The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has announced the six-year anniversary of the Announcing Equality campaign, the organization's efforts to get newspapers across the country to print same-sex wedding and commitment announcements. They can now document 1,049 newspapers across the country that print wedding and commitment announcements, a 15-fold increase from 2002, when the organization convinced the New York Times to accept same-sex announcements. According to GLAAD, all daily newspapers in Colorado, as well as in eight other states and the District of Columbia, accept same-sex wedding and commitment announcements.
Way to go, Colorado, and way to go, GLAAD. Now if we can just do something about the heterosexual divorce rate--the sanctity of those marriages is sooooo shaky. Right, John McCain?
Read GLAAD's full press release after the jump.
GLAAD's Announcing Equality campaign marks six-year anniversary with record 1,049 inclusive papers
Marking the six-year anniversary of its Announcing Equality campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today announced that 1,049 daily U.S. newspapers now accept wedding announcements from gay and lesbian couples – a more than fifteen-fold increase since August 18, 2002, whenThe New York Times opened its Weddings/Celebrations pages to gay and lesbian couples following conversations with GLAAD leadership.Among the 2008 Announcing Equality campaign's other measures:
An estimated 83 percent of all U.S. newspaper consumers read a paper that accepts wedding announcements from same-sex couples.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have newspapers that print announcements for gay and lesbian couples.
All but three of the nation's top 100 media markets are home to newspapers with inclusive announcement policies.
All daily newspapers in 9 states and the District of Columbia print wedding announcements for same-sex couples: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.Â
California and New York come close to being 100 percent inclusive, with only one daily newspaper in each state that will not print such announcements.
In Tennessee, the state with the lowest percentage of inclusive papers, one out of every three papers accepts announcements from gay and lesbian couples.
Only 339 of the 1,049 papers have actually received an announcement from a same-sex couple to print.
"Local newspapers across the country are reflecting the growing visibility of our lives and our commitments by opening their pages to these stories," said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. "When we seize that opportunity to share our milestones and celebrations, we help Americans see the diversity of our community and recognize the common ground that we share."
GLAAD's Announcing Equality campaign has grown exponentially in numbers and in scope. The project began with an initial group of 69 newspapers in 2002, and by 2004, the list had grown to include 462 papers. When the campaign was re-launched in 2006, GLAAD documented another significant increase in the number of newspapers, reaching a new benchmark of 883 papers. And in 2008, that number has soared to 1,049.
As part of the expansion of the Announcing Equality campaign this year, GLAAD is helping LGBT community members share their stories in local media outlets with the support of a new online resource. This site includes a state-by-state interactive map of papers with inclusive policies and guidelines for submitting announcements, as well as downloads of resources and tips to assist community members in sharing other types of stories online and in local media outlets, ranging from employee or church newsletters to college newspapers. GLAAD is also encouraging community members to submit stories for posting on the GLAAD website by emailing announcingequality@glaad.org.  Â
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. Â For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.
