GLAAD and Human Rights Campaign Foundation unveil groundbreaking resource to challenge ‘God vs. Gay’ in mainstream media

NEW YORK – GLAAD, the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest advocacy group for LGBT rights, today unveiled “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 resource guide is viewable at www.glaad.org/vote.

“It’s time the media gets it right,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “More and more churches, faith leaders, and religious Americans are speaking out in support of equality, but their voices remain missing in mainstream media. It’s time to close the gap on misrepresentation and challenge the tired idea that equality is not a religious value."

"It's long past time that anti-LGBT activists who claim to be people of faith had to answer a few simple questions about what the Bible and other holy books actually say,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.  “I grew up in a Southern Baptist congregation, going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and, if my Mom got her way, Wednesday night too. The message I learned sitting in those church pews was that we are all God's children, and you've got to love your neighbor as yourself."

In 2012, GLAAD released "GLAAD's Missing Voices: A study of religious voices in mainstream media reports about LGBT equality." The report found that three out of four religious messages came from spokespeople whose religions have formal policies or culture opposing LGBT equality, despite the fact that acceptance of LGBT people is growing across faith traditions. Additionally, mainstream media outlets use far fewer religious sources from Mainline Protestant, Jewish, or other denominations whose messages were predominantly positive and accepting of LGBT people. Far too often, outlets frame stories as "God vs. Gay," inaccurately representing the current climate of acceptance across faith communities today. The newly released guide seeks to correct these disparities in reporting.

Visit www.glaad.org/faith to learn more about GLAAD's Religion, Faith & Values program, and www.hrc.org/religion for resources and to learn more about HRC's work with religious communities.