In 1994, NLGJA began a dialogue with media organizations on the costs and benefits of extending domestic partner benefits to LGBT journalists. At the time the group published its first brochure on the issue, approximately 100 employers in the United States were on board. But as NLGJA founder Leroy Aarons predicted in the resource’s opening paragraph, the coming years would bring sweeping changes to the climate of the nation’s newsrooms.
Now, more than a decade after NLGJA began that campaign, nearly every major media company offers domestic benefits to its LGBT employees, embracing the notion that fairness means more than just good coverage.
But NLGJA still has plenty of work to do in 2005. In addition to reinvigorating its efforts to bring the remaining domestic partner benefits holdouts to the table, NLGJA has launched a brand new initiative that will focus the media industry’s attention on the "T" in LGBT.
Called "A Newsroom for Everyone: NLGJA's Campaign to Protect Gender Identity & Expression," this new initiative will further ensure that newsrooms are open places for all journalists. By lobbying for the inclusion of gender identity and expression in non-discrimination policies, the Newsroom for Everyone Campaign will aim to improve newsroom conditions for transgender and all other employees by prohibiting gender-based stereotyping and harassment and strengthening employers’ commitment to diversity.
The reason for this campaign is simple: With no federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression, the newsroom can be an uncertain place for transgender journalists. Transitioning and even coming out can often jeopardize their relationships with coworkers and management. The result can be an isolating experience where transgender employees avoid coming out, fearing that to do so could cost them their jobs.
The seeds for this campaign were planted in late 2003 when The New York Times Company became the first news organization to clearly implement a policy prohibiting discrimination against transgender employees by negotiating such protections in its contract with The Newspaper Guild/C.W.A., and then by amending its human resource policies last spring to include "gender identity or expression." The effects of this landmark change were felt beyond the Times itself, as the policy also covered workers at The International Herald-Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Worcester Telegram, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, as well as 14 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two radio stations and 40 websites. Anti-discrimination protection was subsequently negotiated in The Globe’s contract with the Guild.
Thus far, though, The New York Times Company has been the only mainstream news organization to add protections for gender identity and expression to its diversity statement.
Building on the model used in NLGJA’s groundbreaking domestic partner benefits work, the Newsroom for Everyone Campaign represents the next step in opening newsroom doors wider. Gender discrimination and stereotyping hurts all journalists. This new initiative is core to NLGJA’s mission and consistent with the organization's longstanding effort to ensure that both newsrooms and news coverage are free from bias.
Things are off to a strong start, but we need your help to make the Newsroom for Everyone Campaign a reality. Would you willing to talk to your employer or help us reach out to other media companies? Do you know transgender employees at your workplace who might be willing to get involved? And if you are a transgender journalist yourself, we would like to hear about your experiences on the job. Please contact NLGJA Deputy Executive Director Tom Avila at tavila@nlgja.org or 202-588-9888, ext. 17.
