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.
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.
Each year through extensive polling and research, GLAAD takes an in-depth look at the state of America’s hearts and minds when it comes to accepting LGBTQ people.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…
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…
In Georgia, the LGBT community is making sure and steady progress, but the work to achieve full equality and acceptance is far from done. Southern Stories: A Guide for Reporting on LGBT People in Georgia, a resource for journalists and media organizations in the Peach State reporting on the LGBT community.
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 LGBT characters on cable networks for the 2015-2016 TV season.Below are some of the most remarkable points GLAAD found in its research this year, download…
The Spirit Day Resource Kit will help you engage the participation of your friends, colleagues, local media and public officials.In 2015, for the first time, we've translated our Resource Kit into 6 additional languages! Click here if you'd like to download it in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, or Mandarin. Click…
In South Carolina, the LGBT community is making sure and steady progress, but the work to achieve full equality and acceptance is far from done.
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