Non-Profits and Media Outlets

Non-profit organizations are forever strategizing how best to get their message before the public and media companies are always assessing the role they are able to play in supporting the communities they serve.

What do the two have in common? They both are trying to figure out how to serve their clients, and fine tune doing that successfully. The motivation may be different but the goals are, in broad strokes, the same. Lately, this common denominator has been on my mind.

Each year, Cable Positive hosts an awards ceremony that honors, in thirteen categories, those networks that provide outstanding HIV-related programming in the cable industry entitled The Positively Outstanding Programming (POP) Awards.

Through the Tony Cox Community Fund, Cable Positive provides grants to local AIDS Service Organizations who partner with their local cable system to use media as an advocacy and outreach tool.

There is no question that HIV/AIDS is still an epidemic. There is no question that media can play a role in helping to change the attitudes and behaviors of consumers. There is a question, at least in my mind, as to why media isn’t being used more, and more effectively, to address the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Although I see some exceptional examples, I am not seeing nearly as many as I would like to or think I could be seeing. I know that there are many reasons for this and it isn’t my intent to minimize the challenges that exist for both the non-profits and entertainment industry.

It would be my wish, as long as HIV and AIDS exist, that I have an office full of POP Award entries and media advocacy is second nature to all non-profits--regardless of size.

I may have a way to go before I get my wish but that is one of the most exciting elements of being part of the Cable Positive team—the belief that media can and is absolutely a force of change in this epidemic.

It is a fundamental core belief of mine that anyone can make a difference if they have the drive and opportunity. It is exciting to be part of an organization, and an industry, that not only encourages that drive but pushes you to continue to create those opportunities; opportunities that encourages and cultivates that drive in others.

Cable Positive’s Youth AIDS Media Institute is a perfect example of that but you will have to wait for my next entry to hear more on that.

Knocking Down Stereotypes, Just by Standing There

There are some people whose very lives—their very existence—are a victory, an affirmation of life, and a bold statement against simplistic stereotypes that harm all of us.

Regan Hofmann, Editor in Chief of POZ Magazine, is one of those people. Her fundamental honesty and compassion, and her bravery in living each day and tackling the tough issue of stigma toward HIV positive people serve as a profound profile in courage. Couple that with Regan’s keen understanding of the power of media—print and all forms of electronic media—to educate and inform people about the disease, and you can perhaps begin to see the enormous importance she plays in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Regan Hofmann is a key partner of Cable Positive’s. She has been HIV positive since 1996, and she stunned the Cable industry at the Cable Positive Annual Benefit on March 4, simply by acting as our host for the evening and speaking passionately about her status as an HIV positive person.

The power of Regan’s presence as an HIV positive HIV/AIDS activist and educator, is not only in the fact that she is “living with, living with, not dying from the disease.” It is also who Regan is. She is a young, soft-spoken, heterosexual white woman, striking in her appearance and composure that smashes every single stereotype that many want to believe about people with AIDS. She is a Board Member of the National Association of People with AIDS, a Board Member of the Names Project, has appeared on “Oprah”, is a part of Kenneth Cole’s new media campaign to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, and appeared, along with Gloria Reuben, in Cable Positive new documentary “Positive Voices: Women & HIV,” which has aired on Showtime Networks, and is being requested by hundreds of AIDS organizations across the country.

Just by standing before a large audience, or appearing on television, or writing in the pages of her beloved POZ Magazine, Regan Hofmann is a force for change because she is living evidence that HIV is not a “gay” disease or a “black” disease, or a “third-world” disease, but a matter for the entire human family to face.

She told the Cable industry leaders attending the Cable Positive Power Awards two weeks ago that “by openly discussing HIV, you de-stigmatize what is nothing more than a retrovirus; when we can see AIDS, and talk about it, we can heal people, and prevent others from getting it.” And this brave leader, activist & AIDS educator had high praise for the corporate social responsibility practiced by the Cable industry in this fight: “Your incredible efforts move us ever closer to the day when we will celebrate not only the power and the passion of this brave industry, but also one day, maybe, the end of AIDS.”

