On March 30, 2008, the Washington Post ombudsman's column pondered whether a newspaper should have revealed the sexual orientation of an Army major and decorated war hero who was killed in a Baghdad explosion. The paper was aware that the man was gay, but avoided including it in coverage of his death. That was wrong, the ombudsman concluded, saying “The story would have been richer for it.”
The day before, the Post published a letter from a reader taking issue with a lighthearted feature story which suggested that every male Congressional intern would want to see TV star Kate Walsh when she appeared on Capitol Hill. Some women might also be interested in Walsh, just as gay men among the interns probably would not be, the writer pointed out, noting that the “literary device demeaned and discounted gay men and lesbians and contributed to the social stigma placed on them.”
These references and others are salutary reminders that there is still much work to be done within journalism for full and fair coverage of LGBT Americans, along with other marginalized groups.
At the University of Maryland, the Division of Academic Affairs includes the Office of LGBT Equity, which reports directly to the Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity. That office declares that it envisions the university as a place "where equity prevails for students, staff, faculty and alumni who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender." The office provides sexual orientation information, education and support regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. The office also aims to provide “a safe, inclusive, welcoming environment for gender minorities, their friends and families.”
For several semesters I have taught an honors seminar called “Fault Lines in the News: Race, Class, Gender, Generation and Geography,” attempting always to give appropriate attention to sexual orientation within the gender issues segment of the course. For my own developing awareness, I am indebted to the late Leroy F. Aarons, my longtime friend and the founder of NLGJA. The course itself grew out of a philosophy developed by Robert C. Maynard, leader and co-founder (with Aarons and others) of the Institute for Journalism Education, which bears his name. My slender effort to teach about media and sexual orientation is one small part of Roy 's legacy to journalism and his influence on my newsroom career, among hundreds of others.
His life and work enriched my newsroom career from my first days as a reporter trainee in 1972 to my last conversation with him not long before he died. In 2001, as Roy began his leave of absence for health reasons from the University of Southern California ( USC ), where he initiated the program on sexual orientation in the news and I was associate director of journalism, he impressed on me the importance of preserving the groundbreaking courses he designed and taught.
In our last long conversation, months before his death, I spent a day with Roy at his home in Northern California. Roy was still working diligently at this cause. As I left, he asked that I contact members of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication to urge inclusion of sexual orientation in the definition of diversity. It was a happy assignment from one of my earliest mentors. Roy was gently teaching, as always. I did, and it was done.
At USC, the Sexual Orientation Issues in the News program has continued and grown.
My ticket to a journalism career 35 years ago was a tacit pledge to build into every part of my career an effort to advance inclusiveness and diversity for the good of the profession. Because the need continues, keeping that promise is still a vital and rewarding challenge.
