Outing by the Press Grounds for Libel? July 14, 2009

Favorite:

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/06/23/The_Gay_Rights_Movement_Since_Stonewall

Gay USA co-host Andy Humm criticizes the press for being afraid to report the sexual orientation of gay people. "Gayness is still pretty much the worst thing you can say about anybody in a newspaper," he says. Writer Kai Wright counters that outing someone in print is libel.

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This panel offers a rare look at the defining moments of the gay rights movement as seen through the eyes of journalists, historians, and media advocates. Panelists discuss these pivotal events; the role the media played in generating visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; and what the media accounts got right and wrong. - The New School

Andy Humm has been the host or co-host of Gay USA (or its predecessor on the Gay Cable Network, Pride and Progress) since 1985. Since 1996, he has hosted the show with veteran journalist and activist Ann Northrop. As a reporter for Gay USA, Andy has covered virtually every major gay and AIDS news story in the last 18 years. He co-anchored GCNs nightly coverage of the Democratic and Republican National conventions in 1988 and also did floor coverage of the 1992 Democratic convention and the 2000 Republican convention.

Kai Wright is a writer and editor in Brooklyn, NY, whose work explores the politics of sex, race, and health. Kai is senior writer for TheRoot.com and contributes to several publications, ranging from The Nation to ColorLines magazine. He is author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York, as well as two books of African-American history. Kai also writes and edits a series of monographs exploring the AIDS epidemic among African Americans; they are published by the Black AIDS Institute.