Powerful words from a courageous person whose sheer presence makes an astounding statement against the stigma surrounding people who are “living with” this disease.

Sex & Sexuality

In the midst of a red-hot & historic Democratic Presidential primary campaign there are very few things that could knock Candidates Clinton & Obama out of the top-story position on local and national news programs. Few things, that is, except sex & sexuality.

With New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigning this week because he allegedly purchased sex from women through a high-priced prostitution ring, New York’s tabloid newspapers had a field day and titillation topped every hour on TV. Cable and broadcast news stations jumped at the chance to delve into this deliciously devilish development, pulling out lawyers, sex doctors and even the ex-wives of former politicians from their closet of props.

Probably the most egregious example of over-reaching in an effort to show some empathy for Eliot Spitzer’s shocked and sorrowful spouse Silda, was a decision by CNN and NBC—as well as other news organizations—to make Deena McGreevey, the ex-wife of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, the poster child for spurned spouses.

Comparing the still-unfolding Spitzer situation to the McGreevey resignation is a complete failure on the part of each news organization to separate the most important facts of each case, in the stampede to their studios to find a sympathetic ex-spouse. In the Spitzer case, New York’s governor is alleged to have—over a period of 10 years at a cost of some $80,000—purchased sex from women through a prostitution ring, with some of the transactions occurring as interstate commerce. Additionally, his secretive method of payments have raised prosecutorial and banking questions alike, and he may have used state resources to travel to and from his liaisons.

McGreevey’s case was not about sex for hire through an illegal prostitution ring, but about a same-sex orientation which he could no longer hide. Granted, McGreevey—like Spitzer—may have used state vehicles or expenses to help facilitate his dates, and he found a job for his alleged lover on the New Jersey State payroll. While McGreevey’s judgement may have been bad, he did not act illegally. By lazily lumping his case in with Spitzer’s, news organizations—wittingly or not—equated his actions with Spitzer’s, and by association, put homosexuality on the same page as prostitution, which not-so-subtly stamps same-sex love as something illicit.

That kind of stigmatizing of same-sex relationships and of gays—in the same breath with prostitutes—has life and death consequences, as this year’s 10^th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s murder shows us all too clearly. As if to underscore the danger, just this week an Oklahoma State Representative told a political group that “the gay community posed a bigger threat than either terrorism or Islam.”

I am not a fan of Jim McGreevey’s. I think his marriage to his second wife, Deena—after he already knew he was gay-- was a cruel hoax upon her, calculated to protect his political career at her expense, and at the expense of the truth of who he was. Gay Americans have a much richer list of heroes, including Harvey Milk, David Mixner, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Terrance McNally, Elton John and Cole Porter, among thousands of others in towns and communities around the world.

Gay celebrities and artists like Tony Kushner, B.D. Wong, Nathan Lane, Isaac Mizrachi, & Carson Kressley have courageously and generously donated their time and talent to Cable Positive to do messages of HIV/AIDS education and awareness seen in more than 80 million households. And, fearless Cable industry leaders like Logo’s President Brian Graden, being honored by GLAAD next week, and Here tv! Regent Entertainment President/CEO Paul Colichman, make enormous contributions to the lives of members of the GLBT community each hour of every day through the pioneering programming their networks provide.

In fighting stigma and prejudice aimed squarely at the gay community, news organizations, networks and cable systems have a lot more work to do, much more carefully and consistently than its been done.

An excerpt from my 2008 Power Awards speech:

THIS IS QUITE AN HISTORIC NIGHT—NOT JUST HERE, BUT AROUND THE COUNTRY. RIGHT NOW, IN TEXAS AND OHIO, PEOPLE ARE POURING OUT TO THE POLLS TO MAKE HISTORY IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR—THE AIR IS POSITIVELY CRACKLING WITH UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES.

