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 GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in films released by seven major motion picture studios during the 2015 calendar year. GLAAD researched films released by 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Columbia, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers, as well as films released by four major subsidiary studios. The report is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBT film representations.
GLAAD, with BiNet USA, Bisexual Organizing Project, and Bisexual Resource Center, released In Focus: Reporting on the Bisexual Community, a resource guide to help journalists to more accurately report on the bisexual community and the differences between individuals within the community.
"Southern Stories: A Guide for Reporting on LGBT People in Alabama" is part of GLAAD's Southern Stories initiative, which aims to positively showcase the lives of, and build acceptance for, the LGBT community in southern states. It is intended for journalists and reporters telling the stories of LGBT people living…
“Southern Stories: A Guide for Reporting on LGBT People in Mississippi” is part of GLAAD’s Southern Stories initiative, which aims to positively showcase the lives of, and build acceptance for, the LGBT community in southern states. It is intended for journalists and reporters telling the stories of LGBT people living…
Debunking the "Bathroom Bill" Myth – Accurate Reporting on LGBT Nondiscrimination: A Guide for Journalists dispels the myths that are often used to demonize transgender people. We've created this guide in collaboration with a coalition of state and national LGBT organizations to ensure fair and accurate reporting, and we will be working to get into the hands of every journalist covering these important issues.
2015 represented an especially historic year in the movement for LGBTQ equality, with the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide. Notwithstanding the American public has grown well beyond majority status in support for marriage equality and we have reached what TIME Magazine called the “transgender tipping point,” GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance 2016 survey reveals that other key, yet perhaps more nuanced attitudes about LGBTQ people are lagging and the cause of Accelerating Acceptance must continue.
Highlights from a Year of Accelerating Acceptance
GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released "In Focus: Faith, LGBT People, & the Midterm Elections,” a groundbreaking resource guide that empowers journalists to challenge anti-LGBT talking heads who mask bias as a ‘tenet of faith.’ The guide is designed to help the media provide accurate information about LGBT…
FOUNDING PARTNER
EARLY PARTNERS
