.”
– 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 Hollywood film and TV show 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
- Tuesday, July 16, Dallas, TX | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Thursday, July 25, San Francisco, CA | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Wednesday August 14, Jackson, MS | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Thursday, August 15, Columbus, OH | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Tuesday, August 20, Richmond, VA | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Thursday, August 27, Miami, FL | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Wednesday, September 11, New Orleans, LA | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Wednesday, September 25, Columbia, SC | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Thursday, October 10, San Juan, Puerto Rico | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Thursday, October 17, Orlando, FL | Telling Your Story: Register Here
- Wednesday, October 23, Raleigh, NC | Telling Your Story: Register Here
Training Coming Up
- TBD, please check back.
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 and film 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.
The Where We Are on TV report analyzes the overall diversity of primetime scripted series regulars on broadcast networks and looks at the number of LGBTQ characters on cable networks and streaming services for the 2019-2020 TV season. Below are some of the most remarkable points GLAAD found in its…
Stonewall 50: A Journalist’s Guide to Reporting on the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall and the Legacy of Pride seeks to inform journalists about the history of the Stonewall Uprising and its impact on the LGBTQ movement into the modern day. The guidebook covers several topics: story ideas when covering Stonewall 50, a history of the Stonewall Inn, an overview of significant events in the modern LGBTQ movement, and a focused discussion on the issues the LGBTQ movement faces today– both in the USA and around the world.
Fifty years after the Stonewall uprising, the LGBTQ community has great reason to celebrate the many advancements that have created greater visibility and legal protections for LGBTQ Americans, but the fight for 100% acceptance is far from over.
Last year the Accelerating Acceptance Index, a national survey among U.S. adults conducted on GLAAD’s behalf by The Harris Poll, saw an erosion in LGBTQ acceptance. Although this year’s Index reports that the drop in LGBTQ acceptance has been stemmed, a growing number of young people ages 18-34 report being less comfortable around LGBTQ people in certain personal situations. At the same time, the Trump administration continues to attack the LGBTQ community through discriminatory policies and targeted rhetoric, and LGBTQ Americans are becoming more vulnerable to hate crimes and violence, which GLAAD documents here. GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance Report provides us with an urgent reminder that LGBTQ people and allies should continue to remain visible and vigilant on the fight for 100% acceptance of LGBTQ people.
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 the seven major motion picture studios during the 2018 calendar year. GLAAD researched films released by 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros., as well as films released by four subsidiaries of these major studios. The report is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation in film.
The Where We Are on TV report analyzes the overall diversity of primetime scripted series regulars on broadcast networks and looks at the number of LGBTQ characters on cable networks and streaming services for the 2018-2019 TV season. GLAAD is calling on the industry to make sure that within the…
The GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in films released by the seven major motion picture studios during the 2017 calendar year. GLAAD researched films released by 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers, as well as films released by four subsidiaries of these major studios. The report is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation in film.
The More Than a Number Report is an advanced reporting guide for journalists and advocates to accompany our Doubly Victimized Guide. It reflects that many more reporters are now covering the homicides of transgender people in the U.S. but there is still a lot of work to do to improve coverage. The biggest hurdle, in this report’s thesis, is to shift from the “deadliest year ever” headlines into a more accurate and respectful framing of lives lost.
While the past several decades have yielded remarkable progress for the LGBTQ community in the United States, acceptance of LGBTQ people is slipping, and discrimination is increasing, in the face of attacks, bias, and erasure by the Trump administration. This is the first time the Accelerating Acceptance report has shown a drop in acceptance for LGBTQ people. 2017 has demonstrated that the path to full equality and acceptance is not guaranteed, but in the face of this erosion GLAAD will work to ensure 100% acceptance of LGBTQ people everywhere.
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