.gay Community Spotlight on GLAAD
We had the pleasure of connecting with Mary Emily O'Hara from the team at GLAAD this week for our .gay Community Spotlight. Check out our chat with Mary below!
How would you describe your organization’s mission?
GLAAD works through all forms of media to accelerate acceptance. That means more LGBTQ visibility, voices, and storytelling in entertainment media, news media, social media, advertising, sports, gaming, and more.
Tell us about how that mission is brought to life through your work?
I work on the News and Rapid Response team, which monitors news coverage of LGBTQ people and issues as well as responding to legislation and policy. We do things like partner with state-level and community-based LGBTQ organizations to help amplify their messages to local and national media, engage influencers and celebrities to address current events, research LGBTQ inclusion in newsrooms, track anti-LGBTQ misinformation through the GLAAD Accountability Project, and more. The main issues I'm working on lately are book bans and school censorship, the drag community, LGBTQ sports, and Trans and nonbinary policy.
What would happen if your organization suddenly did not exist?
GLAAD is the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, and its impact on LGBTQ visibility and inclusion in media cannot be measured in one sentence. It's everything from the way news media frames our issues, to seeing queer and trans characters on TV, even the fact that brands release, like, special inclusive cereal boxes for Pride month and how that can impact a mom in rural South Carolina in the middle of grocery shopping.
What can people do to get involved and help make sure that never happens?
GLAAD's programming spans so many areas, from private consulting to rapid response to celebrity engagement. It all depends on funding and support.
Why does LGBTQ+ visibility matter to you?
Personally, I'm old enough to remember when you didn't see Queer or Trans people on TV or in movies, and if you saw anything in news media it wasn't pretty. I know what it feels like to move through the world kind of blind in that way as a young Queer person, so it's important to me now that the entire community—but especially youth—know they are accepted, see themselves reflected, and have a voice.
In your own words, what does “LGBTQ+ safety and support” mean specifically?
It means, first and foremost, that we as LGBTQ community members have each others' backs. Whether it's close chosen family, a neighbor, or just that special nod of recognition walking past another queer person on the street, safety starts with knowing you aren't alone. But it also takes allies. Allies help create a wider world in which queer and trans people can fully participate without fear of being attacked or ostracized, and help change hearts and minds by showing a model of what acceptance and affirmation looks like for everyone.
Who are some of your LGBTQ+ heroes?
I'm a book nerd, so the first people I think of as LGBTQ heroes are writers. I like to read foundational work by queer and trans authors who push boundaries, document subcultures, ask big questions—like Samuel Delaney, Pat Califia, Sarah Schulman, Charlie Jane Anders, Jean Genet, James Baldwin. Some mix of sci-fi, intellectualism, and the forbidden. Like a lot of genderqueer people, I found out early that books could help me piece together my sense of self in a world that otherwise didn't reflect it.
If you could give LGBTQ+ youth one message, what would it be?
I know that it's scary sometimes, and that it feels like there's all these crazy grownup politicians putting a target on your back. But remember, you're going to grow up and take over the world—while they are just going to go down as ugly bigots in the history books. This is your world, so go out there and speak your truth, find your friends and allies, and live the best life you can no matter what anyone says.
Tell us about a time when you felt like the work you do at your organization really mattered or made a difference for the communities you serve?
There are so many times, and some of the work we do is more of a behind-the-scenes thing. But I've really enjoyed working with drag performers, such as when Lil Miss Hot Mess of Drag Story Hour was targeted in a Marco Rubio campaign ad and we helped with her response this October. I'm very proud of the open letter in support of Trans women and girls we worked on that was signed by so many incredible women leaders from second-wave feminists like Gloria Steinem to honestly half of Hollywood. I've helped write a ton of guides for journalists, and even one for parents and school staff that are struggling with the current wave of book bans. I've only worked at GLAAD for two years, and have already seen a lifetime's worth of impact—it's really incredible!
Anything else you would like to share with the .gay audience?
We need allies now more than ever. The LGBTQ community has become a target of hate and misinformation in ways I haven't seen happen since I was a little kid in the 80s, and it's going to take all of us fighting back to make sure that our culture—and our country—is a safe place for everyone. Everyone deserves the right to their healthcare, to school, to books, to sports, to wear the clothes they want, to basic freedoms, but these things are being attacked and taken away from some people just because of their gender identity or expression or because of who they love. That isn't fair. I'm fighting for a world where everyone is included.
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