FROM A PRESS RELEASE
American University Washington College of Law's Lambda Law Society and Georgetown University Law Center's Outlaw student organization to co-present
New York, NY, September 30, 2009 — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( GLAAD ) , the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, announced today that it will present two free media trainings on October 10, 2009 during the National Equality March. The National Equality March, organized by Equality Across America, will bring thousands of LGBT Americans and allies to Washington, D.C. to "demand equal protection for LGBT people in all matters governed by civil law, in all 50 states now!"
GLAAD's Media Field Strategy Team will conduct two media training sessions to assist a diverse array of community activists and staff of local LGBT organizations with developing media outreach campaigns to generate additional media coverage for LGBT issues in their local communities. The training will focus on the three core areas to increase the media competency of participants: sharing your story, developing media relations and communicating your message.
During the training, American University Washington College of Law's Lambda Law Society and Georgetown University Law Center's Outlaw student organization will co-facilitate a brief overview on "Your Legal Right to Demonstrate." This presentation will look at the development of the law guaranteeing people the right to demonstrate and focus on the utilization of this right by the LGBT community.
"The march's efforts to raise the visibility of the LGBT community and our allies represent an important intersection with the work GLAAD does to educate the public about lives LGBT people and the issues that impact our community," said Jarrett T. Barrios, GLAAD President. "We are proud to present these media trainings to continue to raise LGBT visibility year round by preparing individuals and organizations to share their stories with community members through the media."
GLAAD will also share best practices for leveraging social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with and engage local community members.
The GLAAD Media Trainings will be held twice- once from 10-11:30a.m.and again from 2-3:30p.m on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Trainings will be held at Georgetown University, Phillip A. Hart Auditorium, located in Bernard P. McDonough Hall, 120 F. Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Registration is required for the free media trainings at the National Equality March Web site: http://nem.gaycities.com/events/662-glaad-media-training.
The GLAAD Media Training is one of many free events held during the weekend. Others organized by Equality Across America include activities and strategy sessions for grassroots leaders to advocate for LGBT equality. The weekend culminates with a March for Equality and rally at the Capitol Building that steps off at 12 noon on Sunday, October 11.
About the GLAAD Media Field Strategy Program
The trainings are part of GLAAD's Media Field work to provide services and support to local organizations by helping to develop long-range media plans around LGBT issues including marriage equality. The Media Field Strategy Program aims to build support at the local level for LGBT issues including marriage, non-discrimination and hate crimes legislation by elevating the stories of LGBT people in local media. GLAAD's Media Field Strategists also provide crisis communications support around incidents such as hate crimes, meeting with local journalists to ensure fair and accurate reporting and working with the families and local organizations to draw attention to the pervasive problem of violence against the LGBT community.
About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( GLAAD ) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org
