Voices of Color
According to the most recent Census there are more than 100 million Americans who identify as Black (or African American), Latino (or of Hispanic heritage) and Asian, accounting for approximately 30 percent of the US population. Yet, a look at many daily metro newspapers, a survey of the most popular blogs or a quick flip of the television dial would tell a very different story. Particularly invisible within mainstream media are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color. Media images of LGBT people, whether in regional newspapers (Denver Post, Houston Chronicle) or gay newspapers (Bay Area Reporter, Bay Windows) are monolithically white; within ethnic media outlets (La Opinión, Ebony, Sing Tao Daily), media images are virtually all straight.
A lack of media visibility promotes a world where, it would appear, LGBT people of color do not exist and unfortunately, within this void stereotypes and misconceptions continue to grow. GLAAD is working to change that.
Through our National People of Color Media Institute and advocacy work with Black and Spanish-language media, GLAAD is elevating the voices of the millions of LGBT people of color in the US while raising visiblity around the everyday challenges they face when trying to participate fully in their communities.
Director of Media and Community Partnerships
Director of Spanish-Language Media