GLAAD Research Grants 2003

The GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society (CSMS) promotes intersections between the worlds of academia and media activism. The primary mission of the Center is to commission academic research that provides GLAAD with scholarly insights into contemporary LGBT-oriented media trends and issues. In turn, commissioned projects are used in consultations with media professionals such as writers, directors, and journalists, and they are utilized by educators and students though texts made available on GLAAD's website and through teaching curriculums. GLAAD-sponsored studies must be conceptually sophisticated, yet practical and concrete.

At the present time the GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society is seeking applications for one Research Initiative to be funded in March 2003 and two commissioned papers to be funded in March and April 2003. Research Initiatives are typically funded at the $8,000 level and commissioned papers are funded at the $1500 level. While funding is usually limited to these amounts, partnerships with other organizations are permitted as long as the researcher abides by the terms of GLAAD's contract. Also the Director of Research can often assist with gaining additional funding for particular projects.

All projects funded in 2003 must be media-centric and focus on a contemporary aspect of mainstream media as related to LGBT concerns. Each project will have a 2003 due date.

GLAAD Research Initiatives are defined by their unique ability to build alliances between academia and GLAAD's media activism. Research Initiatives are typically 60-75 pages in length (including all tables, charts, bibliography, etc.) and are often the foundation for book projects. Research Initiatives may utilize quantitative or qualitative methods, or a combination of both.

GLAAD Commissioned Papers are typically 25 pages in length and often serve as the basis for scholarly journal articles. Commissioned papers have the same orientation and requirements as research initiatives, the only difference being that these are smaller studies.

In 2002 the GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society funded one research initiative that examined the ways youth media may combat homophobia among adolescents, and another that analyzed the ways Spanish Language News Media is portraying stories on LGBT individuals, groups, and events during 2002. Commissioned papers have focused on the queer potential in the video game The Sims, news coverage of the 2002 campaign to overturn the Miami-Dade human rights ordinance, and the anti-gay hate crimes story in the mainstream comic book, The Green Lantern.

Benefits For Researcher:

- Line on vita under Grants
- Line on vita under Commissioned Research or Commissioned Papers
- Author owns copyright so that paper may be revised for book or article publication
- Paper is posted on the GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society's website where it receives notice by international press, academicians, students, book publishers and journal editors
- GLAAD press releases may assist in gaining the author's work more widespread attention than it typically receives through standard academic channels
- Author may be interviewed by local and national media

At this stage in the projects are presented in a general manner since it is our preference to connect with scholars whose research already correlates with one or more of the below listed topics. In addition we are not sending a formal proposal form with this mailing, but rather an abbreviated version (bullet points below) that will serve as the basis for an initial discussion with the Director of Research. The researcher may then draw on discussion information in crafting a more formal proposal. All GLAAD proposals are competitive and are read by the Director of Research, GLAAD9s Executive Director, GLAAD9s Director of Communications, and members of GLAAD9s National Research Advisory Board.

For the purpose of efficiency the potential candidate should send by email a one and one half to two page single-spaced description that that includes:

- Question or questions to be answered
- Statement(s) regarding uniqueness of project
- Rationale
- Methodology
- Two sentences on contribution to LGBT and/or Queer Studies
- Three sentences that state the concrete information/data GLAAD will have as a result of the project.
- One statement regarding relationship of project to one or more of GLAAD9s mission(s) www.glaad.org (see About GLAAD)

Also send by attachment a Vita or resume that includes your daytime telephone number

Please send these items by March 1, 2002.

Please note

In some cases topics have been delineated according to whether we view them as potentially being relative to a Research Initiative or Commissioned Paper (or, in some cases, depending on your approach, either one).

However, the delineation is not rigidly enforced as long as you can justify your claims in the mini-proposal. Also, if you are currently working on a topic that does NOT fit in accordance with one of the below, but IS appropriate to GLAAD, please feel free to develop a proposal or inquire about it as well.

Also note

Questions listed under each topic are to be considered 3brainstorming ideas.2 If you find that answering one of the questions is sufficient, or if you wish to offer supplemental information or answer other questions, that is fine as long as you inquire beforehand about the applicability of these.

Upon submitting the first proposal, we need to know that the research CAN be conducted. If you propose to study 3newspaper coverage in _____ and _____ between 1999 and 20022 then we need some indication that there is enough information in the newspapers to be analyzed, and thus we request some evidence which indicates that you have a project to develop.

Response to proposals from the Research Director9s office occurs within one month after submission. If you are then chosen to develop a more extensive proposal, an application form and copy of the contract will be sent to you.

Topic Areas:

News Coverage of the United States Supreme Court's Decision to Revisit the Constitutionality of Sodomy Laws in 13 States (RI, or Commissioned Paper depending on depth and scope of analysis) For the second time in the last 16 years the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could decide whether state laws are constitutional in banning homosexual sex acts. On Dec. 2, 2002 the court agreed to hear arguments in Lawrence and Garner vs. Texas. In the case, two Houston men were arrested and convicted of violating Texas' anti-sodomy law in 1998. After investigating a nearby false report of an armed intruder, police entered Lawrence's unlocked home and discovered him engaged in a sexual act with Garner.

