The Power & Pride of 40 YEARS OF LGBTQ+ MILESTONES! Pop Culture

FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY 1985 MARKED A MAJOR TURNING POINT. THE LAUNCH OF THE GROUNDBREAKING ORGANIZATION GLAAD HELPED PUSH QUEER CULTURE OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO CLEARER FOCUS. THIS PRIDE MONTH, PEOPLE CELEBRATES SOME OF THE KEY MOMENTS OF THE PAST FOUR DECADES

- VICTORIA EDEL, JEREMY HELLIGAR, LIZZIE HYMAN, LIZ MCNEIL, JEFF NELSON, LIZZ SCHUMER, JASON SHEELER, JACK SMART and BRIANNE TRACY

In 1985 a group of New Yorkers was dissatisfied with how the media was covering the AIDS crisis. With that pivotal acknowledgment of the threat of misinformation in the LGBTQ+ community and the media’s potential to be a positive influence, they founded the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Now, 40 years later, GLAAD and the media have taken many steps forward.

“Ellen’s coming-out, Will & Grace—those were tectonic shifts in the acceptance of LGBTQ people that were done through TV, bringing our stories into people’s homes,” says GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. The organization worked behind the scenes with Hollywood to make sure LGBTQ+ representation onscreen was fair and accurate. “Tom Hanks in Philadelphia—a straight actor who was willing to move into that space was a huge moment,” Ellis says. “So was Laverne Cox on the cover of Time.” GLAAD was there, advocating for representation onscreen and in the real world—in bookstores, video stores and even the Yellow Pages, where they pushed for LGBTQ+ sections.

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