___ octohar 18. 1998 »
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F it to P rint
Gay press applauds NLGJA gathering as inclusive; gay and lesbian
journalists' annual meeting noted for a couple of firsts by Rex Wockner
n estimated 600 gay and lesbian
journalists converged upon Las
Vegas Oct. 1 to 4 for the seventh
annual convention of the
National Lesbian and Gay Jour
nalists Association.
Former Navy officer Tim McVeigh, who was
at the center of the military and America
Online privacy scandal, took advantage of the
meeting to say publicly for the first time that he
is gay. This was the conference’s big story,
according to the mainstream media, which fol
lowed McVeigh’s case closely late last year.
For the gay and lesbian press, the big news
was that people who work in gay media felt truly
welcomed and included in an NLGJA gather
ing—a clear difference from past years.
“They’ve been much more inclusive this
year, and I think as a result the programming
was a little bit more interesting, a little more
diverse and, probably, a little bit more con-
A
ate it at any level of our society and communi
ties, the greater risk we are to building a great
America.”
Jones added she fully supports legalized same-
sex marriage. She is the only U.S. mayor besides
San Francisco’s Willie Brown to have signed a
resolution in support of same-sex marriage.
60 Minutes co-host Lesley Stahl also spoke
on opening night, mostly addressing the Mon-
icagate scandal and not once mentioning gay
people in her comments.
During follow-up questions, however, she
discounted claims made by the so-called “gay
cure” groups, which have recently garnered cov
erage on her program and in other mainstream
media venues.
“They can’t give us numbers, they can’t
prove their case.... You know, it’s a silly argu
ment, curing this. It’s ridiculous,” she said.
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"The gay media nowadays
is breaking stories. They are
leading the pack. Most of the
mainstream media wouldn't be
doing the kind of journalism
they're doing on gay issues
if The Advocate hadn't taken
the lead [and] if the other
publications that are local
hadn't done what they do.”
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—Steve Friess
tentious at times because there wasn’t such a
focus on the mainstream viewpoint. The gay
viewpoint is different,” assessed Jeff Epperly, edi
tor of Bay Windows in Boston.
“Almost all the panels have something to
offer for the gay press.... Everyone’s been very,
very respectful,” added Chris Crain, editor and
publisher of Atlanta’s gay Southern Voice.
“This convention recognizes the gay press in
a way that past conventions have never done,”
agreed Steve Friess, the host committee chair
and a reporter at the daily Las Vegas Review-
Journal. “We typically have not paid that much
attention to the gay media. I think we had a full
track of activities for gay reporters.”
He added: "The gay media nowadays is
breaking stories. They are leading the pack.
Most of the mainstream media wouldn’t be
doing the kind of journalism they’re doing on
gay issues if The Advocate hadn’t taken the lead
[and] if the other publications that are local
hadn’t done what they do."
Jan Laverty Jones, Las Vegas mayor and
Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was a big
hit at the opening night plenary session.
“You hear it from the right wing all the time
that somehow you are against family values, that
somehow there is something unnatural in your
love and affection for one another, that some
how you aren’t productive members of the com
munity,” Jones said. "This kind of perception,
discrimination and hate, the more we perpetu
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Other speakers included Virginia Apuzzo, a
lesbian aide to President Bill Clinton, and gay
comedian Bob Smith.
Media outlets with booths at the convention
included USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the
Los Angeles Tones, The New York Tones, The
Washington Post and National Public Radio.
“I am very impressed with who did tum up,”
said Katherine Linton, host of the PBS gay
newsmagazine In the Life. “I didn’t expect ABC,
CBS and NBC to be having tables and talking
very openly about hiring people. 1 didn’t expect
there to be so many mainstream newspapers.
More people should take advantage of the fact
that they’re here and talk about potential jobs.”
Rose Marie Arce, a producer at CBS News
and the convention’s co-chairwoman, added: “I
felt when we started programming this time, it
was time for NLGJA to grow up, to really get
into the big leagues of doing a journalistic con
vention where you can address the needs of all
your members.
“So this year we had something for the photo
people, we had a cartoonist speaking, we had a
video project that incorporated gay TV for the
first time, we have a student project, online
radio is included—it’s just a much broader brush
that we’ve painted with," she said.
Next year’s conference will be in Atlanta.
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