MAGNET Organizers Attend UNITY Journalists Convention 2012; Give Presentation @ Las Vegas LGBT Center; Will NLGJA Choose an Inclusive Name?

MAGNET Organizers Attend UNITY Journalists Convention 2012; Give Presentation @ Las Vegas LGBT Center; Will NLGJA Choose an Inclusive Name?

MAGNET, or Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People, organizers attended the UNITY Journalists Convention 2012 in Las Vegas last week from August 1st to August 5th. Many workshops, panels, seminars, presentations and receptions were held where MAGNET organizers were able to educate about accurate coverage of transsexual, transgender and intersex (TTI) issues.

On August 4th MAGNET organizers Lauren Nichols and Ashley Love gave a presentation at The Las Vegas LGBT Center focusing on how journalists and screen images portray transsexual, transgender and intersex stories. After MAGNET’s presentation they moderated an audience discussion on TTI representation and their effects on the different TTI communities.

UNITY, formerly UNITY: Journalist of Color, is an alliance of people of color journalist associations. This was the first UNITY convention where UNITY expanded their membership to include NLGJA, or National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. UNITY included sexual orientation and gender identity in their mission statement. Shortly after NLGJA joined UNITY, NLGJA's leaders and board members pressured UNITY to additionally change its name, arguing it was “exclusionary and inaccurate” (although NLGJA’s own name remains exclusionary and inaccurate by omitting the 'B' and the 'T' from their acronym).

Attendees at MAGNET’s presentation at the Las Vegas LGBT Center last Friday, as well as attendees at NLGJA’s own membership meeting last Thursday, overwhelmingly agreed that NLGJA needs to be consistent in promoting inclusive titles by changing their own acronym. NLGJA leaders said they plan to discuss the issue.

“It was a really inspiring convention to be with many other people of color journalists and media professionals", said MAGNET's Ashley, "UNITY's welcoming of the LGBT coalition brings together greater diversity which creates s a stronger partnership. It was a good gesture that UNITY also changed their name to be more inclusive, and we hope NLGJA will follow UNITY’s progressive step forward by including the 'B' and the 'T'' to NLGLA’s acronym to be inclusive as well. Preach, practice. You can't spell the word UNITY without the letter 'T'.”

MAGNET To Hold Education Rally Outside GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday, April 21st in Los Angeles To Counter GLAAD Misrepresenting Transsexualism

MAGNET- Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexual & Transgender People- is holding an education rally on April 21st outside GLAAD’s Los Angeles Media Awards to draw attention to GLAAD’s ongoing campaign to blur the lines between transsexualism, gender deconstructionism, lifestyle choices and transvestite fetishism as well as GLAAD’s unethical refusal to address the national dissent of the transsexual community that is being co-opted into GLAAD’s “transgender umbrella ideology” agenda against their will.

Date/Time: Saturday, April 21st. 4:30pm to 7:30pm
Address: The Westin Bonaventure Hotel- 404 South Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Contact: Email Ashley Love, MAGNET organizer- MAGNET.Advocacy@gmail.com

Ashley Love, an organizer with MAGNET, explains, “Though GLAAD does some good work, primarily for gays and those who support transgender socio-politics, we hold this education rally to inform attendees that the medical condition transsexualism is actually not about third gender politics or homosexuality. Our legitimate birth challenge stems from being born with chromosomal and/or anatomy diversity, and is treated by affirming doctors who aide us is ensuring our body is aligned with our mind. GLAAD has concocted and is militantly pushing an opinion based framework that unravels public understanding, promotes transsexual-phobia and even impedes and erodes our legislative advancements and medical rights. We ask involved parties to take a deeper look at GLAAD’s social engineering that seeks to erase transsexualism from classrooms and public discourse in favor of their gay and gender deconstructionism only politics, and examine the science, data and literature that supports our transsexual medical condition’s accurate narrative. Be aware of the unrest and resistance in the transsexual community against this blatant revisionism and co-opting of our lives by non-transsexual entities that has lasted almost twenty years. This colonialism of transsexualism by gay and transgender ideology groups is irresponsible, psychologically abusive, sexist, and detrimental to the mental and physical health of people born with transsexualism. We’ve had enough.“


Dr. Mary Donata, MD, who attended the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference with her teenage daughter last year, wants people to respect her daughter’s reality. She writes:

"I’m a family doctor and the mother of a 17 year old daughter who has a transsexual medical history. It’s imperative that GLAAD understands that my daughter, and other girls and women with similar medical histories, shouldn’t be inaccurately categorized with others not at all like her under the umbrella term "transgender". PLEASE UNDERSTAND: My daughter is a young woman, not impersonating one as a hobby or lifestyle. She’s not gender queer, a cross dresser, a transvestite, a fetishist, or a drag queen. It’s time to reform GLAAD’s problematic media guide concerning transsexualism"