2016 GLAAD nominations have Georgia ties
Lawmakers with offices on the east side of the Georgia State Capitol will have quite a show to watch across the street in Liberty Plaza in early February, as Georgia’s LGBT community and allies converge there for a rally against a slew of so-called “religious freedom” bills on Feb. 9, followed the next day by a “prayer rally” in the same location headlined by evangelical preacher Franklin Graham that is expected to draw multiple GOP presidential candidates.
First up is the Rally To Stop LGBT Discrimination on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at noon, organized by bipartisan LGBT rights coalition Georgia Unites Against Discrimination, of which Georgia Equality is a member.
This year, there are six different so-called “religious freedom” bills under consideration in the state legislature that would have potentially troubling effects on the LGBT community.
On Feb. 10 at noon, Graham will appear at the plaza to rally in support of such bills as the six mentioned above.
GLAAD announced the nominees for its annual Media Awards on Jan. 27, and the list wasn’t without a little Georgia LGBT flair.
“Bessie,” the HBO film that premiered last summer starring Queen Latifah as legendary blues singer Bessie Smith, was nominated for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series. It was filmed in Atlanta and also starred Mo’Nique, who taped her talk show, “The Mo’Nique Show” here during its two-season run.
And there were two Georgia connections in the Outstanding Digital Journalism— Multimedia category. HuffPost Live got a nod for “Freed Trans Woman Ashley Diamond On Life Behind Bars In Men’s Prison.” Diamond was the transgender Georgia inmate who filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections alleging that she had been denied medical treatment for gender dysphoria and had been sexually assaulted by other inmates. She was freed from prison early last August.
Joining the Ashley Diamond piece in the category was “Holler if You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church” by TV personality Clay Cane. The hour-long BET.com documentary premiered last November and featured several of Atlanta’s churches, sights and LGBT community members, including the Lost-N-Found Youth shelter in the West End, Vision Church of Atlanta, Ebenezer Baptist Church and Victory For The World Church in Stone Mountain.
Georgia LGBT groups score grants from Elton John AIDS Foundation
The Elton John AIDS Foundation announced on Jan. 27 more than $5.4 million in new grants to support organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with several Georgia-based organizations among those to land on the list and the state hauling in nearly half a million dollars in grants alone. The Equality Federation of Georgia (Georgia Equality’s sister organization), SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and SisterLove were among the local LGBT groups that scored grants from EJAF.
In this grant cycle, the Foundation renewed 38 grants and funded 32 new organizations, with 7 of those grants going to Georgia groups for a total of $455,000.
The complete list of grant recipients can be found online at www.thegavoice.com.