TODAY'S SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, AUG. 23

Breakfast
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
11:00AM-12:15AM

Lunch Plenary
12:30PM-2:00PM

Breakout Sessions
2:15PM-3:30PM

Closing Session
3:45PM-5:15PM

Authors' Café
3:45PM-5:45PM

Not-So-Silent Auction
6:45PM-8:45PM

View the full schedule here

TODAY'S WEATHER

WHAT IS NLGJA?

Find out more about NLGJA at the official website.

MENTORS

A big thanks to our mentors:

Brett Zongker
The Associated Press

Caroline K. Hauser
The Washington Post

Mark S. Luckie
Entertainment Weekly

Larry M. Shaw
ABC

Dennis M. Powell
ABC

Doug Mitchell
NPR

Diversifying LGBT news means more than reporting the 'exotic'

by Frank Lin

A Southern Voice article about a black, intersex police officer in Atlanta and a Washington Blade story about "party bisexuals" were among the controversial pieces journalists cited during "Diversifying LGBT Newsrooms," one of two breakout sessions that kicked off NLGJA's fifth annual LGBT Media Summit.

"I think there's a perception among some journalists that anything LGBT-related has to be 'exotic,'" said panelist Matthew Leung, a student at Vassar. "Treat LGBT stories like any other story. It shouldn't be about trying to fill a quota."

The paint-by-numbers approach to inserting diversity into news stories extends into LGBT publications as well.

In 2006, Joshua Lynsen wrote "'Party bisexual' phenom draws mixed reviews" for the Washington Blade, an article about men and women who acted out "bisexual urges while under the influence of alcohol or drugs."

"It was intended to help increase coverage about the bisexual community,'" Lynsen said. "The response I got was, 'Well, great! This is the one bisexual story we're going to see in the Blade all year, and it's about party bisexuals. Thanks!' "

Lynsen has since contributed several stories for the Blade about bisexuals, including an article that explored the unique challenges of coming out as bisexual.

"I challenge everyone in this room to pitch one story this year about a transsexual issue. Pitch one story this year about a bisexual issue," Lynsen told the audience in his concluding remarks. "If you're thinking to yourself, 'But I really don't know enough about those two topics,' well, your job is to get out there and learn something."

Readers also want to be challenged, said Laura Brown, an editor for Southern Voice, an LGBT newspaper based in Atlanta.

"A lot of people think that audiences just want to read stories about people like themselves," Brown said. "But, really, audiences like to be challenged. They learn the most from reading about people completely different from themselves."

One of Southern Voice's most popular and provocative pieces this year was "Bold Stand," which told the story of Darlene Harris, a black, lesbian police officer who learned at 35 that she was chromosomally intersex.

"It was a story of personal courage, and it gave us an opportunity to talk about these issues that we hadn't really covered before," Brown said. "Would there be an appeal to the guy who's coming out of a bar at night and who picks up our newspaper? Absolutely, because it was such a compelling human story."

Diversity is achieved when journalists fulfill their obligations to step out of their comfort zones and explore topics that challenge, not reinforce, their preconceived notions, according to panelist Mashaun D. Simon, a freelance writer. Leung, the youngest journalist on the panel, agreed.

"There's a lot of pressure in the mainstream gay community to conform to a certain image," said Leung, recipient of this year's Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship. "Most people don't know I'm gay, and because I don't fit into that mainstream image, it can be an obstacle. Working through these challenges is part of what it means to advance as a journalist."