Diane Rehm was the recipient of the 2014 Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Coverage. She was recognized for her exemplary coverage of the LGBTQ community, and for bringing LGBTQ issues to a mainstream audience. Rehm has covered marriage, progress and regression on LGBTQ rights. Her guests have included David Boies and Theodore Olson, who argued the Proposition 8 case before the U.S. Supreme Court; Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality; Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry; Jonathan Rauch, author of “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America”; and Sarah Warbelow, legal director of Human Rights Campaign.
Rehm celebrated over 35 years at the helm of “The Diane Rehm Show” on WAMU in Washington, D.C., and had long been known for her thoughtful interviews on topics that affect daily life, talking to politicians, authors and activists in a range of fields. She was also honored by the White House with the National Humanities Award, who said her “keen insights and boundless curiosity have deepened our understanding of our culture and ourselves.”
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which sparked debate around religious exemptions from laws, Rehm hosted a show that discussed whether the ruling would affect the LGBTQ community and if religious organizations can be exempt from anti-discrimination laws that protect individuals based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”