The first question before the court is whether the Texas law is unconstitutional because it punishes only heterosexual couples. Such same-sex only sodomy laws also exist in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas; thus the ruling applies to these states as well. The second constitutional question is whether the law is a violation of the right to privacy, thus calling into question the constitutionality of all consensual sodomy laws. Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia ban all consensual sodomy.

The project will consist of a comparative content analysis and qualitative analysis of news coverage of the sodomy ruling in one major paper in each of the capitals in each of the above listed states where the ruling is current. It is anticipated that ruling will occur in April or May 2003.

The study may also be accompanied by an analysis of television debates that occur on news programs during this time.

A smaller project (commissioned paper) may consist of the same analysis of fewer newspapers.

News Coverage of Anti-Gay Hate Crimes in Two Or More Major Daily Newspapers in two or more cities that exist in states with hate crimes legislation. Choose cities in different geographic locations (see GLAAD9s regions at www.glaad.org ) Analysis=4 year period, or more, depending on researcher9s interests.

Compare # of anti-gay hate crimes reported to the F.B.I. per state with stories given coverage in the press. Reporting to F.B.I. began in 1999.

How has coverage changed over time? Which kinds of social and/or institutional voices speak in the news reports? How does coverage compare between the cities? What is the rationale for comparing the cities?

What kinds of qualitative assessments can be made about the coverage, based on language, story placement, headlines, quotations utilized, etc.?



The Right and Regional Media (RI) To what extent do religious right organizations, such as the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and Concerned Women of America and their local chapter organizations, penetrate regional media outlets? How many times do religious right organization9s names and statements appear each week in papers with circulations of 300,000? 200,000? 100,000? 50,000? How often are op-eds or other pieces written by staff members of Religious Right organizations printed in regional outlets? How often do paid or free advertisements for religious right organizations appear in regional media outlets?

When groups are quoted or cited, how are they identified to readers? Is the source quoted with reference to its political agenda, or is it quoted in such a way to make it seem like a government agency or a university based group?

Extreme Humor (CP) Research on contemporary entertainment TV that has large adolescent (and presumably straight) male viewership, and that tends towards humor that is overtly or subtly homophobic (i.e. Man Show, Howard Stern, male-directed MTV and MTV2 programs, etc.) and/or themes and narratives of "homophobic bullying" in entertainment media that are directed at male adolescent viewers.

LGBT, the Media, and Class (RI or CP, depending on scope of paper) How and when do news media present stories about LGBT people who are in lower income brackets? Entertainment media? When LGBT individuals from lower income brackets are portrayed, what type of representations are most frequent? How do these compare to LGBT individuals from upper income brackets? Do these representations parallel the media9s depiction of heterosexual people in the same income bracket(s)? News and entertainment focus or news focus.

LGBT Coverage in College MEDIA STUDIES Textbooks (CP) Have LGBT issues and representations been effectively integrated into undergraduate textbooks in media studies and/or mass communication? If so, in what ways? If not, which specific textbooks/areas are lacking? Moreover, in which widely used college texts in media studies do we find ONLY examples of heterosexual media? In which texts are explicit assumptions made that student readers are heterosexual?

Media Coverage of LGBT People of Color (RI) A study that looks at the quality of images of LGBT people of color in mainstream news media, LGBT media, and people of color press for an 8 month period. The researcher may choose several publications in three categories of media and look how they cover several different issues -- the growth of HIV/AIDS rates amongst men who have sex with men (msms) in communities of color; hate crimes; community specific profiles (for example, coming out in gay Vietnamese American communities, the activism of gay Latino populations, etc); profiles (if any) of LGBT celebrities of color (for example, Esera Tuaolo) and/or the Christian coalition's alignment with conservative Christian groups. One or more combinations of the above would be acceptable, as long as the subtopics are aligned.

Media Coverage of LGBT People of Color (CP) One of the above listed issues may be addressed in comparing two different media over a more specified period of time.

Defamation and English Language Talk Radio (RI or CP, depending on breadth and depth of topic) The program or programs should be nationally syndicated or reach a broad regional listenership during peek hours, and have a known history/and-or/histories of defamation (in order that we may insure that the project will be worth our while). The researcher may engage in systematic listening to determine several of the following:

Disc Jockeys (type, style, attitude) Types of content (format, general)) Types of defamatory content (specific) Listener response (live) Socio-economic demographic that disc jockeys target

Listener response by fans (interviews or other methods) may also be considered as an option.

At the conclusion of the analysis the researcher should make recommendations to GLAAD regarding methods for effectively dealing with the content on the program(s) that were studied.

For more information on the GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society See-- http://www.glaad.org/programs/csms/index.php

http://www.glaad.org/programs/csms/initiatives.php

http://www.glaad.org/programs/csms/papers.php

Van Cagle, Ph.D. Director of Research & Analysis GLAAD Center for the Study of Media & Society 248 West 35th St 8th Floor New York, NY 10001 [email protected]

-- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

To report defamation in the media, to report breaking new of interest to the LGBT community, or to join GLAAD and receive the quarterly GLAAD Notes, contact GLAAD at 800-GAY-MEDIA, [email protected] or www.glaad.org.

"GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc. This publication may be freely distributed and reprinted in all forms of media under the condition that any text used carries the full attribution of "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)."