Tag Archives: Union Strong

BREAKING: The Tony Awards WILL Be Broadcast. WGA Will Not Picket

BREAKING: The Tony Awards WILL Be Broadcast. WGA Will Not Picket.

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Clear the deck and light the lights. The Tony Awards are being broadcast!

Last week we reported that the 2023 Tony Awards, Broadway’s highest honor would not be televised or postponed because of the Writers Guild of America strike. But now The Tony Awards WILL AIR as originally scheduled on June 11th, and WGA has agreed not to picket the broadcast.

The Writers Guild released the following statement:

“The WGA will not be picketing the show. Responsibility for having to make changes to the format of the 2023 Tony Awards rests squarely on the shoulders of Paramount/CBS and their allies. They continue to refuse to negotiate a fair contract for the writers represented by the WGA. As they have stood by us, we stand with our fellow workers on Broadway who are impacted by our strike.”.

It’s not yet been specified what format the show will use, and what alterations will be made.

However, the New York Times newspaper has reported it’s likely that while the event will feature awards presentations and live musical performances, no scripted content will be included.

The Tony Awards are set – at least for now – for Sunday, June 11 at the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights. Whether Ariana DeBose will remain attached to a scaled-down, non-televised ceremony is unclear.

The union — representing 11,500 writers of film, television and other entertainment forms — has been on strike since May 2, primarily over royalties from streaming media. Although the guild doesn’t represent Broadway writers, it does represent writers who work on the Tonys telecast.

Back2Stonewall stands with the striking workers of the WGA. #UnionStrong

NEA Union Submits Resolution To Remove Ex-Gay Educator’s Booth from National Conference

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The nation’s largest teachers’ union introduced a resolution this week to remove an ex-gay group’s booth from the exhibit hall at their annual meeting in Boston thus rectifying a mistake that they made in 2007 by allowing the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus to be allowed to have booth space after Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) accused them of discrimination for denying PFOX space at the 2002, and 2003 conventions.

The NEA (National Education Association) is seeking to “immediately remove” the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus exhibit “on the grounds that this exhibit violates existing NEA exhibitor standards.” Those standards state that “exhibitors may not distribute materials that are offensive, distracting, or discriminatory.”

According to its website, the NEA Ex-Gay Educators Caucus’ purpose is to “eliminate intolerance and discrimination against ex-gay students, teachers, and their supporters.” The group defines an ex-gay as someone who has “unwanted same gender attractions” and “does not want to embrace a homosexual identity.”

The groups’ founder Jeralee Smith a teacher and Seven Day Adventist “pastor” said the ex-gay caucus was created in response to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus, which also had a booth at the convention.

“We’re here because they’re here”

Smith it turns out is also anti-union and only holds a membership to union bust from within. She is also the President of the Conservative Educators Caucus and in the past has claimed that the NEA’s web page on LGBT students is all part of the union’s “ongoing agenda to legitimize homosexuality”

The resolution to remove the Ex-Gay Educators booth is currently “awaiting debate” and will be voted at the national conference this week.