Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 21:22:02 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: Gay.com and GLAAD Celebrate Gay History Month Gay.com and GLAAD Celebrate Gay History Month Gay Web Profiles Highlight GLBT Individuality and Contributions San Francisco (September 30) - Gay History Month begins Friday, October 1 with a new and stimulating look this year - starting each day with familiar, and not-so-familiar, gay faces from our past and present. The remarkable stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people will be presented on-line in a special, month-long celebration sponsored by Gay.com and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). To visit the site and read the daily profiles, the web address is www.gay.com. Each profile will be easily accessible through a link on the Gay.com home page promoting "GLBT History Month," and with links to GLAAD's homepage. Starting with Sappho on Friday, October 1 and finishing with Edith Head - with Barney Frank, Bayard Ruskin and Eleanor Roosevelt, among others, in between -- visitors to the popular Gay.com website will learn about and enjoy glimpses of many of the world's most interesting, accomplished and notable GLBT individuals. Each of the brief profiles includes an engaging thumbnail bio and image of the individual, while often recommending links for more background and biographical detail. [A complete list of Gay History profiles is provided below.] "Our on-line community is foremost about people," said Mark Elderkin, co-founder of Gay.com and President of Online Partners, which developed the Gay.com Network. "Our mission is to touch lives, and that includes connecting with our heroes, icons, and role models. The Internet offers global education, and makes our invisible history visible - and very real. We've developed these portraits as a special salute to GLAAD in its mission to make gay history accessible to all." Joan M. Garry, Executive Director of GLAAD, added, "Our history as a community is one of our most valuable - and often unknown - resources. GLAAD believes Gay History Month will serve as an educational platform to speak honestly and engagingly to anyone interested in knowing more about us. Joining with Gay.com is a great way to share these life stories with millions." How did Gay.com ever choose 31 individuals from hundreds of possibilities? It's never easy. Beginning with nearly unlimited choices, the producers of Gay.com narrowed their list to 200 potential biographies - and balancing dozens of characteristics and considerations, the final 31 notables were painstakingly compiled. Elderkin confessed that "no list will ever be perfect," but Gay.com did not aim for a "perfect" list - just one that accurately reflects gay lives. "If we do our jobs right," Elderkin concluded, "every day, we will start at least one person thinking about the ways that gay people have improved lives, shaped thought and even changed the world. That is a lasting contribution." About Online Partners and Gay.com Online Partners develops and manages targeted online communities with significant e-commerce potential. Its first global property -- the Gay.com Network -- is a major online community serving gays and lesbians, hosting over 3.5 million hours of connection time each month with over 7 million visits each month. Online Partners is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. The Gay.com Network includes Gay.com, Gay.net and onQ on AOL. It provides a mix of online and offline products and services to consumers and advertisers. In support of this, the Gay.com Network has forged partnerships with Internet leaders such as AOL, CommTouch, DoubleClick, LookSmart, and Volano; and leading gay content providers, including The Advocate, Genre, Girlfriends, Hero, Lesbian News, Rainbow Query, GAYBC Radio Network, Ferrari Travel, and over 70 influential gay and lesbian newspapers worldwide. About GLAAD GLAAD is a national organization dedicated to promoting fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and identity. GLAAD has offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Kansas City and Washington, D.C., and may be found on the web at www.glaad.org. Gay.com Gay History Month Profiles October 1 Sappho October 2 Gianni Versace October 3 k.d. lang October 4 Rock Hudson October 5 Dana International October 6 Barney Frank October 7 Sandra Bernhard October 8 Walt Whitman October 9 Ann Bannon October 10 Ian McKellen October 11 Harvey Milk October 12 George Michael October 13 James Baldwin October 14 Eleanor Roosevelt October 15 RuPaul October 16 Ani DiFranco October 17 Billy Tipton October 18 Martina Navratilova October 19 Mel White October 20 Willa Cather October 21 Oscar Wilde October 22 Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas October 23 Peter Tchaikovsky October 24 Ellen DeGeneres October 25 Pedro Zamora October 26 Lorraine Hansberry October 27 Jean Cocteau October 28 Rudolph Nureyev October 29 Joan Jett October 30 Bayard Ruskin October 31 Edith Head CONTACTS: Online Partners.com, Inc. John Finco 415-252-6700 x222 John@onlinepartners.com WITECK · COMBS COMMUNICATIONS Bob Witeck 202-887-0500 x 19 Bwiteck@witeckcombs.com Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Stephen Spurgeon 323-658-6775 spurgeon@glaad.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA - Call GLAAD's Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online. TO JOIN GLAAD AND RECEIVE GLAAD's QUARTERLY GLAADNOTES MAGAZINE, call 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or join on the Web today at www.glaad.org/glaad/join/join-about.html TO SUBSCRIBE TO GLAAD-Net, GLAAD's electronic mailing list, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Subscribe GLAAD-Net" (without the quotation marks). Make sure that you turn off all signatures and extraneous text. TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Unsubscribe GLAAD-Net" (without the quotation marks). Make sure that you turn off all signatures and extraneous text. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in the media as a means of combating homophobia and challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.