FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 2, 2026
PRESS CONTACT: Clare Lefebure
press@nlgja.org or 202-588-9888
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 2, 2026) – Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced that broadcast journalist and activist Sallie Maranda Fiske, television and documentary producer Joseph Lovett and fashion journalist André Leon Talley are the 2026 inductees into the LGBTQ+ Journalists Hall of Fame. The inductees will be honored at NLGJA’s annual national convention in San Francisco, September 10 to 13.
“Each of this year’s inductees expanded what was possible for queer people in American media, whether by speaking hard truths about their own lives at real professional risk or by the sheer, undeniable fact of their visibility, and each left the profession more open than they found it,” said NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Executive Director Adam Pawlus. “In welcoming Sallie Maranda Fiske, Joseph Lovett and André Leon Talley into the LGBTQ+ Journalists Hall of Fame, we honor three careers that expanded the American story and continue to shape our profession today.”
The LGBTQ+ Journalists Hall of Fame was launched to honor outstanding LGBTQ+ journalists who have exemplified the association’s mission to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues. To date, the LGBTQ+ Journalists Hall of Fame has honored 62 individuals, living and deceased, who have left a lasting mark on their profession through their own courage and mastery of the practice of journalism.
Sallie Maranda Fiske (1928-2004) was a pioneering television journalist and a lesbian activist in California. She was among the first women to work in broadcast journalism in Los Angeles. In 1977, during Anita Bryant’s anti-gay campaign, she disclosed her sexuality on air during her afternoon talk show on KCOP. She was fired shortly after, ending her television career. Fiske went on to become an activist in California’s gay rights movement, serving as a press secretary for the campaign against the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned LGBTQ+ teachers from working in public schools. She later worked in West Hollywood politics, and in 1985 founded the West Hollywood Paper, a community weekly covering local politics and LGBTQ+ issues that ran for two years. She continued to freelance and edited “Queer Blood,” about the origins of HIV. Fiske died at her home in West Hollywood on February 19, 2004, at age 75.
Joseph Lovett (1945-2025) was an award-winning television producer, director and documentary filmmaker known for his work shedding light on the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Working at CBS and ABC News, he was an openly gay producer in broadcast news in the 1970s and 1980s. He worked to destigmatize gay life through his news segments, taking on subjects other outlets avoided, including bathhouses, sexual liberation and anonymous sex. His early AIDS reporting is particularly significant because it challenged both government indifference and media reluctance while the epidemic was still poorly understood. In the 1990s, he created “In a New Light,” an annual series to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention. Through his production company he produced a series of documentaries, including “Cancer: Evolution to Revolution,” which won a Peabody Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. His later work preserved pre-AIDS gay sexual history rather than allowing the era to be remembered solely through tragedy. Lovett died at his Manhattan home on July 14, 2025, at age 80.
André Leon Talley (1948-2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, author and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. He was the first Black man to serve as creative director at Vogue, and throughout his career he advocated for diversity in the fashion industry. His ascent within overwhelmingly white, elite fashion publications broke racial and gender-presentation barriers, and his writing and editorial judgment helped shape how fashion was reported and understood. He was the author of three books, including “The Chiffon Trenches: A Memoir,” which made The New York Times Best Seller list. In 2020, France awarded him the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Across a six-decade career in fashion, he used his influence and public presence to expand the imaginable roles for Black and queer people within the media. Talley died January 18, 2022, at age 73.
About NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists:
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists is a journalist-led association working within the news media to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ communities and issues. We promote diverse and inclusive workplaces by holding the industry accountable and providing education, professional development and mentoring. For more information, visit www.nlgja.org.