BUT, 75 YEARS AGO TONIGHT—MARCH 4, 1933—THERE WAS ANOTHER STARKER, DARKER POSSIBILITY IN THE AIR, AND A LEADER WHO CONQUERED A PHYSICAL DISABILITY ADDRESSED THAT FEAR:

“WE NOW REALIZE,” FDR SAID, “ AS WE HAVE NEVER BEFORE, OUR INTERDEPENDENCE ON EACH OTHER; THAT WE CANNOT MERELY TAKE, BUT WE MUST GIVE AS WELL.”

FAST FORWARD FROM FDR TO OUR DVRS, TO DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, SIX WEEKS AGO—THE SONG & THE SINGER ARE DIFFERENT, BUT THE MELODY LINGERS ON:

“AS I SEE IT” SAID BILL GATES, HELENE GAYLE’S FORMER COLLEAGUE, “THERE ARE 2 GREAT FORCES OF HUMAN NATURE: SELF INTEREST & CARING FOR OTHERS. I LIKE TO CALL THIS NEW SYSTEM CREATIVE CAPITALISM,” HE CONTINUED, “WHERE GOVERNMENTS, BUSINESS & NON-PROFITS WORK TOGETHER TO STRETCH THE REACH OF MARKET FORCES, SO THAT MORE PEOPLE CAN MAKE A PROFIT, OR GAIN RECOGNITION DOING WORK THAT EASES THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES.”

SIXTEEN YEARS EARLIER, CABLE POSITIVE FOUNDER JEFF BERNSTEIN—WHO IS NOW USING HIS E-BAY MARKETING COMPANY TO RAISE MONEY & AWARENESS FOR OUR CAUSE—JOINED WITH A HANDFUL OF CABLE INDUSTRY COLLEAGUES, TO MARRY THOSE TWO GREAT FORCES OF HUMAN NATURE: SELF INTEREST & CARING FOR OTHERS, AND MOBILIZE THE POWER, REACH, CREATIVITY & TALENT OF THIS INFLUENTIAL INDUSTRY TO “EASE THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES” AND FIGHT HIV/AIDS.

ONE BILLION DOLLARS OF PRO-BONO AIRTIME LATER—AND $20 MILLION DOLLARS OF DONATIONS THAT HAVE TOUCHED THOUSANDS OF LIVES—INCLUDING SOME 275 AIDS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS IN 40 STATES---AND, AS RECENTLY AS YESTERDAY 3 MORE IN SOUTH AFRICA—THE COLLECTIVE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF CABLE POSITIVE STANDS AS A MODEL FOR INDUSTRIES AROUND THE WORLD TO USE THEIR POWER FOR GOOD.

IN OUR LIFETIMES, WE HAVE BEEN GRACED WITH—AND GRIEVED OVER—FRIENDS & FAMILY & COLLEAGUES WHOSE EVERY BREATH WAS INFUSED WITH THIS INTUITION—OF USING THEIR POWER FOR GOOD. IN HIS BOOK, “DAYS OF GRACE” ARTHUR ASHE DESCRIBES A LETTER WRITTEN TO HIM BY A 5^TH GRADER, WHO, AFTER READING OF FDR’S MARCH OF DIMESCAMPAIGN TO FIGHT POLIO, ASKS ASHE—LOCKED IN THE MATCH OF HIS LIFE WITH AIDS:

“CAN YOU FIND A WAY TO ASK ALL AMERICANS TO SEND A DOLLAR BILL TO FIGHT AIDS, AND WE COULD CALL IT THE MARCH OF DOLLARS?”

