Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 09:01:19 -0700
From: glaad@glaad.org (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
Subject: PDFA AGREES TO RECALL AND RE-EDIT HOMOPHOBIC  PUBLIC SERVICE SPOT

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Alan Klein (212) 807-1700
Pager:  (800) 601-5483 (please include area code)
Email:  klein@glaad.org



PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA AGREES TO
 RECALL AND RE-EDIT HOMOPHOBIC  PUBLIC SERVICE SPOT

WIDESPREAD PUBLIC REACTION OF OUTRAGE PROMPTS CHANGE

NEW YORK CITY , JULY 12, 1996-The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) applauds a decision by Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA)
to re-edit and replace a public service announcement (PSA) that GLAAD
charged was patently homophobic.  In a letter delivered July 10 to GLAAD,
the PDFA announced that it would replace the existing PSA with an edited
version that eliminates portions seen as offensive to the lesbian and gay
community.

An effective national media campaign mounted by GLAAD, and the community
response it generated, prompted the PDFA to reconsider its position and
announce that it will pull and re-edit the PSA.  GLAAD had alerted
television networks and independent and affiliated stations nationwide of
the homophobic PSA with a media release on July 1 and sent thousands of
action alerts to community organizations worldwide via the Internet.

The anti-gay PSA, one of ten television ads in a campaign to end heroin
use, was distributed by the PDFA to the nation's top 50 media markets.  In
a letter to PDFA President and CEO Richard D. Bonnette on June 20, GLAAD
expressed concern that the ad had the potential to exacerbate
higher-than-average risks gay and lesbian youth face for substance abuse
and suicide by implying that being gay is worse than being addicted to
heroin.  According to GLAAD, the ad suggested that drug use ultimately
leads to sex with men, which was portrayed as a social ill more severe than
drug use and used homosexuality as a scare tactic to prevent drug use
amongst teens.

"We are pleased that the PDFA now agrees that a misguided and offensive
message to America's youth is nothing less than destructive," said William
Waybourn, GLAAD's managing director. "We applaud their decision to recall
and re-edit the homophobic PSA which certainly had the potential to derail
this crucial public service campaign."

Waybourn added, "GLAAD hopes that in the future the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America will be more sensitive to the lesbian and gay community
and that it will never again squander the opportunity to educate the
American public about the pressures endured by lesbian and gay adolescents
that place them at high risk for drug and alcohol abuse."

GLAAD is the nation's lesbian and gay news bureau and the only national
lesbian and gay media watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate,
and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based
on sexual orientation or identity.


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