The Battle Over Marriage: Gay Rights Activism Through the Media (31 page)

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (founded 1973), national LGBT rights organization, New York, NY.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (founded 1972), national LGBT family/ally advocacy group, Washington, D.C.

Victory Fund (founded 1991), national electoral fund-raising/campaign group supporting out LGBT political candidates, Washington, D.C.

Activists Interviewed

Barron, Christopher. National political director, Log Cabin Republicans. In-person interview, October 2005.

Bashir, Samiya. Communications director, Freedom to Marry. In-person interview, January 2006.

Brown, Elizabeth. Director of policy and programs, PFLAG. In-person interview, June 2010.

Chrisler, Jennifer. Executive director, Family Equality Council. Phone interview, August 2010.

Cole, Michael. Communications coordinator, later press secretary, Human Rights Campaign. In-person interviews, October 2005; June 2010.

Cunningham, Carisa. Director of public affairs and education, GLAD. In-person interviews, November 2005; August 2010.

Dison, Denis. Vice president of communications, Victory Fund. In-person interview, s

June 2010.

n

Hohl, James. Board member, Marriage Equality New York. In-person interview, May 2010.

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appendix

Isaacson, Arline. Co-chair, Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Caucus. In-person interview, October 2005.

Jacques, Cheryl. Former president (2004), Human Rights Campaign; founder, Cheryl Jacques.org (2005-present). In-person interviews, October 2005; August 2010.

Kendall, Kate. Executive director, National Center for Lesbian Rights. In-person interview, January 2011.

Kilbourn, Seth. Vice president for the Marriage Project, Human Rights Campaign. In-person interview, October 2005.

Kotulski, Davina. Executive director, Marriage Equality USA. In-person interview, November 2005; January 2011.

McKay, Molly. Former co-director, Marriage Equality California; former Media Director, Marriage Equality USA. In-person interview, January 2011.

Raja, Vaishalee. Communications director, Equality California. Phone interview, January 2011.

Rosendale, Rick. Vice president of political affairs, GLAA. In-person interview, June 2010.

Sammon, Patrick. Former president (2006–2009), Log Cabin Republicans. In-person interview, June 2010.

Sklar, Roberta. Director of communications, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In-person interview, January 2006.

St. John, Mark. Spokesperson, Indiana Equality. In-person interview, November 2005.

Note: I also interviewed four informants who wished to keep their identities anonymous. Their perspectives appear under the pseudonyms Marissa

Cogan, Jessica Halstead, Julie Ladd, and Dana Robertson.

Interview Guide

I. Issue Evolution

A. We’ve certainly seen a great deal of legal and political activity on the issue of same-sex marriage [since we’ve spoken last, and/or over the past several years].

B. [If participant needs prompts or clarifications, in the past 8 months 5

states have made moves to legalize same-sex marriage;
Newsweek
magazine recently reported a “gay marriage surge” in growing public support

for gay marriage; alongside setbacks in California and Maine in which

voters overturned gay marriage rights in those states.]

C. What do you make of this recent activity? Do you define these movements as largely progress, or as setbacks, or as both? Can you explain why? [or, if previously interviewed in 2005, a good way to open: We last sat down together in 2005 to discuss the same-sex marriage issue. What has changed

in the last 5 years, in your mind?]

s

D. What are your thoughts on why the issue of same-sex marriage continues n

to be such a hot-button issue?

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Studying Gay Marriage in the Media

147

II. Goals

A. What would you define as the major goals of your organization? How

does the struggle for same-sex-marriage rights fit in?

—or—

B. Same-sex marriage has been an issue of concern for your organization for some time. How would you rank same-sex-marriage rights among the

goals of your organization (e.g., a top priority, secondary to other goals, etc.)? Would you say your emphasis or focus on same-sex-marriage rights

has altered over the last five years (say, since the 2004 election, since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize marriage for gay couples)? If so, how?

1. [if remained a priority]: Why has marriage remained an important goal of your organization? Why should it be something the LGBT community fights for? What is at stake?

2. [if lessened as a priority]: What were the reasons for this reshuffling of priorities? Why has same-sex marriage diminished in its importance

for your organization?

3. [If the first time you have interviewed the respondent/organization, you might also ask]:

At what point did same-sex marriage become an active goal of your or-

ganization? (or has it always been?) Can you tell me what was the process involved in defining marriage as a goal? How did you come to decide it

was an important goal for your organization?

