GLAAD has been around for nearly 30 years, harnessing the power of the media to build support for LGBT equality. But our work would not be possible without the support of more than 100 corporate and foundation partners.
Since 2009, Southwest Airlines has been the official airline partner of the GLAAD’s signature events, including the GLAAD Media Awards and GLAAD Gala San Francisco. Southwest provides the roundtrip airfare for GLAAD's employees to attend numerous trainings and meetings. The support GLAAD receives from Southwest is crucial to ensuring that GLAAD remains the leader in changing hearts and minds in support of equality.
“Southwest literally brings GLAAD’s culture-changing work to cities across the nation, helping us to keep equality moving forward” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
In 2014, GLAAD attended more than 20 conferences across the country, we trained hundreds of advocates on how best to use the media as a tool to drive change, and we had numerous meetings with media outlets and people making a difference for equality. All this would not be possible without the generous support of Southwest Airlines.
Southwest stands behind the vast outreach GLAAD enjoys and the support provided significantly helps GLAAD to accomplish its mission. Visit Southwest's web site to learn more about their commitment to the LGBT community. Here are just a few examples of how Southwest helps bring GLAAD’s work to life.
January 2014
GLAAD spent several days at Creating Change, the largest annual skills-building event for the LGBT community and their allies, at which several GLAAD staff presented. Media Strategist Dani Heffernan hosted "Social Media: New Media Training Institute" and discussed GLAAD and SRLP’s transgender health care campaign, "Healthcare For All." Monica Trasandes and Janet Quedaza, from GLAAD's Spanish-Language Media team, presented "Telling your Story: Talking to Spanish-language press." Tiq Milan, Senior Media Strategist, spoke about violence against trans youth, and Ross Murray, Director of News, contributed to the panel, "The Psychology of Debunking LGBT Myths, Lies & Misinformation in the Media," in addition to collaborating with Believe Out Loud to present on ""LGBT Voices of Faith in the Media – YOURS."
March 2014
GLAAD sponsored and attended the second annual Trans 100 Event in Chicago, where GLAAD’s Tiq Milan was one of the recipients and presenters. Advocates from all over the country came together in celebration of the trans community's progress and to honor The Trans 100, a collection of individuals who have dedicated their work to creating change towards equality and acceptance of transgender people.
May 2014
GLAAD was on the ground in Seattle alongside Scouts for Equality, advocates Pascal Tessier and Geoff McGrath, and other local Scouts and equality supporters to deliver more than 100,000 petition signatures to Amazon, calling on the company to end its charitable support for the Boy Scouts of America.
June 2014
GLAAD was on the ground in Portland at the 3rd annual LGBT Sports Coalition summit, where more than 100 attendees built strategy to move equality forward in sports. The summit was followed by the 9th Annual Gay Games in August. Ross Murray joined the Gay Games communications team and met athletes, talked to reporters, and shared photos and updates of the action. Presented by the Cleveland Foundation, the Games were a huge success.
September 2014
GLAAD celebrated its long history and successful track record of advancing LGBT equality through the media during the inaugural GLAAD Gala San Francisco: Game Changers. During the gala, GLAAD introduced the Ric Weiland Award, a new honor for innovators who advance LGBT equality through tech and new media and enjoyed a night of incredible performances and inspiring speeches.
October 2014
A coalition of LGBT advocates and organizations, including GLAAD, met with Facebook to discuss a policy that required some Facebook users to present identification matching the name on their profile. During the meeting, Chris Cox, Chief Product Officer at Facebook apologized to affected members of the LGBT community and vowed to implement a solution that will make Facebook safer for LGBT users.
December 2014
GLAAD and Southwest Airlines partnered to end the year on a high note at the 17th Annual GLAAD Tidings. Guests in the Los Angeles area gathered together one last time before ringing in the New Year to reflect on GLAAD's amazing strides in 2014 and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting GLAAD in 2015.
