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Struggle with 'Dr. Laura' |
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By Joan M. Garry
GLAAD Executive Director
In April, GLAAD began the next phase of our long-term work around this issue: approaching television affiliates at the local level and asking them to drop Schlessinger's show. To maximize both our reach and the effective use of resources (the "biggest bang for the buck" method), GLAAD's Director of Regional Media and Community Relations Cathy Renna has spent the last five weeks contacting and meeting with station managers in many of the nation's top 10 television markets (including Cleveland, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta - and in the next three weeks, Los Angeles and several others). Cathy told me last week that most of the station managers had not ever heard Schlessinger's radio show; and they're appalled (to put it mildly) when they hear the audio tape of her show. They're even more astonished that Paramount Domestic Television had kept them in the dark about the Schlessinger controversy.
But meetings are not a stand-alone strategy in our toolbox. Cathy also has been instrumental in building strong community-based coalitions in each city she visits. In coalition with these community groups and Robin Tyler of StopDrLaura.com, we have collectively organized several high-profile rallies to call attention to Schlessinger's defamatory rhetoric. These rallies have garnered considerable media coverage, and have amplified our voices, both in local communities and nationwide. The success of this work tells me that it needs to be stepped up and fanned out quickly. Supporting Cathy's tireless work is our new online resource kit: "Local Laura Activism: Step by Step." Visit GLAAD Online at www.glaad.org and you'll find a virtual activist toolkit providing everything you need to go to your local affiliate management, let them hear your voice and raise community awareness on this issue. I encourage each of you to take advantage of this powerful, easy-to-use resource. Keep in mind that while hearing from a national organization can get station managers' attention, you can do it too. These decision makers are much more interested in what you, a member of their local audience, have to say. Your participation in this effort is vital. Meanwhile, Schlessinger continues to distort reality from every media platform on which she appears. Her recent book tour (including high-profile stops on The Today Show, Larry King Live, and Fox NewsSunday) showed us again how reality conforms to Schlessinger's convenience. For example, on the May 4th Larry King Live, she flatly denied ever using the word "deviant" while referring to gays. GLAAD has numerous transcripts and audio recordings proving otherwise. She also flip-flopped again on her March 10 public statement, this time defending her prejudice as "strong, profound religious beliefs."
The good news is that Schlessinger's tendency to play fast and loose with the facts is getting noticed. As you'll recall, Schlessinger published a controversial newspaper column in February which was so full of misinformation, misattribution and factual inaccuracies that Universal Press Syndicate had to publish an extensive, multi-point correction for the column. Last week, The Orange County Register, one of the country's most conservative newspapers, dropped Schlessinger's syndicated column. The reasons were telling. One was that her column had strayed so far from its original "advice" themes that it was no longer a good fit for the paper's lifestyle section. The more compelling reason came directly from the paper's editor, Tonnie Katz, in the May 7 ombudsman column: "I made the final decision after the column that required extensive corrections. Work like that would be equally unacceptable whether it came from our own columnists or those we purchase from outside syndicates." People are waking up. And they're getting it. Schlessinger's misinformation about our community also continues on her radio program. In the past month, she has repeatedly used her program to promote a new book called Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality (which perpetuates the stereotype that lesbians and gay men are mentally disordered and can be "cured") while continuing her attacks on the psychiatric community for declassifying same-sex attraction as a mental illness. I could go on and on, but why bother? We all know Schlessinger will not stop her attacks and she will continue to abuse the "freedom of speech" argument to defend her defamatory rhetoric. It's up to all of us to prevent Schlessinger's misinformation and prejudice from spreading to television. Unfortunately, one major company seems unaware of Schlessinger's anti-gay crusade. GLAAD learned Monday that Procter & Gamble has purchased advertising time on Schlessinger's TV show. It is important that P&G, as the first national corporation to purchase ads on this show, be informed of Schlessinger's relentless campaign against our community and the potential damage to their corporate image in the eyes of their customers, their employees, their shareholders, and financial advisors across the country. It's truly unfortunate that a company thought by many to be very gay-friendly would embrace an entertainment personality who forcefully advocates an agenda that denies us basic civil rights. I encourage you to contact Procter & Gamble today. Let them know how you feel and what you want to see happen. Procter & Gamble Contact Information: Durk I. Jager Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive The Procter & Gamble Company P.O. Box 599 Cincinnati, Ohio 45201 Telephone: (513) 983-1100 E-mail: jager.di@pg.com If you are a shareholder, E-mail: shareholders.im@pg.com Please join the growing ranks of fair-minded people everywhere who are working to combat prejudice, discrimination and bigotry. Go to our Web page. Use our resources. We will succeed as a community only if our collective voice is heard loud and clear by those who stand to profit from Laura Schlessinger's anti-gay advocacy. |
GLAAD's Joan Garry (left) and Dr. Laura 
Protestors speak out against Dr. Laura in Chicago 
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