III. Media Strategies

A. Let’s discuss media coverage of the same-sex-marriage issue, and of LGBT

issues more broadly.

B. You were contacted for this study because you or your organization has been cited as a source in a prominent, national news story. Tell me a bit of what that process is like. Do you actively seek media coverage, or have you been contacted directly by journalists or reporters, or both? (Get at specifics . . . Can you tell me about the last encounter you had with a journalist? Walk me through that experience.)

C. Most of the calls you field from reporters, do they concern the same-sex-marriage issue? Or a variety of issues? What is the breakdown?

D. What have been some of the ways you have advocated for same-sex-mar-

riage rights in the media? Have your strategies been mostly focused on

the local level, or national?

E. Have your strategies changed over the last five years? [specific prompts: Can you tell me about that particular brochure/press release/website/

story, walk me through that staged event/protest?]

F. On this issue of same-sex marriage, what is it that you want the American s

public (or global community, depending) to know or understand?

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appendix

G. What has been the major story or stories you have tried to tell? What are the ways in which you tried to tell this story? What stories have you tried to tell about the lives of the LGBT community more broadly?

H. What have been some of the challenges you have faced in trying to communicate with journalists/reporters/media organizations on this issue?

I. What media strategies have been most effective? Which ones have been least effective?

IV. Media Representation and Evaluation

A. Do you or your organization track media coverage of the same-sex-

marriage issue? What changes or similarities have you noted, comparative to previous coverage (in 2004, surrounding Massachusetts, etc.)? Has the

“debate” or controversy in the mainstream media remained consistent, or

do you see changes or shifts?

B. Discuss specific examples: for example, in the past two years,
Newsweek
magazine has run two different gay marriage stories as their cover, one

titled “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage,” the other “The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage.” What do you make of this coverage?

C. I’m evaluating mainstream media coverage from 2008 to 2010 (stories

that have appeared in national newspapers like
USA Today
and the
New
York Times
, major magazine coverage in
Time
and
Newsweek
, and television news broadcasts like the
NBC Nightly News
and
60 Minutes
). Has the media largely gotten this story right? What’s missing, if anything?

D. In the news media, how do you think your community has been covered?

V. Issue and Organizational Changes

A. How do you explain or make sense of what seems to be some pretty contradictory impulses regarding the same-sex-marriage issue (as in, many states making moves to legalize but voters blocking when put on the bal ot)?

B. Do you feel that you are closer to your marriage goals than you were five years ago, or further from them?

C. What does the future hold for same-sex-marriage rights, and for gay

rights more generally?

D. How would you respond to members of your community who argue that

there are more pressing issues than marriage?

VI. In Closing

A. Do you have any questions for me?

B. Can I call you if I need clarification on any of these points?

C. Would you like to see a copy of the transcript when it is ready?

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Notes

Chapter 1. Gay Marriage in an Era of Media Visibility

1. In the interest of readability, I use imperfect terms to refer to the issue of marriage equality for same-sex couples (phrases like “gay marriage” or “same-sex marriage”). I also take the liberty of using somewhat flawed and overly broad phrases to refer to a diverse identity category like “the gay and lesbian community,” or “LGBTQ issues.” Synonyms like “activists,” “groups,” and “organizations” are used to refer to a wide range of gay rights organizations that informed this study.

Chapter 3. “The Marrying Kind”

1. The focus of my analysis here is from June 2003 (beginning with the
Lawrence
decision) continuing through January 2005 (capturing the aftermath of the 2004 ballot initiatives) in order to investigate how mainstream news media represented the events that propelled gay marriage into the cultural-political arena. This 17-month time period captures the major legal and political developments that pushed same-sex marriage to the top of the media and public agendas.

2. Racial diversity is important in LGBT representations, and as the following chapters show, activists were concerned that the only people of color who appeared in gay marriage stories were “attached to” or coupled with a white person.

Chapter 4. Gay Marriage Goes Prime-Time

1. A portion of the quantitative analysis from this chapter appeared in Moscowitz (2010),

“Gay marriage in television news: Voice and visual representation in the same-sex marriage debate,”
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
, 54(1): 24–39; available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08838150903550360
.

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notes

Chapter 5. Speaking Out

1. The Lexis-Nexis database was used to retrieve articles from national print news magazines and national evening television news broadcast transcripts that included the phrase “gay marriage” or “same-sex marriage” anywhere in the text of the story. The time frame selected for analysis includes January 1, 2008, through March 15, 2010, capturing the major contemporary developments from this time period.

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