Gay USA | |
---|---|
Genre | News program |
Presented by | Andy Humm Ann Northrop |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Bill Bahlman Andy Humm Ann Northrop |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Manhattan Neighborhood Network Free Speech TV |
Release | 1985 – present |
Related | |
Pride and Progress |
Gay USA is a weekly one-hour news program "...devoted to in-depth coverage of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues" [1] on a local, state, national, and international level. It is taped in the studios of, and aired by, Manhattan Neighborhood Network in Manhattan, New York. [2] It airs on Manhattan Public-access television cable TV and Free Speech TV, and is available worldwide as a podcast at the show's website or to subscribe via iTunes.
Typically, Gay USA begins with a quick introduction by hosts Andy Humm and Ann Northrop then moves into news segments as viewed from the gay perspective. Regular segments include gay news, AIDS news, and entertainment news. The anchors refer to notes kept in front of them on the table during this portion of the show. Hosts Humm and Northrop often interject their news delivery with accounts of personal experiences and "...light, snappy repartee and good-natured verbal sparring and banter." [2] Following the news topics of the week, guests are interviewed and/or videos clips are presented for the second half of the show. Bill Bahlman, Associate Producer of Gay USA posts a weekly Podcast edition of the show which is available on iTunes and from the show's official website GayUSATV.org
Gay USA was preceded by Pride and Progress which first aired in 1985 on the Gay Cable Network (GCN). [3] Independently produced and supported by GCN owner Lou Maletta, Pride and Progress was hosted by journalist/activist Andy Humm. The program covered LGBTQ topics, including the Democratic and Republican National Conventions from a gay perspective. [2] [3]
In 1996, journalist/activist Ann Northrop began co-hosting Gay USA with Humm.
Bill Bahlman, Associate Producer of Gay USA has a long history as an LGBT Activist. Organizations he served with or helped found include the Gay Activists Alliance, GLAAD, CLGR, The Lavender Hill Mob, and ACTUP New York.
Since September 2001, the show has aired on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. In 2003, Gay USA became nationally available through Free Speech TV. Podcasts of the show became available in 2006.
On 21 February 2012 episode, show guest Daniel O'Donnell surprised hosts Andy Humm and Ann Northrop in presenting to each Pen Certificates signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo from the 2011 New York Marriage Equality Act, stating "I know of no one in the entire country who has done more for our community than the two of you". O'Donnell, a recurring guest, had introduced the same-sex marriage bill.
Gay USA includes interviews of individuals regarding relevant projects, organizations or entertainment. Guests have ranged from an out-gay, and thus unemployed, priest to a gay male couple with adopted children to political figures and entertainers. Some of the program's notable guests have included:
Organizations involved in LGBTQ rights and information dissemination have also been represented on the show by various guests. These include:
Frequently, the folks who work on and/or for Gay USA refer to themselves as the "Gay USA Team." In alphabetical order, the team currently consists of:
Guest co-hosts who have filled in for either Humm or Northrop include:
Free Speech TV (FSTV) is an American progressive news and opinion network. It was launched in 1995 and is owned and operated by Public Communicators Incorporated, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1974. Distributed principally by Dish Network, DirecTV, and the network's live stream at freespeech.org and on Roku, Free Speech TV has run commercial free since 1995 with support from viewers and foundations. The network claims to "amplify underrepresented voices and those working on the front lines of social, economic and environmental justice," predominantly from a progressive perspective.
Brenda Howard was an American bisexual rights activist and sex-positive feminist. The Brenda Howard Memorial Award is named for her.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, commonly called The Center, is a nonprofit organization serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) population of New York City and nearby communities.
Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.
Gay Community News was an American weekly newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1999. Designed as a resource for the LGBT community, the newspaper reported a wide variety of gay and lesbian-related news.
Andy Humm is a journalist, activist and currently co-host of TV news program Gay USA.
Ann Northrop is a journalist and activist, and the current co-host of TV news program Gay USA.
Katherine Lahusen was an American photographer, writer and gay rights activist. She was the first openly lesbian American photojournalist. Under Lahusen's art direction, photographs of lesbians appeared on the cover of The Ladder for the first time. It was one of many projects she undertook with partner Barbara Gittings, who was then The Ladder's editor. As an activist, Lahusen was involved with the founding of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) in 1970 and the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). She contributed writing and photographs to a New York–based Gay Newsweekly and Come Out!, and co-authored two books: The Gay Crusaders in 1972 with Randy Wicker and Love and Resistance: Out of the Closet into the Stonewall Era, collecting their photographs with Diana Davies in 2019.
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The Q Christian Fellowship (QCF) is an ecumenical Christian ministry focused on serving lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, and straight ally Christians. It was founded in 2001 as the Gay Christian Network (GCN) by Justin Lee and is currently administered from Denver, Colorado. It was re-branded in 2018 to better reflect the diversity of the ministry and community they serve. According to the re-branding documents, the 'Q' does not correlate to any particular word. Instead, it is just the letter 'Q' open for interpretation.
Robert Earl Carter was an American Roman Catholic priest and LGBT rights activist.
Gay Cable Network (GCN) was one of the first cable television networks which openly appealed to a gay and lesbian audience. It was established in 1982 in New York City by Lou Maletta, was broadcast on Manhattan Cable Television channel 35 and wound down operations in 2000–2001. It initially broadcast a series titled Men and Films, which explored male erotica, and evolved to host a wider variety of content, including news and current affairs programs which covered political developments affecting the LGBT community and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Throughout its time, GCN provided coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, with on-floor correspondents interviewing candidates and delegates, as well as coverage of the 1987 and 1993 LGBT rights marches on Washington. A documentary aired on GCN, Out in the 90's, earned the network a Special Recognition Award at the inaugural GLAAD Media Awards in 1990.
Louis Phillip "Lou" Maletta Jr. was an American media executive and LGBT rights activist. Maletta founded the Gay Cable Network in 1982.
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Peter Fisher was an American author and gay rights activist. An alumnus of Amherst College and Columbia University, he served in the US Air Force prior to becoming an early member of the Gay Activists Alliance, a protest group that split off from the Gay Liberation Front after the Stonewall riots with the goal of "writing the revolution into law." Fisher led a number of the "zaps", or protests targeted at public figures, organized by the Gay Activists Alliance, as well as serving as an unofficial historian for the group.
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The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty inductees were unveiled June 27, 2019, as a part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Five honorees are added annually.
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