From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 19:10:08 EST
Subject: GLAAD board: Community feedback requested


[Dear Friends,
It seems as rare as snow in San Francisco, but a 'community based' queer group
is finally opening part of its board of directors meeting to the queer public
and gay press.  
I am not aware of a public comment policy for the boards of HRC, NGLTF and
Lambda Legal, but after prodding and poking GLAAD into communicating with
queers upset over their acceptance of $110,000 from the Coors company, GLAAD
has agreed to a small amount of dialogue.  Frankly, while I applaud GLAAD's
ability to adopt democratic principles for a single board meeting, I think it
a blot of shame on our g/l/b/t groups that they do not provide for public
comment, scrutiny from the gay press nor actively invite grassroots folks to
communicate with the boards.  Also, though it is only three days before the
GLAAD meeting, the following announcement should have been earlier, captured
in full from GLAAD's web site, it is good development that they are asking the
public to come to their meeting.  However, it's odd to realize GLAAD just
merged with Digital Queers and collectively they couldn't get a posting to
their site, or broadcast it via the web, until now.
I hope all future GLAAD board meetings will also have time set aside to for
public comment, with reporters present.  You can reach GLAAD on the phone at
800-GAY-MEDIA.  --Michael Petrelis]
 

Community Feedback Requested

The Co-chairs of GLAAD's Board of Directors are pleased to announce 
that, in response to community input, a portion of the upcoming meeting 
of the board will be dedicated to hearing from members of the lesbian, 
gay, bisexual and transgender community. If you are interested in 
speaking with the members of our Board, please contact Fabrizio Almeida 
at almeida@glaad.org so that necessary scheduling arrangements can be 
made. 

Comments should be focused on issues relevant to GLAAD's work. 
Participants are asked to limit their comments to two minutes in length 
in order to allow a diverse set of voices to be heard. Comments may also 
be submitted by e-mail to the address listed above. 

GLAAD's Board of Directors is meeting on Saturday, January 16th at the 
Le Montrose Hotel located at 900 Hammond Street (between Sunset and 
Santa Monica Boulevards) in West Hollywood, California. (Need 
Directions? -- MapQuest can give you door to door driving directions!) 

The public comments period will begin at 4:45 pm. 

>end<