IT IS A STORY—A CHALLENGE, REALLY—OF PROFOUND SIGNIFICANCE TO ME, SINCE MY MOTHER—WHO PASSED AWAY JUST ELEVEN WEEKS AGO--LIVED WITH POLIO & PARALYSIS FOR 92 YEARS. SHE PERSONIFIED WHAT JONATHAN LARSEN MEANT WHEN HE WROTE THE LYRICAL LESSON IN THE MUSICAL “RENT” OF SOMEONE—“LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, NOT DYING FROM DISEASE,” EVEN THOUGH THE DISEASE HE WROTE ABOUT WAS AIDS, NOT POLIO. THAT DID NOT MATTER—MY MOTHER SAW NO DIFFERENCE—IT WAS THE WILL TO LIVE, TO NEVER GIVE UP OR GIVE IN OR GIVE OUT-- TO USE YOUR GIFTS TO HELP OTHERS, THAT GAVE YOUR LIFE MEANING.

I THINK BACK TO WATCHING AN HBO MOVIE WITH HER ABOUT FDR’S STRUGGLE WITH POLIO. SHE SAT IN HER WHEELCHAIR, AS SHE WATCHED HIM HIDE THE EXISTENCE OF HIS, AND SHE REMEMBERED BEING KEPT OUT OF THE PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, WHERE SHE WAS BORN, BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE AFRAID THEY MIGHT “CATCH” THE POLIO VIRUS. “JUST LIKE AIDS,” SHE SAID. “JUST LIKE AIDS.” SO WHAT DID SHE DO? SHE TAUGHT HERSELF TO SWIM IN THE OCEAN, AND RAISED FOUR CHILDREN WITH HER ONE “GOOD” ARM---“LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH, NOT DYING FROM DISEASE,” LIKE MANY, MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE TOUCHED US ACUTELY— LIKE PAST CABLE POSITIVE HONOREE JIM ROBBINS AND FRED DRESSLER, WHOM WE’LL NEVER LOSE AS LONG AS WE HONOR THE WAY THEY LIVED, AND CARED AND LOVED.

I AM REMINDED OF A LITTLE KNOWN SPEECH DELIVERED BY ANOTHER OF MY HEROES, 40 YEARS AGO LAST MONTH, TO THE VERY DAY:

“ IF ANY OF YOU ARE AROUND WHEN I HAVE TO MEET MY DAY, I DON’T WANT A LONG FUNERAL,” HE SAID. “I’D LIKE FOR SOMEONE TO MENTION THAT DAY, THAT I TRIED TO GIVE MY LIFE SERVING OTHERS; THAT I TRIED TO LOVE SOMEBODY.”

“YES, IF YOU WANT TO SAY THAT I WAS A DRUM MAJOR, SAY THAT I WAS A DRUM MAJOR FOR JUSTICE—A DRUM MAJOR FOR PEACE. ALL OF THE OTHER SHALLOW THINGS WILL NOT MATTER. I WON’T HAVE ANY MONEY TO LEAVE BEHIND. I WON’T HAVE THE FINE & LUXURIOUS THINGS OF LIFE TO LEAVE BEHIND.”

“BUT,” SAID DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., “I JUST WANT TO LEAVE A COMMITTED LIFE BEHIND.”

A COMMITTED LIFE------THAT IS THE KIND OF POWER & PASSION THAT DRIVES CABLE POSITIVE, AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM TONIGHT.

OUR THREE HONOREES EXEMPLIFY THIS ETHIC, THESE GOOD LIVES OF ACTION, AND TEACH US HOW WE ARE ALL “LIVING WITH, LIVING WITH—NOT DYING FROM THIS DISEASE,” AND HOW, TOGETHER, LIKE FDR & BILL GATES & DR. KRIM & DR. KING, AND YES, EVEN A LITTLE, WHEELCHAIR BOUND ITALIAN WOMAN LIKE MARGARET JULIA VILLANO—HOW WE CAN ALL MAKE THIS LIFE MUCH BETTER.

THAT POWER, THAT STRENGTH, THAT PASSION TO “EASE THE WORLD’S INEQUITIES” IS IN EACH OF US. WE JUST HAVE TO USE IT.